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.
B.A.: English
Minor: English
Minor: Creative Writing
Minor: Journalism
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.
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.
We encourage English majors to earn valuable job experience through internships. Majors have interned at:
Some students have chosen to pursue employment in fields such as:
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:
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.
