English Department
- BA in General English
- BA in English Education
- BA in Linguistics
- Minor in CreativeWriting
- Minor in English
- Minor in Linguistics
- Certificate in Literary Editing and Publishing
- Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
- Honors Program
- English as a Foreign Language
Major Academic Plans (MAPs)
Graduate ProgramsWelcome
Why do students choose an English major? For the many things we study: language, ideas, and theories. We are really six overlapping sub-divisions under one umbrella—the English Department. We study literature, composition and rhetoric, linguistics, editing and publishing, English education, and creative writing.
What can you do with an English degree? Many things. Our graduates work as teachers (elementary through university, in the U.S. and overseas), editors, publishers, writers for television and movies, software publishers, lawyers, doctors, bankers—the list goes on and on.
Whatever combination of our six disciplines you choose to focus on, we'll help you develop communication skills, written and oral. And those skills will open many doors for you.
For more information about our programs, follow the links below, and feel free to stop by the department office in Taylor 209 any time.
What We Do in English
- Creative Writing
- English Education
- Linguistics
- Literature
- Literary Editing and Publishing
- Rhetoric and Composition
Linguistics
Do you ever wonder how we create new words? Or, why once wide-spread languages like Latin die? Have you ever wondered why people can't get rid of a foreign accent even after years of living in a new country or why people in the East say "soda" and in the Midwest say "pop"? Linguistics, the study of language, concerns itself with all aspects of how people use and acquire language. Linguists focus on many different facets of language, from the physical properties of the sound waves in utterances to the intentions of speakers towards others in conversations. Our department offers both a minor and major in linguistics where you'll come to discover how languages are structured, how languages are used, and how they change.