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Westminster College Home > Academics > Academic Programs > English Degree

Why study English at Westminster College?

Majoring in English provides you the flexibility to follow your passions. It can begin the foundation for careers in education, law, journalism, literature, theater, media, publishing, and more. You may also pursue graduate and professional degree programs.

At Westminster College, there are four major tracks and two minors, all of which contain a number of electives for you to choose from. There are a broad set of courses in Literature, Creative Writing, Theater, Journalism, Media, and Publishing, including classes cross-listed in Women and Gender Studies, Transnational Studies, and Fine Arts. English also compliments other majors. Easy options for double majoring including majors that incorporate English courses like Business Communications, Marketing, and English Secondary Education. Design your own senior thesis: write a novella, research twitter fiction, chart the influence of The Thousand and One Nights, or whatever ignites your passion.

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Liberal arts in real-time

Question: What can I do with my Westminster English major? Answer: Anything.

Collaborate with Teachers

You will be able to take small classes from highly qualified faculty, who are actively publishing scholars and are invested in your success. Collaborate with them on The Columns (our student online newspaper), Janus (our student literary magazine), and Theatrical Productions. Receive one-on-one mentoring from your faculty advisor and through Independent Studies and Thesis Projects.

Exciting Opportunities

Take Actively Inclusive Classes focused on Discussing Big Ideas and Developing Creativity
Discuss the works of literary giants ranging from William Shakespeare to Jamaica Kincaid and spanning American, British, and World Literatures. Discover new literary worlds while also getting a foundation in the classics
Develop your own imagination in Creative Writing and Theater classes that will teach you techniques that will help you expand your creativity
Wrestle with pressing concepts ranging from identity politics to free speech that will help you develop the critical thinking and communication skills which you need to make a difference

Where Our Grads & Interns Go

Westminster English Majors have gone on to careers in Law, Medicine, Banking, Marketing, Journalism, Publishing, Nutrition, Library Science, Mathematics, Non-Profit Work, and Education just to name a few
The English Department has also helped our graduates get into elite graduate programs at schools including Harvard University, Washington University – St. Louis, Vanderbilt University, Columbia University, Georgetown University, the College of William and Mary, Purdue University, Emory University, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Emerson College, University of New Mexico, St. Louis University, University of Missouri – Columbia, and Louisiana State University

Westminster English Faculty

The Westminster English faculty is committed to the idea that the study of literature creates compassionate humanists who have essential creative and critical thinking skills.

We are a group of dedicated teacher-scholars who provide personal mentorship and intellectual guidance to our students. As scholars, we maintain lively connections to our fields of expertise in order to create rich experiences in the classroom. Through publications and presentations within the scholarly community, we open up the study of literature by keeping students actively linked to literary discussions and trends beyond the campus environment.

The Westminster English department also brings guest speakers and creative readers to campus to promote the appreciation of literary study for the entire college community.

English Minor

The English Department strongly recommends an English minor to students majoring in other disciplines who wish to broaden their learning or demonstrate their intellectual flexibility. Employers today seek graduates who can think, write, and communicate with clarity. The English minor presents strong evidence of a student’s well-roundedness and potential for creativity in any setting.

The English Minor at Westminster College offers an excellent foundation to other majors that demand creative thinking, close analysis, and strong communication. The minor consists of two literary surveys, one writing course and three electives (18 hours total). The electives offer you the freedom to polish your writing, pursue your creative inclinations, or deepen your knowledge of literature.

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Journalism, Media, and Publishing Minor

The Journalism, Media, and Publishing Minor offers a unique side specialty to many other majors at Westminster College. Most fields today require skills in media communication, which always begins with good writing and extends to the savvy use of media platforms.

The JMP Minor combines the development of strong foundational writing and media analysis skills with hands-on media manipulation skills to gain an understanding of the communication potential of contemporary media systems. A blend of creativity and technology, the minor develops an appreciation for media and its capabilities as a tool for information dissemination, social change, marketing, and entertainment, while it also prepares students to design, organize, edit, and produce both print and digital media material.

The minor consists of three required courses (9 hours): Introduction to Journalism, Expository Writing, and Media Studies; and three electives (9hours) that emphasize practical experience, digital study, or deeper media analysis.

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Choose from an array of British, American, and World literature classes. Explore how women in the early modern period wrote and were written about in Wives, Widows, and Whores. Adopt a global perspective in Caribbean Literature or African Diasporic Literature. Develop a critical stance on genre fiction in Gothic Literature and Film or Crime, Mystery, and Detection in Nineteenth-Century British Literature. Beyond literature, you can hone your creative writing skills in Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction, and Playwriting classes. Learn the fundamentals of writing and editing for publication as you put together the campus literary magazine in Janus and the World of Publishing. Study a dramatic work in depth, then put what you learned into practice with a fully-staged production in the Play and Performance course.

You can write for the student newspaper, edit the campus literary magazine, and perform and produce plays. You can work with a faculty advisor on internships in fields such as communications, marketing, and publishing.

Definitely! The English major is one of the most flexible programs on campus. The Business Communications major is popular with double majors, since many of the requirements overlap or complement one another.

Whether you want to analyze your favorite literature or write creatively toward a book of your own in any genre, a Senior Thesis project can be a great opportunity to dive deeper into your interests with the help of a faculty mentor. Some thesis projects have included "Performing the Holy Goof: Bob Dylan, Neal Cassady, and the Legacy of Beatnik Masculinity,” "Out By a Mile: Counternarratives in Professional Baseball,” and "The Arabian Nights and the Postmodern Labyrinth.”