Program: English Minor - Clark University

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 ecocriticism, book history, 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 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 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 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 minimum grade of C is required to receive minor field credit. 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.

(Note: The codes B-1, B-2, C-1, and E correspond to major as well as minor requirements. There may be new or special topics courses that also fulfill minor requriments. Consult new course and special topic descriptions, as well as your advisor.)

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):

ENG 140 - British Literature I
ENG 170 Special Topics in Literature (Rotating topics; consult course grid for what requirement different special topics fulfill.)
ENG 180 - American Literature I
ENG 133 - Women Writers I
ENG 182 - African American Literature I

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

ENG 141 - British Literature II
ENG 170 Special Topics in Literature (Rotating topics; consult course grid for what requirement different special topics fulfill.)
ENG 181 - Major American Writers II
ENG 134 - Survey of Women Writers II
ENG 165 - American Ethnic Writers
ENG 183 - African American Literature II

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

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

ENG 244 Literatures of Remembrance: Colonialism, the Holocaust, and Global Memory (For English minors, this course may satisfy either the Theory or 200-level seminar requirement but cannot double-count.)
ENG 245 - Mythopoetics
ENG 248 - Contemporary Literary Theory
ENG 243 Literary Theory & Global Culture
ENG 254 History of the English Language (For English minors, this course may satisfy either the Theory or 200-level seminar requirement but cannot double-count.)
ENG 263 Traumatic Tales: National Trauma in Romantic Literature (For English minors, this course may satisfy either the Theory or 200-level seminar requirement but cannot double-count.)
WGS 200 Topics in Feminist Theory
ENG 270 Special Topics in Literature (Rotating topics; consult course grid for what requirement different special topics fulfill.)

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

ENG 114 Banned Books Behaving Badly
ENG 126 Ecofictions: Literature and Environment
ENG 137 Divided Loyalties in Literature
ENG 163 Trauma Narratives
ENG 217 Early Asian/American and Pacific Islander Literature
ENG 227 - The Book in the Early Modern World
ENG 234 Virginia Woolf
ENG 244 Literatures of Remembrance: Colonialism, the Holocaust, and Global Memory (For English minors, this course may satisfy either the Theory or 200-level seminar requirement but cannot double-count.)
ENG 253 - Advanced Studies in Shakespeare
ENG 254 History of the English Language (For English minors, this course may satisfy either the Theory or 200-level seminar requirement but cannot double-count.)
ENG 260 - Making Gender through the Eighteenth-Century Novel
ENG 262 - Special Topics in 19th-Century British Literature
ENG 263 Traumatic Tales: National Trauma in Romantic Literature (For English minors, this course may satisfy either the Theory or 200-level seminar requirement but cannot double-count.)
ENG 232 - Modernist Literature
ENG 275 - Fictions of Empire: Studies in Global English Literature

English Department Faculty

Program

Dianne Berg, Ph.D., VAP
Elizabeth Blake, Ph.D.
Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez, M.F.A.
Betsy P. Huang, Ph.D.
Lisa Kasmer, Ph.D. - Department Chair
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. - Interim Chair, S’25
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.
Kourtney Senquiz, Ph.D.
Lucilia Valerio, Ph.D.

Creative Writing Instructors

Alexis “Dink” Dinkins, M.F.A.
Jane Dykema, M.F.A.
Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez, M.F.A.
Phil Lemos, M.F.A., VAP - Coordinator of Creative Writing
Heather Macpherson, M.F.A., M.A., M.Ed.
Caroline Stewart, 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

English Minor