Few majors provide you with more highly marketable skills for a variety of careers than the English major. The creative and critical thinking skills that you learn as an English major are highly valued in today's fast-paced and competitive market.
The English program provides a comprehensive interdisciplinary curriculum designed to prepare students for successful careers in many diverse areas of education, public relations, communications, law, and marketing. As an English major, you will develop skills to become a critical reader, writer, and thinker through the study of diverse literary genres, writing strategies, and research skills.
There are four different areas of emphasis in the English major including:
Creative Writing
The creative writing emphasis focuses on the development and writing of original works and promotes opportunity for self-expression, emphasizing the relationship between writer and audience, while also exposing students to the professional world of publishing.
General Writing
The general writing emphasis provides students the opportunity to develop critical reading, writing, and thinking skills through exposure to a variety of primary and secondary texts. Students learn to recognize that all speech acts occur in a specific rhetorical context and are trained to communicate effectively in genres appropriate to those contexts.
Literature
The literature emphasis teaches students to become scholars who can think critically and analyze written, oral, and visual texts in a variety of genres. The focus helps to develop an understanding of the relationship between writer and audience and teaches students to situate texts within relative social, cultural, and historical contexts.
Teaching
The teaching emphasis exposes students to the best teaching practices in the field and helps them to maintain an awareness of changing teaching pedagogies while developing their abilities as critical readers, writers, and thinkers.
All English majors have the opportunity to add a minor in a variety of complementing areas from journalism/digital media to public relations or English. Your academic advisor will work with you to select a minor that fits your interests and career goals.
For students who do not want to major in English, we also offer a minor in English and Writing. These minors can complement a variety of our academic programs including, but not limited to: communication, business, and education. To view the course requirements for these minors, please click one of the buttons below:
Experiential Learning
The English program offers many experiential learning opportunities that include creative works, undergraduate research as well as competing at national and international conferences through these distinct areas: present creative, non-fiction and poetry and/or present undergraduate research results.
Other opportunities allow for practical training and include working as an intern, attending professional conferences and workshops, and working for the University's Writing Center. Such experiences help make students more attractive to graduate schools as well as prospective employers. Based in part on such training, recent graduates of our program have received scholarships to pursue graduate studies.
Students enjoy unique opportunities such as interacting with visiting notable authors such as:
- Jennifer Moore
- Kerry Trautman
- Denise Duhamel
- James Reiss
- Myrna Stone
- Ray McNiece
- Abigail Cloud
- Eric Goodman
- Renee Nicholson
- Jeff Gundy
Professional and dedicated faculty that focus on meeting the personal needs and career goals of each student through interactive instruction and one-on-one advising.
English majors have a variety of study abroad opportunities including the London Scholars Program, a month-long "mini" study abroad excursion.
English majors can earn positions in a wide variety of industries. Here are a few examples of English specific fields:
- Museum curator
- Poet
- Reporter
- Writer/editor
- Web designer
- Project manager
- Executive director
- Lawyer
- Teacher/professor