Literature & Languages

Literature & Languages faculty teach, specialize, and have an interest in a variety of areas:

• British and American literature
• African-American literature
• women’s studies
• Shakespearian studies
• 18th century Irish periodical literature
• world literature
• ecofeminism
• Marxism
• animal rights literature
• post-colonial studies
• subaltern studies
• graphic novels
• diaspora and migration studies
• race theory
• Willa Cather
• environmental writing and literature
• popular culture
• vegetarian theory
• monsters in literature
• medicine in literature
• Romance and Latin American literature
• genre studies (i.e. testimonios)
• modern American working-class literature
• Italian cinema
• the politics of food
• corporate social responsibility in professional sports
• Deaf culture
• medical ASL
• writing pedagogy
• writing center administration
• strategic business communication

Literature & Languages students benefit from one-on-one student-teacher mentorship for research and graduate studies. Over 30% of our majors and minors pursue graduate degrees. The department offers a variety of grants, work-study programs, and other types of generous student research support and academic enhancement, immersion trips and study-abroad opportunities and support. The Writing Center offers both excellent writing support as well as opportunities for work and research. The department also encourages students to join student clubs and organizations, offers opportunities to volunteer for community service events, organizes reading series, sponsors the literary journal Tapestries, and endorses other campus-wide publications.

• A record of better than 96 percent employment or grad-school enrollment within three months of graduation.
• A multi-disciplinary approach that places the study of English, literature and communications in the context of our society by incorporating courses in philosophy, history, sociology and political science.
• Interactive student/instructor relationships with highly qualified faculty, that enable students to utilize vast practical experience.
• Independent study programs that allow you to pursue areas of special interest while working closely with a faculty mentor.
• A focus on ethics, as it pertains to media and society, integrated into all communications classes.
• A new media lab for print and video editing and design.
  

• Our mission is to educate each student to become a productive worker, a responsible citizen, and a cultured member of society.
• The mission is reflected in the descriptions of the department's major programs, which aim at providing life enrichment through a liberal arts curriculum and life skills through professional experiences to all its students.
• The curricular objectives of the Department are consistent with those of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, the Modern Language Association of America, the several American associations of teachers of foreign languages, and other professional organizations.