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.
Latest News

An Interview with Dr. Alonzo Smith
Dr. Alonzo Smith joined the English Department at Appalachian State in the Fall of 2023 as a tenure track professor in literary studies. In his spare ...

An Interview with Dr. Vanessa Evans
Dr. Vanessa Evans joined the Appalachian State English Department in the Fall of 2023 as a tenure track professor in literary studies. Vanessa lived i...

ENG 4540: Capstone in Literary Studies with Dr. Flores
This new course will replace all other capstone courses in Literary Studies. It is a completely redesigned experience for our Literary Studies majors ...

RC/GWS 3400- Rhetorics of Food and Cooking with Dr. Melissa Stone
This special topics course looks at food and cooking through rhetorical theory and practical applications of food writing. Beyond mere survival, food ...

Jessica Cory Named Editor of the Appalachian Journal
Dr. Jessica Cory is the newly appointed editor of the Appalachian Journal. Before she became the editor, she previously edited a creative collection c...

Celebrating Award Winners Grace Buckner & Dr. Kyle Stevens
Recently, graduate student Grace Buckner and film faculty Dr. Kyle Stevens each won awards for their creative and academic works. Our Digital Journali...

An Interview with Zackary Vernon, the Author of Our Bodies Electric
Dr. Zackary Vernon’s novel Our Bodies Electric is set in his hometown of Pawleys Island, South Carolina in the 1990s. It follows the main chara...

App State to host actor and playwright Keith Hamilton Cobb in February
BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University's College of Arts and Sciences, Department of English, Department of Theatre and Dance, Hayes School of M...

Dr. Bethany Mannon Publishes ‘I Grew Up in the Church’: American Evangelical Women Tell Their Stories
Dr. Bethany Mannon’s new book, ‘I Grew Up in the Church’: American Evangelical Women Tell Their Stories, centers personal narratives that women ...
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...