Department of English

Website: https://www.washburn.edu/academics/college-schools/arts-sciences/departments/english/index.html

Professor Melanie Burdick, PhD, Chair
Professor Vanessa Steinroetter, PhD
Professor Eric McHenry, MA
Professor Danny Wade, PhD
Director CTEL / Professor Kara Kendall-Morwick, PhD
Associate Professor Louise Krug, PhD
Associate Professor Corey Zwikstra, PhD
Assistant Professor Erin Chamberlain, PhD
Associate Professor Andy Farkas, PhD
Assistant Professor Bradley Siebert, PhD
Assistant Professor Muffy Walter, PhD
Senior Lecturer Dennis Etzel, Jr., MFA
Senior Lecturer David Weed, PhD
Lecturer Kate Albrecht, MA

Mission

Consistent with the mission of the University and the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of English seeks to satisfy the needs and aspirations of three different groups of students:

• Those taking English to satisfy general education writing requirements.
• Those taking English to satisfy general education humanities requirements.
• Those taking English to satisfy major requirements in one of three undergraduate emphases: Literature and Film Criticism, Creative Writing, and English Education.

English majors will acquire the skills and habits of mind that serve them well in all occupations and professions. They will learn to read carefully, write effectively, exercise good judgment in solving problems, and flexibly adopt different points of view. More specifically, students will become knowledgeable about great literature (American, British, and World) and writing, understand how language functions in communication and the arts, and appreciate and understand how human beings from different cultures and/or from different times have used the literary arts to shape experiences thoughtfully and meaningfully. Students will acquire the ability to express these ideas via analysis, creative thinking, and writing. Writing majors will experience a broad range of writing experiences, literature majors will analyze and interpret a variety of literary works, and education majors will learn current methods for teaching processes of reading, writing, speaking, listening, thinking, and viewing and their interconnections.

Student Learning Outcomes

English majors at Washburn University, upon graduation, will be able to:

• Identify and articulate major developments in British, American, and World Literature.
• Interpret how the diverse range of human experiences, identities, and cultures is reflected in language, literature, and multimedia texts.
• Analyze how language works, especially regarding grammar, writing conventions, and rhetorical situations.
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the forms, genres, and conventions of literary and multimedia texts.

In addition to these shared learning outcomes,

• Writing majors will have created and revised texts in a broad range of literary forms.
• Literature majors will have composed and presented scholarly research that interprets and analyzes a variety of literary and/or multimedia texts.
• Education majors will have planned, designed, and implemented instruction and assessments for reading, literature, composition, diversity, and social justice.

General Education Writing Requirements

All students graduating from Washburn must take six hours of composition courses, three at the first year level and three at the sophomore level.

Most first year students will take EN 101 Introductory College Writing. For those students who do not feel adequately prepared for EN 101 Introductory College Writing, the English Department offers sections of  EN 101 with additional support. . These section provide additional supplemental feedback and  practice. Students are allowed to decide for themselves whether they would feel more comfortable with the supported sections of EN 101. This “directed self-placement,” however, can be aided by consultation with members of the English faculty, individual advisors, and advisers in the Office of Academic Advising.

The second required composition course is EN 200 Intermediate College Writing. This course, which is designed to be taken in the sophomore year, prepares students for academic research-based and argumentative writing writing.

The Major

Students majoring in English have three options. They may major in English with a literature and film criticism emphasis, or in English with a creative writing emphasis, or in English education, where they will prepare to teach secondary English.

English Honors

English departmental honors are offered to majors graduating with a 3.7 or higher English GPA and a 3.5 or higher overall GPA.

Inscape: The Washburn Literary Arts Review

A student editorial staff produces the  Washburn literary magazine, Inscape. Fiction, nonfiction, drawings, photographs and poetry by students, faculty, staff, and an international community are submitted annually and considered for publication. Inscape is published each spring and is available for sale in the Washburn Bookstore and the English Department throughout the year.

Programs

Course Offerings