Mission/Vision Statement: The IU Southeast English Department creates, evaluates, and administers programs in writing and literature that foster students’ intellectual growth, creativity, collaborative skills, multicultural awareness, effective citizenship, and technological competence. The department is devoted to an innovative curriculum that preserves literary and rhetorical traditions while encouraging lifelong learning: teaching students, whether as readers or writers, to see textual work as an engagement with history, philosophy, and culture and as a means of participating responsibly in a diverse and challenging world.

For students interested in an English curriculum aligned with the more traditional career paths, IU Southeast offers a scholarly environment that allows majors to gain knowledge and appreciation of the literatures of various periods and cultures. Similarly, students planning to pursue professional careers as writers can build portfolios that showcase a range of writing experiences, including technical writing and writing for the Web. The flexibility and complementary strengths of the English Department faculty and the program itself have enabled our students to combine courses in economics, management, human relations, and organizational theory within their English majors, making them even more attractive to businesses and other organizations.  For students interested in pursuing a career in professional writing, teaching, law, or continuing their studies in graduate school, IU Southeast offers an engaging environment that allows major to gain knowledge of the literatures of various periods and cultures, of the different theories and methods to writing for multiple audiences and purposes, and of the many ways in which English studies seeks to understand human experience.

All English majors take core classes beginning with an introduction to the field, which allows them to investigate the evolution of English Studies and its value in the modern career marketplace. The core also provides a comprehensive overview of theories of literary interpretation such as gender criticism, new historical criticism, and reader-response theory, as well as surveys of British and American literary traditions. After completing the core, majors may concentrate in either literature or writing (although many majors complete double concentrations). The literature concentration guides students through a wide range of literatures in English, including multicultural literatures, literatures in translation, major author studies, and research-intensive coursework that prepares them for teaching or scholarly work. The writing concentration introduces students to the evolution and use of the English language, and then provides majors with experience in several forms of writing, including academic professional and technical writing, creative, and multimodal writing.  The capstone experiences in both writing and literature allow students to introduce their work to public audiences by presenting at conferences, publishing, and applying their skills in workplace settings.

English majors also have many extracurricular opportunities to explore how to put their knowledge to practical use. For example, majors earn course credit by joining the staff of the IU Southeast Review, which publishes fiction, poetry, book reviews, essays, and photography; by editing the IU Southeast Undergraduate Research Journal, which publishes research articles by students across campus; and by writing for and editing the Voice, the annual Magazine of the School of Arts and Letters. The English Department sponsors a campus-wide writing contest each year in which many English majors participate; contest winners are honored each year at the department’s holiday Gala. In addition, the student-run English Club sponsors events throughout the year.

Such experiences both in and outside of the classroom lead English majors to success both across campus and beyond IUS. In recent years, students majoring in English have been named the Outstanding Alumni for the School of Arts and Letters and the winner of the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Award. English majors also excel in the Southern Indiana-Greater Louisville community, regularly taking high places in the Metroversity Writing Contest and recently winning the Literary Leo competition. Many majors go on to competitive graduate programs both locally and abroad, for example at IU Bloomington, Tennessee, Southern Illinois, or at the University of Sheffield, England, one of the top programs for Philosophy in the English-speaking world. Others use their skills to gain entry into professional venues. In recent years, we have seen our majors enter the fields of teaching, publishing, business and industry, advertising, government, law, communications, and public relations.

Much of this success can be traced to the communal atmosphere, the small class sizes, and the one-on-one interaction with professors, all of which make their years in the IU Southeast English Program a high point for many graduates. One recent graduate wrote, “The professors in the English department remember my name after completing their classes, which shows how small class sizes really make a difference.” Another wrote, “I chose the major in English at IU Southeast because it was affordable; I stayed because it is amazing.” Others note the value of a degree in English in any career: “The most important part of my time at IU Southeast has been learning how writing can be used to problem-solve almost any dilemma.” Students who have gone on to graduate school have been equally enthusiastic; said one, “My undergraduate education has prepared me for the graduate level equally well as many of my peers who came here from flagship state campuses.”

For additional information about the individualized, interactive opportunities available in English at IU Southeast, please see our Web site at www.ius.edu/English/.

Student Learning Goals – English Majors:

• Write effectively for specific purposes and audiences;
• Analyze, interpret, and assess the aesthetic, argumentative and/or ethical value of information in various kinds of texts;
• Effectively identify appropriate source materials;
• Use computer-based and web-based technologies effectively, appropriately, and ethically for a variety of audiences and purposes;
• Direct writing and reading beyond the classroom, for example in the workplace, for personal development, or for civic involvement.

School Policies: All courses and prerequisites fulfilling the requirements for the major must be completed with a grade of C or higher.  In addition, English majors may count no more than two online and/or correspondence courses toward the major in English.  Only one such course may count toward the minor in English.  Students may request departmental consent for exceptions.

Scholarships/Awards: Carol Bishop Scholarship for Literature-track majors in English who have taken two courses in Literature at the 300 level or above.

Degree Requirements

Degree Program Admission Requirements

Prospective English majors must meet the School of Arts and Letters requirements for admission: Completion of 12 hours with a 2.3 GPA, completion of ENG-W 131 with a C or better, and completion of the First-Year Seminar.

See “General Requirements for Undergraduate Degrees at IU Southeast” and “General Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts Degree.”

General Education Component

Note: This is not a re-statement of the University’s General Education Requirement but a list of specific General Education courses which are also requirements or pre-requisites for course work in the school/major.

Core Requirements for a Major in English (required of all majors)

ENG-L 140 (Introduction to English Studies), and ENG-L 371 (Critical Practices), are recommended before students take the American and British literature survey courses (ENG-L 351, 352, 354, 297, 298, 299).

Literature Concentration

In addition to the requirements for all English majors, English majors with a concentration in Literature must choose 15 credit hours of electives from courses designated ENG-L. Twelve of the 15 required credit hours must be taken at the 300 level or above.

Note:  Students are encouraged to take ENG-W 290 before taking an upper-division elective.

Students may take any course designated ENG-L at the 300 level or above to complete the 15 credit hours of required electives. Students should consult the course descriptions and semester-specific course schedules for more information on Literature electives.


Capstone (generally taught in the fall semester)

Writing Concentration

In addition to the requirements for all English majors, English majors with a concentration in Writing must complete the following:

Capstone