Welcome!

If you enjoy studying and creating texts, film, and multimedia compositions, you’ve come to the right department. In our courses, minors, and majors, you will analyze and critically engage many kinds of texts for their craft and meaning in their cultural contexts. Many of our courses involve written, visual, and auditory texts, challenging students to develop 21st century digital literacy skills and exploring new ways to create and seek meaning.

Whether you seek to take courses in our program as a major, minor, or elective, our award-winning faculty members are committed to supporting you. We are active writers and scholars who publish and teach about literature, cinema, memoir, nonfiction, poetry, teacher education, multimodal communication, antiracist pedagogy, digital rhetorics and literature, environmental literature and rhetoric, Appalachian studies, and many other timely topics.

We offer a B.A. program with specializations in Creative Writing, Film Studies, Literary Studies and Professional Writing, a B.S. in English Education, and minors in English and Film Studies. Our graduate program is being redesigned to offer concentrations in Literary Studies, Rhetoric and Composition, and Teaching Literature and Writing.

Our department’s goal is to contribute to students’ success in their professional aspirations. Our graduates frequently teach at the secondary and postsecondary levels, go on to complete graduate degrees, and pursue fruitful careers in creative and technical writing, business, medicine, entertainment, publishing, broadcasting, advertising, journalism, government, and the law.

If you are interested in taking courses, becoming an English major, or doing a minor within our department, you might:

  • Explore our website for information about our diverse, engaging programs.

  • Reach out to a program’s director about your interest as a potential major, minor, or student taking elective courses.

  • Check out our course promos, so you can see how some of the courses are taught.

  • Discuss your interest in our courses with your academic advisor.

Indigenous Land Acknowledgement

The English Department acknowledges and honors the ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ (Cherokee), the yeh is-WAH h’reh (Catawba), and other Indigenous peoples whose ancestral lands we occupy.

Please read our full acknowledgement here.

Our Statement on Diversity

Education is transformative, and open intellectual inquiry is the foundation of a university education and a democratic society. In the spirit of shared humanity and concern for our community and world, the Department of English faculty celebrate diversity as central to our mission and affirm our solidarity with those individuals and groups most at risk. In line with our departmental goals, we disavow all racism, xenophobia, homophobia, sexism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, classism, ableism, and hate speech or actions that attempt to silence, threaten, and degrade others.

As educators, we affirm that language and texts, films and stories help us to understand the experiences of others whose lives are different from ours. We value critical reasoning, evidence-based arguments, self-reflection, and the imagination. Building on these capacities, we hope to inspire empathy, social and environmental justice, and an ethical framework for our actions. We advocate for a diverse campus, community, and nation inclusive of racial minorities, women, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, and people of all religious faiths.

As part of ongoing efforts to improve our inclusivity, the English Department recently approved the following resolution on the use of the n-word in our classes.

Latest News

RC 2001: Writing Across the Curriculum- Constructing Modernity: Voice, Theory, and Process

Professor: Dr. Ryan McGuckinMeeting time/modality: Sec. 133: TR 11-12:15 (Hybrid); 143: TR 8-9:15 (Hybrid); 144 MWF 12-12:50 (Hybrid); 149 TR 2-3:15 (...

ENG 5000-101 BIBLIOGRAPHY & RESEARCH with Dr. Alonzo Smith

ENG 5000-101 BIBLIOGRAPHY & RESEARCHSpring 2025Dr. Alonzo SmithOffice Location: Sanford Hall 448 Email: smithw2@appstate.eduCourse Description: EN...

ENG 2120 African American Literature: African Diaspora, with Dr. Alonzo Smith

ENG 2120 African American Literature: African Diaspora, with Dr. Alonzo Smith

Who we are as African Americans, as Black folks in the diaspora, our cultural destiny, has been shaped by both the enslaved and the free. — bell hoo...

ENG 4730: Loneliness in the Novel, MWF 10-10:50, with Dr. Jennifer Wilson

ENG 4730: Loneliness in the Novel, MWF 10-10:50, with Dr. Jennifer Wilson

According to the Pew Research Trust, ten percent of Americans report feeling lonely all or most of the time, a figure that remains consistent across g...

Dr. Peaches Hash Continues to Teach English Through Art

Dr. Peaches Hash is no stranger to App State. Before joining the English Department as an Assistant Professor in 2024, Dr. Hash received her doctorate...

Photo of Michael Docherty

Dr. Michael Docherty Joins the Department of English

Dr. Michael Docherty, who recently joined the Department of English as a tenure-track professor, has been busy since moving to Boone. As a musician, t...

An Interview with Steven Dunn

Steven Dunn is the most recent Rachel Rivers-Coffey Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing. Dunn spent time at App State during the first ten wee...

ENG 2130 course promo

ENG 2130 Ethnic American Literature with Dr. Vanessa Evans

ENG 2130 Ethnic American LiteratureProfessor: Dr. Vaness EvansMeeting time: T/Th from 9:30 am -10:45 am (section 101); T/Th from 11:00 am - 12:15 pm (...

ENG 5910 course promo

ENG 5910: World Literature with Dr. Vanessa Evans

ENG 5910: World Literature- Imaginary MapsProfessor: Dr. Vanessa EvansMeeting time: Wednesdays from 2:00 pm - 5:00 pmModality: Face-to-faceDo you...

ENG 3710: Studies in Women and Literature with Dr. Melissa Birkhofer

ENG 3710: Studies in Women and Literature- Contemporary Latina NarrativesProfessor: Dr. Melissa BirkhoferMeeting time: T/Tr from 11:00 am-12...