The Department of English offers an exciting array of small, seminar-style classes, each focused upon a compelling theme, to introduce students to the study of literature. First-year students will find that the reading, thinking, and writing skills taught through close instruction in these intensive introductory English courses will serve them well in many different disciplines throughout their college careers.

We encourage all entering students to consider enrolling in ENGL 103 (fall) or ENGL 104 (spring) their first year.

Each section of ENGL 103 and ENGL 104 is writing-intensive and discussion-centered. Each will introduce students to texts from a range of historical periods and to genres including the epic, the novel, drama, lyric poetry, film, and the short story. Here is the list of courses available fall 2024 (View the PDF with full descriptions and scheduling information):

  • ENGL 103.01: Translation, Transition, Transcreation (Brostoff)
  • ENGL 103.02: Science, Fiction, and Science Fiction (Brown)
  • ENGL 103.03: The Writer in the Text (Davidson)
  • ENGL 103.04: Health and Healing (Fernando)
  • ENGL 103.05: Health and Healing (Fernando)
  • ENGL 103.06: Bodily Matters (Lau)
  • ENGL 103.07: Writing the Mind (Matz)
  • ENGL 103.08: Writing the Mind (Matz)
  • ENGL 103.09: What's Love Got do To With It? (O'Neill)
  • ENGL 103.10: Denaturing "Nature" (Quinn)
  • ENGL 103.11: Writing the Race (Schoenfeld)
  • ENGL 103.12: Authorship (Suazo)
  • ENGL 103.13: Retell, Reimagining, Revision (Sukrungruang)
  • ENGL 103.14: Waste Lands (Tierney)
  • ENGL 103.15: Practitioners as Authors (Scanlon)
  • ENGL 103.16: Monstrous Forms (Fleming)

Students may proceed to the 200-level after taking ENGL 103 (or ENGL 104). Pre-med students should be sure to enroll in ENGL 103 or ENGL 104 in their first or second year, since these courses are typically not open to juniors and seniors. Students who intend to complete their humanities distribution requirement in English during their first year of study may do so by taking two courses at the 100 level or one course each at the 100 and 200 levels. Potential English majors should take a 100-level course (required for the major) right away. Students hoping to take ENGL 103 or ENGL 104 should list two alternates along with their first choice on their enrollment forms. Spring-semester creative-writing courses are open to first-year students (see "Creative Writing Courses" below).

Students who wish to begin or to continue study in English at the 100-level in spring 2025 may choose to enroll in one of the following sections of ENGL 104: 

  • ENGL 104.03: The Assault of Laughter (Grace)
  • ENGL 104.05: Authorship (Suazo) 
  • ENGL 104.06: Waste Lands (Tierney)
  • ENGL 104.07: Dealing with the Devil (Kessler)

200-Level Courses

Students exploring English as a possible major should consider enrolling in one of the intermediate-level courses designated ENGL 210-299 as soon as they have completed ENGL 103 or ENGL 104. 200-level English courses are small, discussion-centered and writing-intensive literature classes that may focus on particular formal or generic studies, on individual historical periods and national traditions, or on specific critical problems. Future English majors are especially advised to consider enrolling in ENGL 213: Texting: Reading Like an English Major, which will introduce them to key skills, methods, and critical approaches in the study of literature.

200-level courses offered in spring 2025: 

  • ENGL 217: Writing Center Colloquium (Scanlon)
  • ENGL 218: What is Narrative? (Matz)
  • ENGL 220: Studies in Shakespeare (Davidson)
  • ENGL 227: Love, Sex, and Desire in Medieval Romance (O'Neill)
  • ENGL 235: Poetic Inheritances (Brown)
  • ENGL 268: Climate Emergencies (Tierney)
  • ENGL 273: Latinx Literature and Film (Suazo)
  • ENGL 291: Disability Poetry and Poetics (Lau)

Creative Writing Courses

Students are eligible to register for 200-level creative writing workshops beginning in the spring semester of their first year. They should enroll in only one 200-level creative writing course at a time. A number of seats will be reserved for students in each class year (i.e., sophomores, juniors, and seniors in the fall, and all four class years in the spring). Each semester, the department offers one or more sections of ENGL 200 Introduction to Fiction Writing, ENGL 201 Introduction to Poetry Writing, and ENGL 202 Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Writing.