Major in Literary Studies (B.A. Degree)
Courses stress the importance of critical reading, writing, and research to provide students with a background suitable for many kinds of careers.  These courses are designed: (1) to immerse students in reading and writing; (2) to encourage students to study literary history with accuracy and imagination, helping them to understand how literary canons are established, what the may include and omit, and how they may change; (3) to integrate materials about cultural diversity into the curriculum; (4) to provide students with opportunities for interdisciplinary study; (5) to introduce theoretical questions at an early point in the course of study while integrating these questions throughout the curriculum; (6) to prepare students with conceptual and interpretive skills so they can respond to the demands of a rapidly changing world; and (7) to create the opportunity for students to connect their personal and political experiences with questions, and conflicts within literary and interpretive studies.
This program is based upon the idea that interpretations have a structure and interpretive competence requires that students learn how to use that structure to understand and test their ideas and the established interpretations of literary works.  The structure of interpretation requires there be a TEXT that is read, a CONTEXT in which it is read, and some THEORIES or presuppositions about texts and contexts, whether those assumptions are implicit or explicit.

Major In Creative Writing (B.A. Degree)
The Program in Creative Writing is one of the largest and best staffed undergraduate writing programs in the United States, and it has been recognized by the national organization, Associated Writing Programs.  Professional writers offer a major in Creative Writing as a special track in the Department of English and Creative Writing.  In consultation with the writers in the program, students choose to focus their work in some combination of genres, including: poetry, fiction, drama, and nonfiction.  Introductory courses in each genre are followed by workshops; these workshops are in turn; followed by senior seminars that focus upon topical problems and specific issues.  A workshop in drama, for instance, may be followed by a senior seminar in writing situations comedies.

Master of Arts in English (M.A. Degree)
The Master of Arts degree in English is designed to meet the needs of elementary and secondary teachers seeking permanent certification, people interested in post-secondary teaching or writing, and those contemplating further study of English literature and language at Ph.D.-granting institutions.

Major in Cinema & Screen Studies (B.A. Degree)

Other Programs offered in English
Other programs offered in English include the minor in English, minor in Creative Writing, a concentration in Childhood English Education and a certification in Adolescent English Education.