English
major, minor
Through the study of literature, the English program seeks to foster communal reflection on the complex ways language animates our lives. In our courses, students develop their capacities for critical thinking, cultivate their aesthetic sensibilities, hone their writing skills, and celebrate style. Collectively, we work to model intellectual curiosity and foster the sense of wonder that is the driving force behind a vibrant, creative, examined life.
Inside Look
Curriculum
All courses promote critical and creative thinking through reading, writing, and discussion. Through their coursework, students explore a range of important works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and film. In doing so, they traverse the borderland of the written word and the experienced world, and they encounter both the “pleasures of the text” and the complex dynamics of culture.
Because we recognize reading and writing as embodied acts, we require all majors to take at least one “practice” course that situates literary analysis within the context of experiential learning. This may take the form of a creative writing workshop, summer research with faculty members, an internship based on individual interests, or a critical/creative hybrid course at the 200 or 300 level.
The English program also offers two minors: one in English and the other in Creative Writing. The Creative Writing minor allows students to study literature “from the inside out,” as writers of it, but fosters the same critical thinking, writing, and discussion skills as the major and the English minor.
A number of English majors work as coaches at the Writing Center, which offers students help with writing.
Sample Courses
- Fairy Tales
- Bob Dylan: Times, Rhymes, and Chimes
- Wordplay
- Queer Lives, Queer Forms
- Introduction to Creative Writing
Highlight
Campus Resource
The Onion River Review
Student Profile
Kathleen Dean ’26
Careers
Our majors emerge with a skillset that is increasingly rare and valuable in our contemporary world. They excel at critical thinking. They are close readers, on and off the page. They write and speak with clarity, care, and nuance. They have considered relationships between purpose and audience, substance and style. They know how to converse organically and thoughtfully to open and deepen the scope of inquiry. They can critique and edit ideas and prose to communicate more precisely, powerfully, and persuasively. In other words, our English graduates are well prepared for meaningful careers in a wide range of fields. Their solid liberal arts foundation will serve them well, wherever their futures take them.
After graduation, our majors go on to careers like:
- Museums and Libraries
- Marketing and Communications
- Law
- Publishing
- Teaching
- Nonprofits and Social Work
Contact
Nathaniel Lewis
Director: English Program, Professor of English
Saint Edmund's Hall 333, Box 282
nlewis@smcvt.edu
802.654.2308
Ready to take the next step?
Learning and exciting opportunities await you at Saint Michael’s College.