Literature and Textual Analysis
Alongside classmates reading shared works, our student work closely with primary texts. Together, they spend time doing the kinds critical and analytical writing that graduate study demands. Personally, this means building intellectual confidence and learning to dwell in complexities without getting lost. Professionally, you will have stronger research and writing skills serving you well in teaching, publishing, doctoral work, or any work that rewards precision, synthesis, and persuasive analysis.
Sample courses
- 5170 Techniques, Methods, and Effects in Fiction Writing
- 5180 Form and Theory of Poetry
- 5250 Studies in Middle English Literature
- 5300 Renaissance Literature
- 5650 Critical Studies in African Diasporic Texts
- 5700 Twentieth Century American Literature
- 5910 Studies in Poetry
- 5920 Studies in Fiction
- 5930 Studies in Drama
- 5935 Studies in Film and Television
Cultural Studies
Our courses in cultural study take on big, real-life questions. How is culture created? Who holds power and how is it revealed through language, media, schools, workplaces, and technology? You will gain exposure and work across disciplines to make sense of social justice, identity, and and cultural impact.
Students taking these courses learn how to engage audiences with empathy and a strong sense of context, while also recognizing the systems in place shaping our world. Our students find this useful in education, nonprofit work, public service, communications, and anywhere else clear awareness and cultural connection makes our work more impactful.
Sample courses
- 5720 Studies in Social Justice
- 5730 Texts and Technology
- 5800 Modern Linguistics
- 5840 Theories of Writing
- 5940 Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality
- 5020 Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Pedagogy
We want to help build more effective teachers. Our pedagogy courses focus on how teaching English works. We help students learn how to design engaging and inclusive teaching practices across English Studies. If you're planning to teach, teaching currently, or interested in how learning happens, these courses move to connect teaching theory to real instructional choices.
These courses support career growth for K-12 teachers, community college instructors, or anyone in a position of teaching English. Students learn meaningful course design, equitable assessment, and reflective teaching practices. Individually our students become more intentional about their teaching, mentoring, and supporting others' grown beyond the classroom.
Sample courses
- 5810 Teaching Creative Writing
- 5820 Teaching Literature
- 5890 Teaching Rhetoric and Composition
- 5850 Studies in Rhetoric and Composition
Writing Craft
Courses in this area put your own writing and projects at the center of your educational experience. Students might join graduate workshops connected to our MFA curriculum, or find themselves in courses that helps design and complete scholarly projects. Students learn to revise deeply, explore publication, and are urged to pursue presentation opportunities.
These courses aim to strengthen your voice, creative process, and productivity, serving well those in teaching, academic or public-facing writing job, editing, and careers where creativity is essential. Our students also build habits to sustain their writing practices over time: drafting with discipline, revising strategically, and confidently working with serious feedback and creative momentum.
Sample courses
- 5100 Graduate Workshop in Poetry
- 5110 Graduate Workshop in Fiction
- 5001 Methods in English Studies
- 5080 Writing for Publication
- 5090 Special Topics in Writing
