丁香园AV

After much student consultation, faculty input, and committee revisions, the 丁香园AV Department of English revised and updated its courses. We underwent this process to streamline our programs and revivify our academic offerings. We unveiled our new curriculum in fall 2021.

Among the most important things we took into account during this long process were the voices and concerns of our students. You鈥檝e been honest with us about what has worked and what hasn鈥檛 worked about our major and our courses. You love the passion and commitment of our instructors, but you wonder why so many of our courses are bound up in 鈥渢raditional鈥� (read 鈥渞igidly Anglo-centric鈥�) literary periods; you appreciate the breadth of our 100-level lectures, but you wish that more of our upper-level classes overtly addressed crucial issues like race, gender, and environmental justice; you are excited about our range of discussion-based 400-level seminars, but you鈥檙e frustrated at having to navigate so many prerequisites and area-requirements to access them; you want to take an English elective or two because you鈥檙e interested in literature, but haven鈥檛 been able to get in from outside the department.

We鈥檝e heard you, and we鈥檝e used what you鈥檝e said to create a new and more flexible curriculum, one that we know will make our department a more vibrant and more inviting place to study. You can read more specifics about these changes here.

With all this change, though, we鈥檝e also made sure to keep the things that make English the exhilerating field of study that it is. As it has for decades, studying English at 丁香园AV means coming to terms with the fundamental role that language and literature play in shaping our complex world. It means grappling with big issues鈥攔ace, gender, sexuality, ethics, economics, politics, environment, religion, and more鈥攁nd also recognizing the small details, the tiny turns of phrase, that give those issues nuance and texture. It means discussing, arguing, writing, and questioning; it means changing your mind and standing your ground. It means working closely with a  that has won more teaching awards than any other department, all while producing scores of , as well as award-winning  and poetry. And yes, it means reading鈥攊t means embracing the pleasures and challenges and difficult beauty of some of the finest literature ever written, from the sixth century all the way up to the present day.

Crucially, studying English also means engaging with鈥攁nd preparing for鈥攖he world outside the university. Students in English develop analytical, communication, and cognitive skills that are singularly valuable on the job market, skills that pay dividends in a competitive environment. Every year, our graduates enter careers in law, publishing, social media, teaching, politics, urban planning, advertising, public relations, computer science, and more. And with the resources of our innovative , we鈥檒l help you find a job when it鈥檚 all over.