English classes in our department range from general survey courses to classes that offer a more in-depth look at a literary genre, writer, literary time period, and theoretical approach. Below is the list of English courses offered in Spring 2027. Please see the University Catalog for a complete list of courses offered by our department.
ENGL 106
| David Kaplin Section 01 Section 02 |
Our class will explore tools for getting the most out of our reading experiences -- poetry, short fiction, and novels -- to see how they can deepen our understanding and enjoyment of texts. By paying close attention to the details, we'll see how the parts work together to make engaging and meaningful works of literature. |
| ENGL 124 American Fictions | Anne Fearman Section 01 | Our class will explore the theme of the American Dream: from its historical and mythical narrative creation through its contemporary meaning; from accessibility to application; and from exclusion to expansion. |
| ENGL 124 American Fictions | Alison Pipitone Section 02 | This course explores the literature, music, and oral histories that told and re-told the story of the Great Depression (1929–1941). We will examine how artists responded to economic hardship, social upheaval, and shifting American ideals. Through close reading analysis of The Grapes of Wrath, The Four Winds, oral histories, poetry, and music, students will explore the ways in which creative voices responded to the struggles of everyday Americans, challenged dominant narratives, and helped shape cultural memory. |
| ENGL 127 Becoming Americans | Mary Weiser Section 01 | Students will delve into historical and recent American literature across multiple genres and in relation to multiple institutions and media that relates to the experience of "becoming Americans." |
| ENGL 132 Word and Sound | Alison Pipitone Section 02 | This course aims to understand the role of songs and songwriting in our modern, interconnected society. This course explores the sound of words and the sound of music? How do "word" (literal and figurative meaning) and "sound" (words, music, production) combine to create a uniquely American music? Students will write lyrics via a variety of methods and prompts. |
| ENGL 144 Reading Humanity | Daniel Laurie Section 01 | This section of Reading Humanity looks at video games as a story telling medium. We will play a select group of games, supplemented by readings, and dig into some of the 'big questions' of being human, ethics, and other topics. |
| ENGL 144 Reading Humanity | Emily VanDette Section 02 | This section of Reading Humanity focuses on the theme "Representing Animals," and the course explores depictions of animals in literary works, philosophical discussions, and examples from art history. |
| ENGL 167 Border Crossings | David Kaplin Section 01 | The Romantic Movement developed in Western Europe, but it has influenced writers across the globe from the nineteenth century to the present day. This course explores Romantic influences in the literatures of Russia, India, and Japan with a focus on how writers incorporate Romantic themes and conventions into their own literary traditions. |
| ENGL 167 Border Crossings | Iclal Vanwesenbeeck Section 02 | This section of the course, “Border Crossings: Away from Home” will focus on the experience of refugees, exile, and migration in parts of the world affected by war, conflict, and political unrest. Students will study literary narratives (multi genre) about homelessness, displacement, memory, nostalgia, melancholia, in specific relation to war and armed conflict. |
| ENGL 167 Border Crossings | Birger Vanwesenbeeck Section 03 | Can the Holocaust be represented? To capture the scope and magnitude of the Nazi atrocities has been said to lie beyond the limits of literary or artistic imagination, even as artists have recognized the need to do so. This course offers an overview of how various writing types sought to bear witness to the Holocaust. |
| ENGL 167 Border Crossings | Iclal Vanwesenbeeck Section 04 | This section of the course, “Border Crossings: Away from Home” will focus on the experience of refugees, exile, and migration in parts of the world affected by war, conflict, and political unrest. Students will study literary narratives (multi genre) about homelessness, displacement, memory, nostalgia, melancholia, in specific relation to war and armed conflict. |
| ENGL 206 Survey of American Literature | Emily VanDette Section 01 | This class explores U.S literary history from the Puritan era through the post-Civil War era. The reading list includes diverse genres and perspectives, and we will consider authors and their texts in relevant historical contexts. |
| ENGL 213 Texts and Contexts | Scott Johnston Section 01 | Students will read and interpret several novels using specific literary critical lenses. They will also write a research paper related to a topic in their major. |
| ENGL 227 Stage/Screen | Shannon McRae Section 01 | We like our cinema like we like our coffee: murky, dark, and dangerous. This course focuses on dark cinema: specifically film noir, horror, and films that explore the edges of human experience. Cheerful! |
| ENGL 274 Social Justice and the Written Word | Dr. Saundra Liggins Section 01 Section 03 | Using a foundation of the themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion, in this 100% online course we will how the written word is used as social critique and to effect social change. Our specific focus will be on the music, literature, and speeches of the Civil Rights Movement. |
| ENGL 274 Social Justice and the Written Word | Stephine Hunt Section 02 | This course examines Indigenous (Native American/American Indian) literatures, from creation stories to news articles, scholarly essays, and legal memorials to novels, short stories, and collections of poetry. We will ask what these texts reveal about Indigenous original teachings, ways of ordering the world, and treaty relationships. The course also delves into how Native authors have responded to and analyzed US Indian law. As Heidi Stark (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) puts it, Indigenous writings “dispel the sanctity of law, demonstrating that law is a set of stories.” We will approach law as story by studying literature from multiple tribal-national contexts and historical time periods. |
| ENGL 274 Social Justice and the Written Word | Rachel (Mara) Beneway Section HR | Personal narratives have a profound impact on our society, as “social justice has always depended upon the testimonies of the oppressed” (Febos). In this course we will study, discuss, and contextualize a wide range of texts, several essays and two novels, by canonical American authors such as Toni Morrison and Joan Didion as well as more contemporary ones such as Melissa Febos. We will conduct research utilizing many critical lenses which shape the development of individual and group identity involving race, class, and gender. And we will articulate our findings and new understandings in short weekly writing projects which we will later revise and culminate into a short D.I.Y. magazine or zine. |
| ENGL 274 Social Justice and the Written Word | Birger Vanwesenbeeck Section 05 | A study in which writers and others use the written word as a form of social critique and to effect social change. |
| ENGL 275 Black Women Writers | Saundra Liggins Section 01 | We will read works by Black women in a variety of genres, spanning the 18th century through the present day, exploring how they interpreted their own worlds and how their voices still shape the way we see our world today. |
| ENGL 280 Introduction to Film | Jason Bussman Section 01 | Everybody watches movies, and everybody has opinions about them. But would you like to see more deeply into them, to understand them on multiple levels? Yes you would! |
| ENGL 291 Bible as Literature | Shannon McRae Section 01 | The Bible is one of the foundational texts of Western thought. Its stories have shaped Western literature, art, culture, ethical thought and social structures for over 3,000 years. It has been among the most popular and revered books for centuries, but hardly anybody really reads it. Especially not like we will. |
| ENGL 296 American Identities | Dr. Emily VanDette Section 01 | ENGL 296 explores the cultural narratives that shape American identities, with a focus on historical examples. |
ENGL 324 Myth and Symbol in Literature | Shannon McRae Section 01 | Myths get to dimensions of human experience that more realistic stories don't--the things we see out of the corners of our eyes, or that float through our brains when we're half asleep, or that we remember from when we were little. This class is about that sort of thing, except with theory so you can talk about it and sound smart. |
| ENGL 373 English Grammar for Everyone | KimMarie Cole Section 01 | Need to improve your language use? In Grammar for Everyone, you'll learn about the building blocks and structure of English, and how to eliminate the grammar errors that plague your own communication. You'll also explore attitudes toward dialects and language use that promote positive interactions. |
| ENGL 400 Senior Seminar | Iclal Vanwesenbeeck Section 01 | Senior Seminar this semester will focus on 'words in the world': how literature matters. Multi-genre, multi-ethnic and global lit. Students will also create projects that advance literature into the commons as part of the seminar's civic engagement component. |
| ENGL 465 English Internships | KimMarie Cole Section 01 | Internship |
| ENGL 520 Topics in Literature and Culture: Teaching the Holocaust | Birger Vanwesenbeeck Section 01 | This course takes a "stumbling" approach to the Holocaust, providing future teachers with the skills and insights to teach it as an ongoing reflection on enduring questions about the nature of evil and of testimony. |