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20
Average class size for English majors
25
Courses for majors per semester
20
Graduate seminars per semester

Our Mission

The Department of English creates and teaches knowledge about literature, poetics, writing, media, language and cultures in the English-speaking world. The Department serves constituents both inside and outside the university — including interdisciplinary programs, service-learning projects and the discipline at large — and prepares students for careers inside and outside of academia. We believe that the analytical study of our sub-disciplines helps develop logical thought, awareness of the complexity of texts and of value judgments, apprehension of others’ points of view, and imagination. English studies can expand creative, communicative and cognitive capacities; can sharpen the ability to make difficult judgments; and can help us understand societies, times and cultures different from our own.

 

What We Care About

  • Human connection: community and communication
  • Finding meaning(s) in life
  • Making a difference in the world
  • Active, participatory learning
  • Textual production, creation and expression
  • Artifacts of language: books, media, writing, comics, talk
  • The arts of persuasion
  • The pleasures of analysis
  • The ways language structures the world and the self
  • Structural change for social justice
  • The history and future of English(es)
  • The interdependency of form and content

 

 

Upcoming Events

Cover of the Evening Shades by Lee Martin with headshots of Lee Martin and Nick White
March 31, 2025

Prof. Lee Martin Book Launch and Conversation with Prof. Nick White

Gramercy Books (2424 East Main Street, Bexley, OH 43209)
Swirling scarlet background with black text: We Love Our Grad Students
April 2 - April 18, 2025

Recent News

Jasmyn Maingi sits in front of a bright scarlet wall and smiles at the camera

Breaking Classroom Barriers: Jasmyn Maingi’s OPEEP Experience

By Audrey Williams

During her freshman year at The Ohio State University, English major Jasmyn Maingi stumbled upon a flyer that would change the course of her college experience: an invitation to join the Ohio…

Elyse Reed Headshot

Elyse Reed wins Center for Ethics and Human Values Award  

By Reem Kadimi-Skalli

The Department of English is proud to congratulate Elyse Reed for her Center for Ethics and Human Values Award at the Richard J. and Martha D. Denman Undergraduate Research Forum! This award,…

Blaise reader

Research and Representation: Blaise Reader’s Commitment to Appalachia 

By Reem Kadimi-Skalli

When Blaise Reader began their English degree, they knew they wanted to use their studies in service of their community in Appalachia — that desire hasn’t wavered. Their method, however, has…

Maggie Lardie

Maggie Lardie: Turning Passions into Possibilities

By Sydney Friedt

It’s safe to say that Maggie Lardie, an English major with a specialization in literature, film, folklore and popular culture studies and a screenwriting minor, has a deep love of storytelling.…

People Directory

MFA in Creative Writing Student
Front Desk Student Staff/Department Ambassador
MA/PhD in English Student