2020-2021 Academic Catalog

Nov 23, 2024

2020-2021 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

English Minor

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English Overview

Undergraduate Program

The English program offers courses for majors and minors and electives for non-majors. The program is designed to develop a sense of literature, literary history, and sensitivity to cultural values. Students will also acquire the ability to analyze effectively and to write persuasively, skills that are valuable to almost any vocation. Our program offers a range of courses, from foundational areas, such as Shakespeare, Romanticism, and global literature, to emergent fields, such as medical humanism, critical race theory, and sexuality studies.

We advise English majors and minors to take two historical surveys, one pre-1850 and one post-1850, early in their programs.

In addition, we have a Creative Writing minor with courses in poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction taught by professional writers. These courses guide students to examine literary works as a writer to apply what they learn to their own writing. Interactive workshops, moreover, provide the feedback that helps students to develop and refine their work. Please contact Professor Elliott for more information.

Our program provides a number of scholarly opportunities, such as participation in our national Honors Society, our Capstone in English, and our Honors program. We also have connections to a number of internships, such as the London Internship Program, which offers positions in the fields of theater and journalism, in addition to internships with local newspapers and journals, as well as national organizations. Our program, moreover, has strong ties with the American Antiquarian Society, which offers seminars and the opportunity to participate in archival research. For those interested in studying abroad, the English Department has a partner program at the University of East Anglia and Advanced Studies in English in Bath, England.

For more information, please visit the English Department’s website.

Scholarly Research Program

Our program facilitates scholarly research through our Capstone in English, a senior research project, and our Honors program. Please contact Professor Kasmer, Chair, for information. Also, every year The American Antiquarian Society, a prestigious national research library of American culture located in Worcester, offers seminars in specialized topics in American studies. Please contact Professor Neuman for more information.

Internship Opportunities

In cooperation with the University’s internship office, the English Department supports internships for all majors. Internships are available both in university offices and in venues beyond the campus-for example, newspapers, news departments of radio and television stations, periodical and book publishers, and communication departments. Please consult with Professor Kasmer, Chair, for further information.

Study Abroad

The English Department has a special arrangement with the University of East Anglia in England, the Advanced Studies in English in Bath, England and the London Internship Program. For information, please consult with Professor Kasmer, Chair, or Clark’s Study Abroad Programs.

Minor Requirements

A minor provides a student majoring in another department with general background in literature, as well as with skills in critical reading and writing. The minor in English requires at least six English courses, at the 100- to 200-level. All minors should ask an English faculty member to be their advisor.

Each designation in parentheses in the descriptions below is used in course listings every semester in order to identify what requirements a course meets. Thus, if a course does not appear in the list below (for example, a new course), you can nonetheless readily see what requirements it meets through these designations.

1. Historical Sequence (2 courses)

The two courses used to satisfy this requirement must include one course from B-1 and one course from B-2:

(B-1) Pre- 1850 (1 course):

(B-2) Post- 1850 (1 course):

ENG 141 - Major British Writers II
ENG 181 - Major American Writers II
ENG 134 - Survey of Women Writers II
ENG 165 - American Ethnic Writers
ENG 183 - African American Literature II
ENG 222 - Black Political Literary Movements of the 20th Century

2. (C-1) One course in poetry, such as:

3. (E) One seminar in Theory, such as:

ENG 245 - Mythopoetics
ENG 248 - Contemporary Literary Theory
ENG 243 Literary Theory & Global Culture
ENG 249 Signs and Crossroads: Semiotic Theory and Practice
WGS 200 Topics in Feminist Theory

4. At least two other English courses, one of which must be a 200-level seminar, such as:

ENG 227 - The Book in the Early Modern World
ENG 253 - Advanced Studies in Shakespeare
ENG 260 - Making Gender through the Eighteenth-Century Novel
ENG 262 - Special Topics in 19th-Century British Literature
ENG 232 - Modernist Literature
ENG 275 - Fictions of Empire: Studies in Global English Literature

English Faculty

Program

Louis Bastien, Ph.D.
Elizabeth Blake, Ph.D.
James Elliott, Ph.D.
Claire Gullander-Drolet, Ph.D., VAP
Betsy P. Huang, Ph.D.
Esther Jones, Ph.D.
Lisa Kasmer, Ph.D. - Department Chair
Stephen M. Levin, Ph.D.
Meredith Neuman, Ph.D.
Kourtney Senquiz, Ph.D., VAP
Justin L. P. Shaw, Ph.D.

Department Instructors

Dianne Berg, Ph.D.
Bruce Borowsky, M.A.
Timothy Connolly, M.A.
Reginald Gibson, M.F.A.
Jin Lee, Ph.D.
Rose Novak, Ph.D.
Nicholas Sancho-Rosi, M.A.
Lucilia Valerio, Ph.D.

Creative Writing Instructors

Michael Carolan, M.F.A.
Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez, M.F.A.
Joan Houlihan, M.A.
Karen Osborn, M.F.A.
Jessica Bane Robert, M.F.A.

Emeriti

John J. Conron, Ph.D.
SunHee Kim Gertz, Ph.D., Research Professor
Serena S. Hilsinger, Ph.D.
Fern Johnson, Ph.D., Research Professor
Virginia Mason Vaughan, Ph.D., Research Professor