Alex Garganigo, Chair
The Department of English shares with all the other Austin College departments and programs a commitment to helping our students love to learn. Though we are a small department, we offer both comprehensive basics of a traditional English degree and some of the most cutting-edge courses available in larger departments. In all of our courses, whatever the topic, we emphasize critical thinking, reading, and writing skills, which we regard as interdependent. As a community, we are wedded to the idea that close reading skills are among the most important aspects of undergraduate learning. This ability serves our students whether they take one course in our department, or ten.
Our program is unique in its close ties with a host of other departments. In the belief that all aspects of a liberal arts education are interconnected, and we strive toward an interdisciplinary and multicultural education that is unusual in the confines of more traditional English departments. As a result, we have the opportunity to offer courses that highlight team teaching and unusual courses with other departmental faculty. Also integral to this effort is encouraging our English students to involve themselves in foreign experiences, for which Austin College is renowned. The quality of education students receive at Austin College English speaks for itself in our award winners, honors thesis writers, and refereed student publications.
The English curriculum introduces students to a wide range of literatures through which they experience the pleasures of reading as well as the eloquence and power of language and story. The curriculum also introduces students to the historical and cultural traditions that inform the discipline and to basic critical principles of reading and interpretation, fostering students’ ability to argue critically and to research and write effectively.
A major in English consists consist of a minimum of nine course credit units numbered 121 or above distributed as follows:
- English 121 and 122
- Two courses from among English courses numbered in the 250s, at least one of which must be from the 250-255 range of courses to satisfy the prerequisite for the 300-level courses.
- One course from each of the four period course groupings listed below. One intermediate-level course (250-255) may be substituted for a period course when the intermediate course is so designated.
English 331 or 332
English 341 or 342
English 351, 352, 353, or 354
English 361, 363, or 364 - One English course numbered 400 or higher, for which two 300-level courses are prerequisite
Among the seven courses taken at the 250 level and above, at least one course must be designated as American, at least one course must be designated as British, and at least one course must be designated as postcolonial or world literatures.
A minor in English consists of a minimum of five course credits, including English 121 and four other English courses numbered 122 or higher. Students can select courses to emphasize a variety of interests, including creative writing.
The English Department awards elective credit for a score of 4 or higher on both English Advanced Placement tests (“Composition and Rhetoric” and “Composition and Literature”), but Advanced Placement credit does not satisfy the prerequisite for entrance into English 122, nor does it count toward the major or the minor.
