Faculty
- Chair: Michael J. Kowalewski
- Professors Emeriti: Vern D.Bailey, Wayne Carver, Keith Harrison, James McDonnell, Frank Morral, Edward Sostek, George Soule, Robert Tisdale, John Woodruff
- Professors: Nancy Cho, Susan Jaret McKinstry, Michael J. Kowalewski, Elizabeth McKinsey, Kofi Owusu, Timothy Raylor, Gregory Blake Smith, ConstanceE H. Walker
- Associate Professors: Adriana Estill, Gregory G. Hewett, George G. Shuffelton
- Assistant Professors: Peter Balaam, Arnab Chakladar, Pierre Hecker, Jessica Leiman
- Visiting Emeritus Professors: Keith Harrison, Jim McDonnell
- Visiting Instructors: Dennis Cass, Douglas McGill, Mary L. Schier
- Senior Lecturers: Elizabeth Ciner, Carol Rutz
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| Our curriculum balances the classic literatures of the past with the varied idioms of the present. We offer majors and non-majors a range of topics and approaches to the study of literature: |
- classical studies in the English and American literary tradition organized by historical periods, topics, and genres
- studies of African, African American, Native American, Asian American, and post colonial literature
- creative writing classes in poetry, fiction, screenwriting and play writing, and creative nonfiction
- critical theory, both ancient and modern, as well as courses in the theoretical and practical analysis of film, television, and drama
- related courses in American studies, theater arts, media studies, women’s and gender studies, environmental and technological studies, and interdisciplinary studies
- independent study projects in a remarkable array of topics
- off-campus studies programs in London and Ireland
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| English classes tend to be small and informal. We urge each student to discover his or her style in reading subtle and complex texts, in writing clear and persuasive prose, and in thinking and speaking metaphorically as well as logically about life’s important issues. Each day we carry books, cassettes, videotapes, and photocopies galore into overheated classrooms hoping this class, this hour will advance our understanding a step further. We love literature and we love teaching. |
| What we offer: |
| Most classes welcome not just English majors but all students of language and literature. We limit most classes to twenty-five students. Writing seminars, first-year seminars and senior seminars stop at fifteen. Independent study projects and special majors are encouraged. Our faculty is dedicated to help each student in each class practice skills essential for the truly educated: to read perceptively, to write and speak clearly, and to think analytically. |
| That’s a tall order, but Carleton students and faculty thrive on challenge. |
| While an English major still begins with the study of works of fiction, poetry and drama from the British and American traditions, we also explore the shifting nature of these traditions by examining American regional, African American, Irish, post colonial, Native American, and Asian American literature. We employ diverse social, historical and theoretical approaches. Some courses emphasize particular social and political contexts of literature; others are interested in a work’s psychological roots or in issues of race or gender; others focus on the relation between literature and philosophy and science, or literature and natural history, or literature and film. |
| To polish students’ speaking skills, we offer a popular course in the Arts of Oral Presentation and include student presentations in advanced classes. And our offerings in writing include prose fiction, poetry, the memoir, screenwriting, play writing, essay writing, and writing about the environment. |
| Theater Arts courses allow students to explore drama as text, theory, and performance through courses in dramatic literature, acting, directing, technical design, and play writing. Media studies courses examine the history, theory, and production of film and television around the world. |
| We also offer three off-campus programs. For twenty-seven consecutive years students have studied theater and literature in the yearly London Program. Every few years, students can study Irish Literature in Dublin, or California Literature on the English/American Studies California Program. |
| An Interdisciplinary Discipline: |
| English is the most interdisciplinary department in the college. Our faculty organizes, teaches and administers a great number of courses in college concentrations and interdisciplinary “Studies” programs, including Cinema and Media Studies, American Studies, Environmental and Technology Studies, African and African American Studies, Theater and Dance, and Women’s and Gender Studies. |
| Our interdisciplinary activity is a reasonable extension of our disciplinary objectives. First, as writers and teachers of writing, we help provide a core to the curriculum of a good liberal arts college, for the written word is germinal to all our pursuits. Second, literature might be the discipline closest to the center of the liberal arts, since the skills of close reading, interpretation, and persuasive communication are essential to all fields, whether philosophy, history, religion, anthropology or science. |
| The Faculty: |
| The English faculty hold degrees from Allegheny, Amherst, Berkeley, Bowdoin, California-Davis, Carleton, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Iowa, Kenyon, Miami of Ohio, University of Michigan, New York-Albany, New York-Binghamton, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Rutgers, Stanford, Wesleyan, Whitman, Williams, Yale, as well as Cambridge, Edinburgh, Ghana, Melbourne, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Oxford, and Alberta. We all teach writing, and we all teach basic courses, as well as an ever-changing kaleidoscope of advanced specialty courses that respond to student interests, to our own research, and to evolutions in the field of literature and theory. We think of ourselves as Renaissance men and women, and like it that way. |
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| Peter Balaam specializes in colonial and nineteenth-century American literature. Visiting Professor Dennis Cass, writer, teacher, speaker, and blogger, will teach a creative non-fiction course spring term. Arnab Chakladar, specializes in post-colonial literature and film. Nancy Cho is a professor of traditional American literature, contemporary playwrights of color, and Asian American literature. Adriana Estill teaches American Latino/a literature and poetry. Keith Harrison, retired Carleton Professor of English and Writer-in-Residence, will teach a course in advanced essay writing the second five weeks of fall term. Pierre Hecker is a professor of Renaissance Drama with a speciality in Shakespeare. Gregory Hewett, Associate Professor of English, is a poet who teaches courses in modernist poets and poetry writing. Susan Jaret McKinstry teaches and writes on nineteenth century novels, Jane Austen, the Pre-Raphaelites, literary theory, film theory, and narrative theory. She is also a poet. Michael Kowalewski has a particular interest in “place” in American regionalism, participates in the Environmental and Technology Studies program, and is the Chair of the English Department. Jessica Leiman teaches Restoration and Eighteenth-century British literature. Jim McDonnell, retired Carleton Professor of English, will teach the English Literature II spring term. Visiting Professor Douglas McGill will teach a journalism course fall term. He is the founder and editor of the mcgill report, an online journal linking local and global concerns. Elizabeth McKinsey specializes in American literature and culture with a particular interest in Southern literature. Kofi Owusu specializes in African, African American and American literature. Timothy Raylor, a Renaissance scholar, teaches Spenser, Milton, Cultural Criticism, and the art of oral presentation. George Shuffelton teaches and writes on medieval literature, with a particular interest in Chaucer, Langland, and Gower. Fiction writer Gregory Blake Smith , offers courses in American literature and in writing short fiction. Constance Walker teaches and researches Romantic poetry, Romantic women writers, Jane Austen, and literary theory. . Ruth Weiner is the Chair of the Theater and Dance Department. |
| Where is the English Department? |
| Located on the second and third floors of Laird Hall, the English department is a lively place. The entire second floor hallway of Laird is our lounge, with tables and benches filled with students and faculty reading, talking, and meeting. We are there much of the time with our office doors open. |
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| What does one DO with a degree in English? |
| After graduation, a Carleton English major has a versatility that is preparation for a number of careers. Some graduates teach high school, some program computers, some go to law or medical school, some to English graduate school. Many find careers in publishing or journalism, filmmaking, writing, sales or marketing, and a few choose technical writing or public relations work. The Carleton English major is an omnium gatherum guiding some students along a set career path and others towards roads not yet on the map. |
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