2023-2024 Academic Catalog

Nov 23, 2024

2023-2024 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Creative Writing Major

Print Degree Planner (opens a new window) |

English Overview

Undergraduate Programs within the English Department

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. A 100-level genre course is another good introductory class for students contemplating the major. Once a student declares (or knows they intend to declare) the major, they should take the “gateway” course, ENG 199: The Text, the World, and the Critic, ideally by spring semester of their sophomore year.

In addition, we have a Creative Writing major and 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 Coordinator of Creative Writing, Phil Lemos, for more information.

Our program provides a number of scholarly opportunities, such as participation in Sigma Tau Delta (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 Blake, Director of the Honors Program, 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 Neuman, 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 Neuman, Chair, or Clark’s Study Abroad Programs.

Creative Writing Major Requirements

A. Introductory Creative Writing Courses (2 courses)

Two 100-level creative writing courses (must be in at least two genres) such as:

CRW 100 “Burn Away All the Peripherals”: Introduction to Creative Writing

CRW 106 - Creative Writing: Fiction

CRW 107 - Creative Writing: Poetry

CRW 111 - Creative Writing: Nonfiction

CRW 112 - Creating Character

SCRN 108 - Intro to Screenwriting

B. Advanced Creative Writing Courses (3 courses)

Three 200-level creative writing courses, such as:

CRW 202 - Imagining Place: Writing Health, Science and the Environment

CRW 206 - Writing the Novel

CRW 207 - Creative Writing: Advanced Fiction

CRW 208 - Writing the Borderlands

CRW 211 - Creative Writing: Advanced Poetry

CRW 213 - Utopias/Dystopias: Writing Resistance and Identity

CRW 215 - Publishing & Literary Journals

TA 230 - Playwriting

C. Introductory Literature Courses (2 courses)

Two 100-level courses in literature or theory, such as:

ENG 110 - Lyric Architectures: Reading Poetry

ENG 115 - Speculative Fiction

ENG 120 - Introduction to Shakespeare

ENG 123 - Voicing the Verse: Poetry in Performance

ENG 131 - Border Crossings: Narratives of Travel, Exile, and Immigration

ENG 133 - Women Writers I

ENG 134 - Survey of Women Writers II

ENG 135 - The Short Story

ENG 136 - Post-Apocalyptic Fiction and the Environment

ENG 139 - Queer Literature

ENG 140 - British Literature I

ENG 141 - British Literature II

ENG 144 - Mona Lisas and Madhatters: The Art of Comedy

ENG 145 - Fabulae: The Genre of Romance

ENG 146 - The Epic

ENG 164 - The Gothic

ENG 165 - American Ethnic Writers

ENG 180 - Major American Writers I

ENG 181 - Major American Writers II

ENG 182 - African American Literature I

ENG 183 - African American Literature II

D. Advanced Literature Courses (2 courses)

Two 200-level courses in literature or theory, such as:

ENG 225 - American Print Culture 1700-1900

ENG 227 - The Book in the Early Modern World

ENG 230 - Reading Voraciously: Food and Literature in the 20th Century

ENG 231 - Queer Modernisms

ENG 232 - Modernist Literature

ENG 238 - Contemporary Latino/a Literature

ENG 245 - Mythopoetics

ENG 248 - Contemporary Literary Theory

ENG 250 - Medieval Literature

ENG 253 - Advanced Studies in Shakespeare

ENG 255 - Studies in the Renaissance

ENG 256 - Ecologies in Crisis

ENG 263 - Traumatic Tales: National Trauma in Romantic Literature

ENG 264 - Queer Victorians

ENG 275 - Fictions of Empire: Studies in Global English Literature

ENG 276 - Ethnic America: Literature, Theory, Politics

ENG 279 - Fictions of Asian America

ENG 283 - Visions of Representation

ENG 292 - Toni Morrison

E. Non-writing Class with Emphasis on Creative Process (1 course)

One non-writing course with an emphasis on the creative process, as offered by the programs in Game Design (Becker), Screen Studies, Studio Art, Music, or Theatre in consultation with Coordinator of Creative Writing, Phil Lemos.

F. Capstone Requirement (1 course)

CRW 214 - Creative Writing Capstone is offered every spring and is required for every Creative Writing major in their final year.

English Department Faculty

Program

Louis Bastien, Ph.D.
Dianne Berg, Ph.D., VAP
Elizabeth Blake, Ph.D.
Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez, M.F.A.
Betsy P. Huang, Ph.D.
Esther Jones, Ph.D.
Lisa Kasmer, Ph.D.
Phil Lemos, M.F.A., VAP - Coordinator of Creative Writing
Stephen M. Levin, Ph.D. - Director of Graduate Studies in English
Meredith Neuman, Ph.D. - Department Chair
Jeff Noh, Ph.D., VAP
Kourtney Senquiz, Ph.D., VAP
Justin L. P. Shaw, Ph.D.
Spencer Tricker, Ph.D

Department Instructors

Bruce Borowsky, M.A.
Reginald Gibson, M.F.A.
Jacqueline Morrill, M.F.A.
Lucilia Valerio, Ph.D.

Creative Writing Instructors

Michael Carolan, M.F.A.
Therese Gleason Carr, M.A., M.F.A.
Alexis “Dink” Dinkins, M.F.A.
Jane Dykema, M.F.A.
Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez, M.F.A.
Joan Houlihan, M.A.
Phil Lemos, M.F.A. - Coordinator of Creative Writing
Jeff Noh, Ph.D.
Jessica Bane Robert, M.F.A.

Emeriti

John J. Conron, Ph.D.
James P. Elliott, Ph.D., Senior Research Scholar
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