Department of English
The English Department’s mission is to prepare students to succeed in an increasingly diverse world. The department is devoted to an innovative curriculum that encourages lifelong learning, critical thinking and effective writing. We teach students to see textual work as an engagement with history, convention, culture and place so that they can participate responsibly in changing regional and challenging global environments. In particular, the department is concerned with Alaskan cultures, the North Pacific Rim environment and the intersection of networked technologies and forms of textuality.
What can you do with an English degree?
THE BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH
The programs offered by the Department of English provide an opportunity for a truly liberal education, one that encourages both self-discovery and an exploration of enduring ideas. The curriculum includes courses in composition, rhetoric, literature, and linguistics. The department also coordinates the First-Year Composition Program, which fulfills the university’s General Education Requirement in written communication.
To address our mission, the department offers three emphases in the undergraduate major: literature, rhetoric and language, and secondary education.
- The literature option focuses on significant examples of literature from different places, periods, and genres as well as the social and geocultural forces that shape them.
- The rhetoric and language option focuses on rhetorical strategies and techniques of composition, emphasizing historical, theoretical, and linguistic perspectives.
- The secondary education option prepares students for teaching literature and writing at the middle and high school levels as well as for admission to UAA’s Master of Arts in Teaching program.
The department also offers a Minor in English (with emphases in Literature, Linguistics,
or Professional Writing) as well as a minor in Creative Writing and Literary Arts.
English Students and Faculty in the News!
Harry Potter and the 400-level English class
A linguistic look at Anchorage and community
How to accidentally become a linguist
Upcoming Events & Deadlines
Welcome to First Year Composition!
First-Year Composition at UAA consists of two courses. First, students take ENGL A111 (Introduction to Composition), which emphasizes that writing is a recursive and frequently
collaborative process of inventing, drafting, and revising. Second, students take
one of four courses at the 200-level, each of which address the writing practices
commonly required in different professional contexts (be sure to check with your major
department for their recommendation):
* ENGL A211: Academic Writing About Literature (for humanities majors)
* ENGL A212: Technical Writing (for business, engineering, and the professions)
* ENGL A213: Writing in the Social and Natural Sciences (for the natural and social sciences
and health sciences)
* ENGL A214: Persuasive Writing (for education majors)
Together, this 6-credit sequence satisfies the university's General Education Requirement
in Written Communication Skills.
