English Major/Minor

English Majors must complete the following ten courses (30 credits):

Ways of Reading

• ENGL 1095: Ways of Reading
  • Eligible to fulfill the HALC requirement!

Identities & Histories

• Two Courses that represent “Identities”: courses that range widely in format and subject matter but focus on the experiences and/or expressive cultures of historically marginalized, non-normatively embodied, and/or non Euro-American people or groups.
• Two Courses that represent “Histories”: courses that focus their analyses on primary documents that created before 1800 (Histories-1) or before 1900 (Histories-2). This requirement can be fulfilled by taking one course from each category or two Histories-1 courses.

In each semester, you will be able to see which courses count for these requirements by looking for the Attribute tag (HIST I; HIST 2; Identities) when perusing courses.

Electives

• Four English electives total
  • Upper-level courses are no longer required
• Optional: Distribution Areas to be used as concentrations
  • Global; Genre; Media; Creative and Public Writing
  • Distribution areas make visible the strengths of our professors’ research and teaching and indicate to students how they might arrange a coherent story for themselves –and professional narrative– around their work in English.  An optional concentration–four courses in one Area– can focus work in a given area and can replace the four remaining electives to complete the major.

Senior Seminar

• One Senior Seminar or Honors Seminar (ENGL 4600–4999)

Switching Over to the New Curriculum

For those who have declared their English major within the current curriculum, we will make accommodations for you to complete that major:  ENGL 1091 History of Lit, Media, Culture I and ENGL 1092 History of Lit, Media, Culture II will be available for you to take this coming Fall and Spring.  Those who will still need Critical Methods will take the intro. course for the new curriculum, “Ways of Reading.”   (This will count in your transcript.).

Those of you who have just begun the current major may want to switch to the new one.  If you’ve already taken Critical Methods, we will use that as a proxy for the Ways of Reading course, and ENGL 1091 and 1092 can also count as a period requirement in the new major. (They can also count as electives.)  If you are studying abroad, you will also be able to take an SAB course that will count as one requirement of either “Histories” or “Identities.”

English Minors must complete the following six courses (please note that four out of the six courses must be ENGL courses taken in this department):

Two Foundational Courses

• One Ways of Reading Course (ENGL 1095)
• One “Histories” or “Identities” course as described under the Major

Ways of Reading is eligible to fulfill the HALC requirement.

Four Electives

• Four electives at any level (ENGL 1000–4590)

Concentrations. Optional Concentrations enable English majors to customize and focus their studies in English, while providing another way to narrate the experience to future employers and application boards. Students may elect to complete a Concentration in one of the following areas by completing four courses tagged in that area. (A course may carry up to two concentration area tags, but need not carry any.) 

Please note that the Concentrations element of the major is now in the process of being formally approved by the University. During this period, Concentrations will not appear on official transcripts, but the Department has authorization to designate concentrations for students who take four courses in one of our given areas. Please contact the DUS, Nathan Hensley, with any questions about this element of the major. 

The Concentrations are:

Global Cultures

These courses examine literature and media in a global frame. They emphasize works from around the English-speaking world, and encourage students to understand culture from multiple perspectives.

Media

These courses explore media in a broad sense, including technology, art, and popular culture. They explore both old and new media, from hand-written manuscripts to modern platforms such as video games, examining how these forms shape communication and creativity.

Genre

These courses investigate the unique features of various genres across literature, performance, and media, from the epic to the horror film. They work to explore their cultural origins and social impacts.

Creative & Public Writing

These courses focus on the craft and practice of writing. They encourage students to develop skills in creative writing, critical writing, and public writing, while also considering historical contexts to enrich our understanding of creativity.