Combining the intellectual resources of a major research university with a scale and set of values more typical of a liberal arts college, the department puts great stress on class discussion, individual conferences or tutorials, and other opportunities for students and faculty to work closely together. Likewise, the curriculum is deliberately flexible to respond to student needs and interests and to encourage close cooperation with the faculty in planning a course of study.

A major in English prepares one for various sorts of careers. Three paths are common:

• English leads readily to careers that put a premium on writing skills and on the ability to analyze complex human situations. In addition to the fields that have often been of first interest to English majors (writing and publishing, journalism, advertising, the film industry, public relations, and teaching), significant opportunities exist in the corporate world, in government, and in nonprofit organizations such as those devoted to social service, the environment, or the arts.

• The BA in English is usually essential to anyone expecting to do graduate work in English or to pursue a career as a teacher or a scholar in the field.

• The BA in English traditionally has been an important steppingstone to success in professional school, and many of our English majors choose this path. A significant number go on to law school, many to medical or business school, and some to nursing, journalism, social work, or library school, as well as directly into the business world.

FacilitiesIn addition to manuscript and rare-book holdings in the Special Collections Division, Kelvin Smith Library has strengths in Renaissance literature; 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century English literature; and American literature. The library also houses an outstanding collection of several thousand films and other audiovisual materials, supported in part by English department endowment funds. In Strosacker Auditorium, the Film Society maintains facilities capable of projecting 35 mm and 16 mm films. In the library’s Freedman Center, students have access to video cameras, state-of-the-art digital editing software, and stations where they can view audiovisual materials from the library collection.