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Bachelor's Degree

English Minor

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The English minor prepares students for a variety of careers in which strong oral and written communication are required.  The courses develop professional skills grounded in creative and critical thinking, reading, and writing. Complementary majors include business, criminal justice, human health and performance, environmental science, and political science.  

English Minor Sample Courses

Introduction to creative writing

This course provides the opportunity for the student to develop a fundamental knowledge of the craft of writing creatively. The emphasis in fiction is on character development, plot, point of view, dialogue, setting, pacing, and voice. The emphasis in poetry includes voice, pacing, meter, and form. Revision, workshopping, and critical reading of both professional and student writing are central to the course.

Horror Stories in Fiction, Film, and Television

 This course examines a range of horror stories from across popular culture to assess what these narratives reveal about the historical and cultural environments that imagined them. Likely course selections: Get Out (2017), Midsommar (2019), Psycho (1960), The Haunting of Hill House (1959 and 2018), The Shining (1977 and 1980), Alien (1979), The Conjuring (2013).

Professional writing

A course designed to reinforce and extend undergraduate writing competency and to advance students to the composition proficiency demanded in business and other professions and in graduate programs. Students study and write expository and persuasive forms such as letters, memoranda, reports, and proposals.

Meet the Faculty

Melvin Macklin

Adjunct Instructor of English

John Kitterman

Adjunct Professor of English and Adjunct Instructor of Honors

Allison Harl

Professor of English and Chair of Graduate and Online Studies

Tina Hanlon

Professor of English

M. Katherine Grimes

Professor of English

Lana Whited

Professor of English and Williams Distinguished Teaching Chair

David Campbell

Assistant Professor of English and Journalism

Daniel Murphy

Assistant Professor of English & Director of the Writing Center