Undergraduate Studies

The English Department is one of the strongest and most prestigious departments at the University of Tennessee, and its undergraduate major is intellectually engaging and versatile. In recent years, leaders in many fields have urged schools and colleges to prepare students better for their professional and civic responsibilities within a rapidly-evolving society, a globalized culture, and an increasingly information-based economy. The study of English contributes to this goal by training students to analyze and interpret literary and other kinds of texts; to place those texts within historical, theoretical, and aesthetic contexts; to evaluate arguments according to their logical and rhetorical features; and to understand and work with values. Through extensive training in different modes of writing, students discover their own critical and artistic voices while gaining proficiency in organizing complex material, addressing multiple audiences, and understanding the medium of language. In the spirit of liberal education, the study of English also contributes to satisfying society's increasing need for a citizenry skilled in critical thought and communication.

The University of Tennessee English Department has a large faculty, with 40 full-time members of the professorial staff, and it has a distinguished record in both teaching and research. Sharing a commitment to education inside and outside the classroom, members of the English Department faculty regularly win college or university-wide teaching awards. With enrollment in most courses limited to 35 (writing courses have enrollments as low as 20), English classes are marked by the exchange of ideas and by an unusually intimate process of learning. Instructors come to know their students, participate in their growth, and work closely with their writing. Because the English Department is comprised of nationally-renowned scholars and writers, students are exposed to the latest intellectual, creative, and professional developments in the discipline's many fields. In recent years English faculty members have published important book-length studies of Geoffrey Chaucer, classical rhetoric, British poet Philip Larkin, African-American autobiography, and contemporary drama, to name just a few. The department's creative writing faculty is similarly accomplished: our poets and fiction writers publish in the New Yorker and other prestigious literary journals.

English majors can choose from four concentrations: Literature, Creative Writing, Rhetoric and Writing, and Technical Communication. The department also supervises an honors program that brings together the best students in a semester-long seminar before sending them off to work on independent projects of their own choosing. In addition to special topics courses on such subjects as Lewis Carroll, Arthurian legends, feminist theory, Toni Morrison, post-colonial British and Indian literature, and the rhetoric of American political discourse, the department offers off-campus courses in which students study drama in performance in New York and in Stratford and London. In short, English offers a varied and challenging curriculum, exposing students to what is best in the traditional fields of English and American literature, rhetoric, and writing (creative and otherwise), while also offering courses in contemporary literature, cultural studies, cinema studies, critical theory, folklore, and linguistics. This diversity allows our majors to acquire an unusually broad range of knowledge and skills.

There are other advantages to majoring in English at the University of Tennessee. The faculty takes advising seriously because it wants its majors to make informed choices about their curricula and their career goals. Each major is assigned a faculty advisor related to his or her concentration to consult with each semester, and the electronic English Major Newsletter provides weekly information from the Undergraduate Office concerning advising and other matters of interest for those who choose to subscribe. With the support of the Hodges Better English fund and generous donations from outside the university the department awards eleven scholarships each year to the best sophomore, junior, and senior English majors; in addition, the Creative Writing Program holds annual creative writing contests with cash awards. The department sponsors the Alpha Epsilon Chi chapter of the national English honors society Sigma Tau Delta; in addition to recognizing our strongest majors, this organization organizes student-faculty socials and events of academic interest. And each year creative writers and prominent scholars are invited dy the department to lecture or read from their work.

Because of the rich and extensive training they acquire in critical thinking, advanced reading and analysis, literary and cultural history, and oral and written communication, English majors are presented with a range of career options upon graduation. Some pursue teaching careers, and a number of majors apply each year to be admitted into the English Education licensure program within the College of Education. Some become freelance writers, working for themselves or in the different fields of journalism. Others enter law school, become professional editors and publishers, or embark on careers in management, public relations, advertizing, sales, administration, library science, or public service. Graduates with a special interest in academic life pursue advanced study in English or related fields. Finally, students who take advantage of the department's strong technical communications course offerings pursue careers in technical writing and editing, Web page design, and other fields essential to today's changing economy.

Contact Information

Dr. Mark Luprecht, Director
Kristin Goddard, Asst. Director
301 McClung Tower
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996

Phone: (865) 974-6925
Fax: (865) 974-6926
Email: mluprech@utk.edu