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  • 20 Average class size for English majors
  • 25 Courses for majors per semester
  • 20 Graduate seminars per semester

Our Mission

The Department of English creates and teaches knowledge about literature, poetics, writing, media, language and cultures in the English-speaking world. The Department serves constituents both inside and outside the university — including interdisciplinary programs, service-learning projects and the discipline at large — and prepares students for careers inside and outside of academia. We believe that the analytical study of our sub-disciplines helps develop logical thought, awareness of the complexity of texts and of value judgments, apprehension of others’ points of view, and imagination. English studies can expand creative, communicative and cognitive capacities; can sharpen the ability to make difficult judgments; and can help us understand societies, times and cultures different from our own.

 

What We Care About

  • Human connection: community and communication
  • Finding meaning(s) in life
  • Making a difference in the world
  • Active, participatory learning
  • Textual production, creation and expression
  • Artifacts of language: books, media, writing, comics, talk
  • The arts of persuasion
  • The pleasures of analysis
  • The ways language structures the world and the self
  • Examining society through scholarship and fostering inclusion
  • The history and future of English(es)
  • The interdependency of form and content

 

 

Upcoming Events

professional headshots of Drake and Farrell overlayed in front of their respective book covers
Thu, October 1, 2026
Event Start Time: 6:30 pm
Event Location: Prologue Bookshop
"Let Books Be" illustrations by Loveis Wise, Hyesu Lee, and Mikey Burton
Wed, October 7, 2026
Event Start Time: 1:00 pm
Event Location: 150 Thompson Library
Assorted snacks such as chips and pretzels.
Thu, October 8, 2026
Event Start Time: 12:00 pm
Event Location: 407 Denney Hall
Students spelling out Ohio with their arms.
Tue, October 20, 2026
Event Start Time: 4:00 pm
Event Location: 160 Enarson Hall

Recent News

Professional headshot of Pranav Jani
By Audrey Williams

The Department of English would like to congratulate Associate Professor Pranav Jani for being awarded a 2026 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Affiliate Intellectual Freedom Award. …

A decorative font displays "Welcome New English Hires."
By Hannah Millikan

As the Autumn 2026 semester begins, the Department of English would like to introduce our newest hires.

Tenure Track Faculty

Ben Markey is an assistant professor who…

Students studying in library

The Department of English is incredibly proud of these recent and forthcoming works from our MFA students, faculty, and alumni! From reflections on parenthood to a poetic reimagining of

Within a scarlet border, the message "we're hiring" is repeated three times in block letters

The Department of English is seeking undergraduate student workers to join three teams: Front Desk/Department Ambassadors, Communications and the Digital Media Project. While we typically only…

People Directory

Curator of Modern Literature and Manuscripts
Associate Dean and Associate Professor
Student Communications Assistant