Take a look at what past grads from Witt have done with their majors – internships, grad school programs, and first jobs after graduation.  It’s not always as cut and dried as you think; a Liberal Arts degree has a lot of flexibility!
English

Love of literature and writing

How can loving to read and write take you places in life? As an English major, you will enrich and deepen those enthusiasms with skills in analysis, research, critical thinking and writing for varied purposes and audiences— all skills that will prepare you for diverse careers even as you’re doing something you love. You can tailor your English major with some creative writing or journalism classes, an internship, study abroad, an education minor leading to high school teaching certification, or an honors thesis. Your Wittenberg English major can reflect your developing interests and goals as you make your way through the program with our accomplished, dynamic and caring faculty.

Degrees offered

B.A.: English
Minor: English
Minor: Creative Writing
Minor: Journalism

Courses

English department faculty members teach everything from first-year composition classes to upper-level courses in their fields of expertise.

English 180 and 190 fulfill university general education requirements and serve as the first course in the major; some recent topics include Demons, Devils, and Hellfire; Shakespeare on Film; The Monstrous; Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea; Afro-Caribbean Literature, and Film Noir. Core courses in the major include Introduction to Literary Studies, British Survey I, and American Literary Traditions. Upper-level courses may reflect a theme or genre as well as a literary historical period: London in the 1590s, the American Renaissance, Contemporary American Novel, Love and War in the 18th Century, Bohemians and Revolutionaries, Hemingway, The Harlem Renaissance, and Victorian Arts and Society, for instance. Advanced creative writing and journalism courses cover a number of genres, such as fiction, poetry, news writing, creative non-fiction, screenwriting and feature writing. And for those with their own projects in mind, there is always the option of independent study or honors thesis.

Study abroad

Many English majors spend a semester, summer or year abroad. Wittenberg recognizes many programs in England, Scotland, Ireland and Australia, as well as many non-English speaking countries.

Internships

We encourage English majors to earn valuable job experience through internships. Majors have interned at:

• The Kennedy Center
• Mercy Hospital (Springfield)
• Springfield Art Museum
• Television stations in Pittsburgh, Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland
• Clark County Prosecutor’s Office
• Chicago Magazine
• CNN
• Studio Arena Theatre (Buffalo)
• USA Today
• ABC News (New York)
• Clark County Literacy Center
• Springfield News-Sun
• Scholastic Books (New York City)
• Library of Congress
• Springfield Arts Council
• Wittenberg Magazine

Placement

Some students have chosen to pursue employment in fields such as:

• Public relations (Alton Theater of Louisville, Sourcebooks Publishing)
• Teaching (Columbus City Schools, Lutheran Volunteer Corps, Teach for America, Calvin College)
• Law (across the United States)
• Journalism and publishing (Forbes Magazine, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, University of Chicago Press)
• Higher education administration (Marie College, Robert Morris College)
• Business and finance (Rand Financial, Federal Reserve of Chicago, Society Bank, Rowland Company)
• Writing (Television screenwriter, The West Wing and Justice, published playwrights, freelance writers)

Our graduates often pursue graduate/professional studies in English, journalism, technical writing, creative writing, law, business administration and communications. We have even had students pursue architecture and music. In recent years, some schools our majors chose were:

• Capital University Law School
• Case Western Reserve University (Ph.D. and law)
• City University of New York
• Columbia University
• Harvard Law School
• Indiana University
• Johns Hopkins University
• Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism
• Ohio University School of Journalism
• Sarah Lawrence College
• Syracuse University College of Law
• University of Chicago
• University of Maryland
• University of North Carolina

Get involved

The Wittenberg Review of Literature and Art: The student staff selects and edits poetry and short stories for this annual publication.

Spectrum: This student-staffed publication compiles the year’s best student-submitted essays from a wide range of departments.

The Torch: Produced entirely by a student staff, this weekly newspaper informs the Wittenberg and Springfield communities about current issues and showcases events and feature stories while providing a forum for debate and a vehicle for social change.

WittLit Society: Members gather weekly for activities related to their love of reading, writing and words. They may watch and discuss a movie, have a Scrabble tournament, provide an open-mike forum for reading poetry or have a literary-themed party.

Writing Center Advisers: Wittenberg students may apply to be peer writing tutors in the Writing Center. These students take English 242 to prepare for these paid positions.

Recent visiting writers:

• Tim O’Brien
• Eavan Boland
• Gwendolyn Brooks
• Spike Lee
• Athol Fugard
• Rita Dove
• Charles Johnson
• Maxine Hong Kingston
• Gus Lee