Department of English

The Department of English at the University of Cincinnati fosters the liberal arts by focusing on English-language texts across four mutually-interrelated disciplines: Literary and Cultural Studies; Creative Writing; Professional Writing; and Rhetoric & Composition.  Our faculty and graduate students produce exciting, award-winning, and interdisciplinary scholarly and creative work; and our students at the graduate and undergraduate levels profit from richly varied yet integrated curricular offerings tailored to specific academic interests. We can boast of a number of truly outstanding resources, including the George Elliston Poetry Room, one of the finest collections of American poetry anywhere in the nation, and the Helen Weinberger Center, involving a collaborative partnership with UC’s College Conservatory of Music and the Cincinnati theatre community. The department publishes a number of journals, hosts reading series, festivals, and conferences, and welcomes prominent scholars for lectures and classroom visits.  Student groups, like the English Graduate Organization and the Undergraduate English Society, organize events throughout the year, helping to create our strong sense of community – despite the fact that we are the largest department in the College of Arts and Sciences.

English has something for everyone, from practical considerations concerning the best software to use in desktop publishing to theoretical reflections on issues of identity in literary and cultural texts.  If, after exploring our site, you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

• Creative Writing
  The Creative Writing track allows students to combine the writing of fiction, creative nonfiction, drama, or poetry with the advanced study of literature.

• English Education
  Do you want a career as a high school or middle school English teacher? This track, coupled with a Bachelor or Master’s degree in Secondary Education, trains students to enter the teaching profession in English Language Arts at the secondary level.

• Literary and Cultural Studies
  This area focuses on the study of significant texts and forms, both literary and extra-literary, from all historical periods; major critical theories and approaches, current as well as foundational; and the historical, cultural, and ideological conditions under which texts have been produced and received.

• Professional Writing
  The Professional Writing discipline enables students to establish a strong theoretical framework for practical applications in the field of professional writing.

• Rhetoric & Composition
  Areas of study in the program include composition pedagogy, theory, and history, rhetorical theory (classical, contemporary, and cultural rhetorics), new media studies, research methods, public writing, and writing program administration.