Welcome to this inaugural edition of our newsletter created specifically for you. As I wrote to you last month, we are excited to bring you news of some of the activities of the English department community. We are proud to have you as part of that community and are grateful for your interest and support.
This month, we wrapped up recruitment activities for our new class of undergraduate and graduate students. This year, applications to our undergraduate major were up by 22%. In August, we are looking forward to welcoming a diverse, energetic and creative group of undergraduate students, who come to us from locales as close as Westerville, OH and as far as Land o’ Lakes, FL; Falmouth, Maine; and Beijing, China. Our class of 2026 is already accomplished: they have produced their own podcasts, published their original poetry and started their own businesses. Our incoming graduate cohorts are similarly impressive: 77% of our new graduate students in our MFA and PhD programs received fellowships supporting their study.
These students will join our vibrant community of current English majors, minors and graduate students. This edition of the newsletter introduces you to a few of them, from an English major who works in the office of President Kristina M. Johnson, to two Professional Writing minors who demonstrate the importance of good writing in all fields. We’re also excited to share some of what our faculty members have been up to: many have won prestigious awards, including Professor Elizabeth Hewitt and Associate Professor Scott DeWitt, featured below. And two of our community are retiring this year after a combined 50+ years of dedicated service to the department: Professor Michelle Herman and Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor Brian McHale. Below, you’ll find tributes to and highlights of their work.
Of course, as we welcome a new class of undergraduate and graduate students to Denney Hall, we also celebrate our graduating students, who now join our dynamic alumni community. Each issue of this newsletter will highlight one of our outstanding alumni. In this edition, you’ll read about Molly Becker, who flexes her English skills every day in her work for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
This newsletter will, we hope, give you information and news that you can share with others in telling the story of English at Ohio State. We are also eager to hear your stories: tell us what you’ve been up to by filling out this Alumni Profile form. Our future students are inspired by you, and our current students love to learn from our alumni. Specifically, if you are interested in connecting with a current English major through a 30-minute informational interview about your career path, please indicate that interest on the Alumni Profile form linked above or contact Dr. Katie Stanutz, who manages our undergraduate program.
Thank you for your interest in English studies at Ohio State, and please stay in touch.
Susan Williams
Professor and Chair
