Welcome to the English Department
The Department of English at Georgetown University has one of the largest undergraduate majors in the College of Arts and Sciences and houses one of the few stand-alone English Master’s programs at a nationally ranked university.
With its small classes, the Department of English at Georgetown University emphasizes close work with students and teaching excellence. Our faculty boasts a robust and diverse record of publication, and many have won major university teaching prizes. Reflecting a broadening of the field in recent years, our department offers courses in canonical and non-canonical literature and film in English. The Department is the home of the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice and the University Writing Program.
The Department of English at Georgetown University stands united in its commitment to the fundamental equality and inherent dignity of all human beings. These values are the foundation of our work in the humanities and transcend political affiliation. They are also embedded in our University’s mission and the Jesuit tradition of seeking social justice.
As humanists we are committed to the practices of principled argumentation, free inquiry, careful consideration of evidence and fact, and sustained, contemplative engagement. A prerequisite for those practices is respect.
We join together in opposition to those who would ignore, reject, or recast as debatable the principles of equality and justice that are the foundation of our work as educators.
We affirm this shared commitment publicly because the values of equality and human dignity continue to be under threat. Instances of racist, misogynist, Islamophobic, anti-immigrant, homophobic, and anti-Semitic harassment, coupled with hate crimes and acts of racial terrorism, are on the rise nationally. They also occur at Georgetown.
The climate for these acts has been substantively shaped by a rhetoric of divisive bigotry that has come to dominate our political discourse, even at the highest levels of our government. As teachers of English we know that words are powerful. We reject the language of division and affirm publicly our shared commitment to justice.
To our students: we stand in solidarity with you. We acknowledge your fears and affirm your right to pursue knowledge regardless of your identity or origin. Our task is to support, to encourage, and to challenge all of you. We commit to that task now and always.
Many courses are interdisciplinary and our faculty have played a major role in founding the African American Studies Department and interdisciplinary programs of the College:
Chair: Ricardo Ortíz
Director of Undergraduate Studies: Daniel Shore
Director of Honors: Kathryn Temple
Director of Creative Writing Minor: David Gewanter
Interim Director of Graduate Studies: Kathryn Temple (2020–21)
If you are seeking information on English language courses, please contact the English Language Center.
Carolyn Forché’s ‘What You Have Heard is True’ Shortlisted for UK’s James Tait Black Prize for Biography
June 22nd, 2020
Congratulations to University Professor, Carolyn Forché whose 2019 memoir has been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Biography. This pr…
Maureen Corrigan’s Picks for Pandemic Reading
May 22nd, 2020
During COVID-19, we’ve all had time to hunker down and check off some much needed items on our to-do list (or at least, that was our intention from t…
Duncan Wu and Carolyn Forché Share Thoughts on Power of Poetry During COVID-19
May 5th, 2020
There is power in the written word: particularly that of poetry to serve as a balm to the soul and reignite the flame of hope within shared human exp…
Cóilín Parsons Reflects on Coronavirus While Teaching Camus’s ‘The Plague’
May 1st, 2020
As we grapple with the uncertainties surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, our own Professor Cóilín Parsons reflects on it through the lens of read…
