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Department of
English, Linguistics, and Communication

In English courses students investigate the great body of literature written in the language, and develop skills in their own writing: analytic, creative, journalistic.

The English major emphasizes a strong basis in literature while encouraging students to follow individual interests in literature, writing, or linguistics. The requirements ensure familiarity with the language, with literature, with literary theory, and with the demands of writing, while allowing students to diversify or to emphasize one particular area. Many students include internships, testing classroom knowledge in the outside world.

A number of other activities, such as the Poetry/Fiction reading series, lectures, and social events, bring professors and students together informally. Qualified students are invited to join Lambda Iota Tau, a national literature honor society.

While the department has no specific ideology, it is devoted to rigorous thought, mastery of detail, and intellectual honesty. Many students combine studying literature or writing with majors in other disciplines. About 20 percent of the majors also certify for elementary or secondary teaching. Others go on to graduate or professional school. Still others take jobs in everything from the unusual and exotic, through the myriad shadings of journalism and public relations, to government and business. The specific skill nourished by majoring in English which employers value most is exact writing, but like all humane disciplines, English teaches complexity of thought and subtlety of feeling. What unites all English majors is joy in the language and love for its literature.

English courses on the 200-level are designed for students from all disciplines. 300-level courses offer students the opportunity to do more sophisticated writing and to explore works of literature defined by period, genre, or theme. In linguistics courses, students consider the socializing role of language in our daily lives and explore the biological and formal nature of language: the structure of speech sounds, words and meaning, conversation and texts. All classes are kept to a size to facilitate discussion and individual attention, and in the 400-level seminar classes, students make major contributions to the classes, presenting original papers.