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

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...

ENG 2360: American Literature and the Arts with Dr. Melissa Birkhofer

ENG 2360: American Literature and the Arts- Latine Writers and ArtistsProfessor: Dr. Melissa BirkhoferMeeting time: T/Th from 9:30 am - 10:45 amM...

ENG 2130 course promo

ENG 2130: Ethnic American Literature With Dr. Melissa Birkhofer

ENG 2130: Ethnic American Literature- Intersections of Indigenous and Latine LiteraturesProfessor: Dr. Melissa BirkhoferMeeting time/modality: On...

ENG 4580: African American Novels Since 1945 with Dr. Michael Docherty

ENG 4580: African American Novels Since 1945Dr. Michael DochertyTuesday & Thursday, 3:30 - 4:45Since the publication of William Wells Brown’s Cl...

ENG 2120: African American Literature with Dr. Michael Docherty

ENG 2120: African American LiteratureDr. Michael DochertyTuesday and Thursday; 11:00 - 12:15 (section 101); 2:00 - 3:15 (section 102); in person; Sanf...

ENG 4710: Advanced Studies in Women and Literature/ Topic: Women, Tyranny, and Resistance, with Dr. Kristina Groover

ENG 4710: Advanced Studies in Women and Literature/ Topic: Women, Tyranny, and Resistance, with Dr. Kristina Groover

ENG 4710: Advanced Studies in Women and LiteratureProfessor: Dr. Kristina K. GrooverMeeting time: TTh 2:00 – 3:15Modality: HybridWhat can literature...

ENG 5200: Issues in Teaching English, with Dr. Leslie Cook

ENG 5200: Issues in Teaching English Professor: Dr. Leslie CookMeeting time: Wednesdays from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pmModality: Online, synchronousAn inq...

Flyer for ENG 4795/6: Postmodern Experimental Poetry (Flores - Spring 2025)

ENG 4795/96: Postmodern Experimental Poetry with Dr. Leonardo Flores

This course offers an exploration of experimental traditions in poetry in the past 60 years and the myriad ways in which poets have challenged the lit...