Our Mission

 

 

The Utica College English major, part of a college curriculum that successfully trains students for careers in various professions, partakes of that professional outlook in ways that traditional English departments in liberal arts colleges do not. Through detailed advising guides, the English major prepares students for rewarding careers in elementary, secondary, or English as a Second Language teaching, law, government civil service, or technical writing.  Students may also pursue undergraduate research under the supervision of individual faculty members in preparation for the rigors of graduate study.

But the English department also recognizes that a growing portion of the work force will not on graduation be entering narrowly specific professional areas. By teaching high-level communication, social, and reasoning skills, the Utica College English department prepares students to be the creative, idea-generating managers and executives, who are, according to the New York Review of Books, the fastest growing segment of the modern economy. Because of this training, graduates of the English major at Utica College are not locked into specific career paths.

The English major fosters this creativity through a broad range of courses in literature, writing, and language. Our graduates are rigorous analysts of facts and concepts, insightful readers of a wide range of texts, and creative generators of ideas. Through its alumni newsletter, The Spectator, the department maintains an extensive alumni network composed of secondary and college teachers and professionals in fields such as journalism, law, and business.

Outside the classroom, students combine their practical and creative abilities to produce The Ampersand, the college's art and literary magazine, and to organize events for the Harold Frederic English Society. They meet writers at the college's reading series and lunch with them, they may travel to London, where they engage in independent study, and honors students produce and present the results of a year-long research project of their own design.

With a faculty equally committed to excellence in teaching and research, the department is particularly well-suited to infuse students with this creative power. The department is distinctive in its range of scholarly interests, from Old English onomastics to Sephardi-American literature, from working-class women's fiction to upstate New York literature, from aesthetic criticism to cultural studies.

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