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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
  • Examining society through scholarship and fostering inclusion
  • The history and future of English(es)
  • The interdependency of form and content

 

 

Upcoming Events

Assorted snacks such as chips and pretzels.
Thu, October 22, 2026
Event Start Time: 12:00 pm
Event Location: 407 Denney Hall
The words "You Are Here" point toward a red heart on a skeleton.
Wed, October 28, 2026
Event Start Time: 3:30 pm
Event Location: 311 Denney Hall
Assorted snacks such as chips and pretzels.
Thu, October 29, 2026
Event Start Time: 12:00 pm
Event Location: 407 Denney Hall
An infographic with a photo of Cleyvis Natera and the cover of her novel shares basic details of the reading event.
Fri, October 30, 2026
Event Start Time: 4:00 pm
Event Location: 165 Thompson Library

Recent News

Department staff members play Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64.
By Reem Kadimi-Skalli

Tucked away on the third floor of Denney Hall, a classroom full of video game equipment has become one of the department’s hidden gems. The lab is part of the Digital Media Project (DMP), managed…

pages of an open book turned up to create a heart

A story that places us inside the mind of a character who is remorseful about causing harm can inspire forgiveness for that fictional bad act, a new study finds.

But the literary benefits to…

A split image shows a woman and man smiling.
By Hannah Millikan

The Department of English would like to congratulate Assistant Professor Corinne Sugino and Assistant Professor Charles Athanasopoulos for each being recognized by the National Communication…

Professional headshot of Jani
By Audrey Williams

The Department of English would like to congratulate Associate Professor Pranav Jani for being awarded a 2026 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Affiliate Intellectual Freedom Award. …

People Directory

Distinguished University Professor, Director of Medical Humanities and Director of Project Narrative
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor of Teaching and Interim Director of Disability Studies
PhD in English Student