Why English at E&H?
Multiple tracks — engaged faculty — enthusiastic students.
Multiple Tracks for Multiple Interests
We offer a traditional major in English Literature, so you will graduate from Emory & Henry with strong writing skills, experience in analyzing texts, and a solid foundation in English and American literature. With these skills, you’ll be ready for graduate school, the classroom as a teacher yourself, or the work place.
Along with that base in literature, we offer tailored majors that specifically prepare you to start a career once you leave college. The Emory & Henry College’s emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration between departments has allowed us to create several dynamic programs:
Publishing: In a partnership with the Business, Mass Communications, and Art departments, you can earn a Pre-Professional B.A. in Publishing to enter the vibrant world of Book and eBook publishing.
Library Science: In partnership with the staff of Kelly Library, we have created a program that relies upon Library internships and classes, combined with classes in Statistics, Civic Innovation, and Management to prepare you to work as a Librarian or Information Specialist in a library.
Teacher Preparation: The English Department’s oldest and deepest partnership is with the professors and staff of Emory & Henry’s Neff Center for Teacher Education, and together we have trained hundreds of elementary, middle, and high school teachers. There is perhaps no better teacher training program at a small college in Virginia.
Engaged Faculty Members
Our professors are teachers and scholars who share their enthusiasm with students in the classroom and in office hours. We have won teaching awards offered within the college and from external agencies such as the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), Virginia Foundation of Independent Colleges (VFIC), the Sears-Roebuck Foundation for Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership, and the CASE Carnegie Foundation. English faculty members have published widely in scholarly and creative journals, and their books have published Cambridge University, University of Tennessee, Oxford University, the University of Kentucky, and several others. But more importantly, the English faculty offers a range of classes from the traditional to the innovative: from Contemporary English literature to Multi-Ethnic American writing, from seminars focused on Hamlet to the Harry Potter series, and from Irish to Appalachian literature.
Enthusiastic Students
In the past five years, Emory & Henry English majors have created a graphic novel blending Maus and The Iliad; completed independent studies in Irish theatre, Shakespeare’s romances, and Oscar Wilde; attended the University of Iowa’s summer writers’ workshop; published the poetry collection Inside the Dark Room (2015); and studied abroad in Nottingham, Exeter, Dublin, Stirling, and Londonderry. And more!