English
The English Department provides students with a broad intellectual foundation in literature and culture while strengthening their abilities to express ideas in clear, accurate prose. In addition to studying classics of British and American literature, majors read literature of the world, Western and non-Western, as well as literature written by women and by persons of color. The department offers courses in advanced writing, technical writing, and creative writing, including the award-winning campus literary magazine, The Bohemian. For course information and degree requirements please see the catalog.
The study of language and literature offers students an enjoyable, challenging liberal education that professionals consider the best general preparation for any career. The insights students obtain from great writers and thinkers of the past and present, along with the analytical skills they acquire from close study of written texts, provide valuable preparation for careers in teaching and writing.
Many students choose this major because they simply love literature and wish to have a rewarding, enjoyable college experience. Graduates often pursue post-graduate work in English (especially if they desire to write or teach) or in journalism, law, business, or technical writing. The Department’s Subject Matter Competency Program prepares students specifically for high school teaching, and the Internship Program prepares students for careers while they work on campus and off campus. The Study Abroad Program allows students to obtain NDNU credit while studying at a foreign university.
Some professions, recent graduates have entered:
- High school teaching
- Intermediate School teaching
- ESL teaching
- Community college teaching
- Property management
- School Administration
- Accounting
- Acting
- Design Consulting
- Business
- Non-profit health work
- Loan Consulting
- Administrative Assistance
- Law
“Experience as an English major prepares one for any and all vocations. The ability to understand, interpret, analyze, and write opens doors in any field one wishes to enter.” (Linda Morgan, 1996 graduate) See other statements by recent alumni and specific examples of the professions they have successfully entered.
Because the department is relatively small, students interact with professors and with each other on a personal level. Each year the English Department offers a number of creative activities for English majors as well as all NDNU students:
- Creative Writers’ Series, featuring well-known writers who read from their works at the Wiegand Gallery
- The Bohemian readings, when students read their works published in NDNU’s literary magazine, winner of the 2006 California College Media Competition
- Senior Seminar Presentations, when graduating seniors give oral presentations of their theses projects
- Seminar in Humanities, a week-long summer workshop designed for teachers and future teachers of English
- Shakespeare in Ashland, a week-long experience of great Shakespeare plays in the company of NDNU English teachers
- English Department Party, an annual spring gathering of faculty and students
For more details about the program, click on any of the following:
- Dr. Ardavan Davaran Scholarship
- English Department Faculty Profiles
- Emerging Artists in Writing Scholarship Program
- Graduate Degree Program (with emphases in literature and creative writing)
- NDNU English Facebook Page: where faculty, alumni, and current students connect!
- Senior Theses: Previous Topics
- Subject Matter Competency Program (for prospective high school teachers)
- TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) Program
- Undergraduate English Major (catalog)
- Undergraduate/Graduate Articulation Program (Right Click and Save)
- Writing-across-the-Curriculum Program
- Writing Center