Degrees & Programs
The Department of English offers undergraduate majors, minors, and graduate programs with a strong focus on liberal arts skills such as analytical reading of literary and non-literary texts, critical thinking, and writing in a range of genres from creative to professional. English courses at Towson give students an opportunity to study and practice the myriad ways people use language in the world: to imagine, analyze, critique, argue, and persuade.
An English Major's abilities will always be in demand across a wide range of careers.
Indeed these abilities become ever more essential as our society grows more complex and technological. In addition, the department offers more specific pre-professional training in areas such as secondary education, business writing, technical writing, grant writing, editing, and publishing, as well as internships in a variety of fields. Finally, the flexibility of our major and minor requirements means that they can easily combine with a major or minor in another area.
Love to read?
In our literature and creative writing courses, you'll encounter authors from British and American traditions like Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, and James Baldwin as well as many authors new to you. You'll also have the opportunity to read and discuss authors like Edwidge Danticat, Chinua Achebe, and Salman Rushdie, who write from and about English-speaking countries throughout the rest of the world. In the English Department, we consider translation to be an act of creation, and so you might even engage with Italian, French, Russian, or Korean writing, for example, that has been translated into English.
Love to write?
Consider taking a creative writing course in poetry, fiction, or creative non-fiction, where you'll read excellent examples in those genres and gets lots of practice creating your own. You might even want to join our courses that produce Grub Street (ENGL 414 and 415), the award-winning student-produced literary magazine that is published annually.
Love to make an impact in your community?
Consider taking any one of our writing courses that we offer beyond creative writing. Learn how to write grants, spot and speak up against propoganda, write for the web, or try your hand at any number of written products that technical writers produce.
Combined, our English courses prepare you to be a thoughtful, articulate, and engaged citizen of your community and the world.
Undergraduate Programs
- English Major
- English Major with a Secondary Education Concentration
- English Minor
- Creative Writing Minor
Graduate and Accelerated Programs
The flexibility of all our programs allows students to choose from a wide selection of courses within the department, with many possibilities to combine their program of study with another major or minor.