English

Professors Barstow (emerita), Blackwell, Chiarenza (emeritus), Grant (emeritus), Hale (emerita), Logan (Chair), Rockas (emeritus), Ross, Stacy (emeritus), Stull, Tonkin
Associate Professors Grossberg (Director of Creative Writing), Sinche, Smith (emeritus), Stevenson (emerita), Stores, Striff
Assistant Professors Senk, Walling

Note: Students wishing to major in film or cinema studies should consult the Department of Cinema . Students wishing to major in professional and technical writing should consult the Department of Rhetoric and Professional Writing . Course descriptions for the first-year writing program, Rhetoric and Writing I and II, are located under the Department of Rhetoric and Professional Writing .

The English major invites students to explore traditions and innovations in literary study. Students majoring in English learn to read literature from a variety of critical perspectives and acquire understanding of literary genres and historical periods. English majors concentrating in creative writing learn to write in the various forms of creative and expository writing and become familiar with different critical perspectives on writing. Majors in English are encouraged to integrate their studies with interdisciplinary courses sponsored by cross-disciplinary programs, such as African American Studies and Gender Studies.

A degree in English aims to instill an informed understanding of literature, a critical awareness of the interactions between literature and culture, and a mastery of the expressive and interpretive skills necessary for success in any career. Ultimately, mastery of a host of career competencies is as important as subject knowledge.

Courses are conducted in small-group seminars designed to encourage vigorous and productive discussion in which all participants become active learners. Majors who distinguish themselves in course work are encouraged to participate in the Honors program. These majors may also participate in the seminar of the Humanities Center, where an invited group of qualified students, selected from all of the University’s colleges, collaborate with a small group of faculty to examine an important world issue for an academic year. Past topics have included Caribbean Cultures, The Computer as a Technology of Knowledge and Pleasure, Friendship, and Globalization.

The English department encourages all students, not just majors in English, to revise their writing extensively, in private consultation with the department faculty. For extra help, students can visit the Center for Reading and Writing, located nearby and staffed by experienced reading and writing specialists as well as tutors, many of whom are senior-rank English majors serving as interns. The department supports an internship program in which majors (and minors) can earn credit for work as writers on and editors of campus publications, as well as for comparable work in companies and organizations in the Hartford region. The department celebrates excellence in writing at an annual Spring Writing Awards ceremony, in which the winners in a campuswide competition in several writing categories receive cash awards of up to $1,000 each.

To meet the goals of the program, majors take a required seminar in their sophomore year that is focused on research methods and critical approaches to literary texts. Majors also complete a capstone course in their senior year—to be designated each year in the schedule of classes—designed to review theoretical issues currently being raised in the discipline about reading and writing and, in doing so, perfect analytical skills cumulatively acquired in course work in the major. Majors concentrating in both literature and creative writing compose an essay reflecting their development in the major and complete a substantial culminating project involving research.

Students interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in English (or related disciplines) should know that proficiency in a foreign language is required not only for advanced study beyond the master’s degree but also as a prerequisite for admission to most graduate schools.

Each student should plan a program of study in consultation with an English department advisor.

The department offers courses in literary history and traditions. These courses assist students to see how the works of generations of writers explore unifying themes, ideas, ideals, achievements, and aspirations. The department offers courses on “writers at work” that invite close study of the ideas and literary habits of a writer or a community of writers. These courses assist in understanding the texture of writing produced by individuals of great or compelling talent. The department offers courses in reading cultural contexts that promote awareness of literary texts as cultural constructs. These courses highlight the importance of society and culture as crucial determinants in the texts we read and analyze. The department offers courses in theories and practices that explore the methods of literary inquiry. These courses expose and test the theoretical grounding of our various approaches to literary material. A capstone course integrating theory and practice is required of all majors in their senior year. The department offers courses in creative writing that provide instruction in and contexts for practicing and producing the students’ own literary texts: stories, poems, plays, critical essays. Among the special-topics courses offered in recent years are Love in Literature, Political Satire, Hypertext Literature, Short Fiction, Gothic Thrills, Unruly Women in Theatre, and The Medieval in the Modern.

Writing Requirement

In elective courses above the first-year level, writing and literature courses in the Department of English have minimum writing requirements of 3,000 words, including examinations and essays in and out of class. Writing courses often require more than 5,000 words.

Programs

Undergraduate Major

English, B.A.

Minor

English Minor