English

Professors: S. Campbell (Chair), Churchill, Flanagan, Fox, Ingram, Kuzmanovich, Lewis, Merrill, Parker
Associate Professors: Fackler, Miller, Vaz

Major Requirements (A.B. Degree)

The English major consists of ten courses, as follows:

a) ENG 220: Literary Analysis, the gateway course to the major, by the end of the sophomore year
b) One course in each of the following three categories: Diversity, Historical Approaches, and Innovation
c) Five elective courses (two of which may be taken outside the department, either in residence or abroad, pending approval of the syllabi and completed work by a department subcommittee)
d) A capstone experience in the senior year

Categories (b) and (c) will include two courses at the 200 level and two courses at the 300 level. Students must also have two courses at the 400 level, one of which fulfills category (d). No more than one English course at the 100-level will count for credit toward the major.

Progression and Sequencing

The successful English major follows an effective sequencing of courses. To that end, all majors should take:

Two 200-level courses by the end of sophomore year, one of which is ENG 220
At least one 300-level course by the end of the junior year
Two 400-level courses in the junior and/or senior year

Juniors declaring the major late or as a second major should speak with the Chair to get permission to pre-register for ENG 220.

All English majors will develop a Davidson Domains site to which they will upload one (or more) of their essays from the gateway course (ENG 220), along with other writing samples from 300- and 400-level courses. Senior English majors will return to these sites within the context of their seminars to upload new work and curate the current selections, so that they might draw the attention of future employers, graduate school directors/committees, etc., to their portfolios of written work.

Gateway Course

The gateway course, English 220: Literary Analysis, relies on a variety of teaching methods aimed at helping students develop an aesthetic sensitivity to the way form makes meaning. The course teaches close reading in more than one genre and pays attention to texts and films from more than one era. It introduces students to research and to theoretical approaches the professor finds relevant and compelling. It relies on discussion and is writing intensive, requiring drafting, feedback, and revision to delineate complex relationships among ideas needed to engage in scholarly conversations.

Diversity Requirement

Courses satisfying the requirement in diversity focus on, through content or method or both, representations of disability, ethnicity, gender, race, sexuality, and socioeconomic status.

Historical Approaches Requirement

Historical Approaches courses engage literary history and attend to historical context, including literary movements. Such courses take a variety of approaches to history, including a chronological survey of literature across a significant span of time; a historicist investigation of a particular moment or era; a course focused on an author or period prior to the twentieth century.

Innovation Requirement

New challenges in any discipline require new responses, and courses satisfying the requirement in Innovation are designed to provide such responses. Courses fulfilling the requirement foreground innovation through a combination of course content, pedagogic approach and methodology, and student output.

Capstone Experience

All English majors are required to complete two courses at the 400 level. Senior English majors have several options for completing the capstone requirement: regular seminars, which are limited to juniors and seniors, and other options limited to senior English majors: tutorial-style seminars, group investigations, and 400-level independent studies.

Tutorial-style seminars have a ceiling of 10-12 students, with content similar to traditional English department seminars. Unlike traditional seminars that meet once or twice weekly as a whole group, tutorial-style seminars have more frequent meetings on the part of the professor with smaller groups of students (2-3).

Group Investigations have a ceiling of 6 and perhaps one or more prerequisites and/or the permission of the instructor. Students work with a professor on a focused topic of collaborative research or an applied project. Group Investigations are not simply smaller seminars, but rather courses whose content and methodology are substantially different and necessitate the smaller class size.

400-level Independent Studies allow students an intensive and focused experience on a project of personal intellectual interest, analogous to an honors project but completed over the course of a single semester.

Transfer Courses

The English Department accepts up to five courses from other colleges and universities as credit toward the major. To be granted transfer credit toward the major, students, after receiving College credit from the Registrar, should make their requests to the English Department Chair and submit for evaluation all relevant course materials.

Minor Requirements

An English minor consists of 6 courses, including:

ENG 220 - Literary Analysis , the gateway course for the major and minor.
One course in each of the following categories: Historical Approaches and Diversity.
Two elective courses (one of which can be taken outside the department, either in residence or abroad, pending departmental approval of syllabi for courses taken on campus, syllabi and completed work for courses taken abroad.)
A 400-level capstone experience in the senior year, which could be fulfilled through a seminar, a group investigation, or a tutorial.

NOTES:

Among the courses taken to fulfill requirements (2) and (3) above, two courses must be at the 300 level.
Only one English course at the 100-level may be counted for minor credit.
All English minors will develop and maintain a Davidson Domains site to which they will upload one (or more) of their essays from the gateway course (ENG 220), along with other writing samples from upper-level courses.

The Abbott English Honors Program

The Abbott English Honors Program welcomes and promotes original work produced by senior majors in the Department of English, work of exceptional quality and polish that makes a contribution to the field. The Program requires a 3.5 major GPA and a 3.2 overall GPA at the point of application. Students pursuing honors must take two additional courses (ENG 498 and ENG 499) in addition to the other ten required for the major; with departmental permission, an honors candidate may take only one course, ENG 499, in addition to the ten required for the major. To be awarded honors, students must achieve at least a grade of B+ in both ENG 498 and ENG 499. The department does not award high honors.

English Courses

100-level courses satisfy distribution requirements for literature.
200-level courses are introductory literature or creative writing courses. English 220, 260, 280, and 290 are designed for majors and prospective majors.
300-level courses are advanced, theory-infused courses designed for majors. First-year students require permission of the instructor to take 300-level courses, as do all students taking independent studies (395, 396, and 397).
400-level courses are seminars limited to juniors or seniors, with preference to English majors. English 495, 498, and 499 are limited to seniors.

Cultural Diversity Requirement

English 262, 282, 284, 286, 290, 297, 360 (Desire), 382, 415, 482 and 494B fulfill the cultural diversity requirement.