English
The English Major
Students majoring in English love language because they understand its power to reflect and to shape human experience, and they work hard at mastering it. As readers, they become good analysts of style and content, character and theme, with an understanding of the traditions and tools of writing and an ability to develop their own disciplined and creative responses to whatever they read — whether they are reading Shakespeare’s Othello or a corporate annual report. As writers, they become masters of the principal tool of thought — language — sometimes becoming published writers before they graduate. This mastery of the written word — both as a critical and insightful reader and as an adept and creative writer — provides an excellent foundation for a wide range of professions and for a fulfilling life of continued learning.
The English Minor
The English minor is a course of study designed as a second field for students interested in exploring their love of language, developing their abilities as a critical reader, and honing their use of words as a tool of the mind.
The minor, designed for students who have time for some college study of English but not enough for a major, is pretty simple: it consists of any two courses in American lit, any two courses in English lit, and Advanced Composition.