Engage with diverse literatures and contexts to develop your critical thinking and
writing skills as an English major at Wilkes. Concentrations in digital humanities, literature, writing and education will prepare you for a wide range of careers.
Program Snapshot
Program Type
Format
Credit Hours
Major, Minor
On Campus
120 (18 for minor)
Why Study English at Wilkes?
The close-knit community and co-curricular activities are hallmarks of the Wilkes
English department.
As an English major, you spend a significant amount of time reading and writing. To
thrive, you will need not only concentration, but conversation. No writer writes alone!
Our faculty share their expertise and creativity, and welcome yours in and out of
the classroom. You’ll be a vital part of the Kirby Hall community, the English Department’s
home on campus.
Through an examination of American and world literature, you’ll develop critical thinking
skills that will serve you in your professional and personal life. You’ll learn to
effectively communicate your thoughts through exercises in academic, creative and
workplace writing.
You’ll build an appreciation for and understanding of genres, including fiction, poetry,
drama and nonfiction.
In our digital humanities courses, you’ll analyze and create literary and non-literary
digital texts to enhance your experience in the remote work space.
Choose one of four concentrations that best suit your education and career goals:
You can also minor in Creative Writing to develop your creative imaginations or Workplace Writing to prepare for opportunities outside of the classroom.
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Program Highlights
Workshops with Guest Artists
English majors have access to intimate writing workshops and conversations with rising
and established authors through the annual Allan Hamilton Dickson Spring Writers Series.
Past guests include Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, Alice Sola Kim,
Phil Klay and Valeria Luiselli.
International Membership
You can become a member of Alpha Gamma Alpha, our award-winning Sigma Tau Delta chapter.
This international honor society lets you exhibit your academic achievements and have
the opportunity to present at conferences, network at conventions and earn scholarships.
Real-World Experience
Earn valuable hands-on experience in leadership roles with The Inkwell and The Manuscript Society. Develop skills as a consultant and workplace writer
in the University Writing Center. You can also earn scholarship funds for your commitment
to editorial positions. If you want to venture into off-campus opportunities, you
have access to a variety of local and remote publishing and workplace writing internships.
Wilkes was a place for me to foster my intelligence and critical thinking. Keep your
options open. Don’t be afraid to go off road and see what happens.
Brianna Schunk '20 - English and Individualized Studies
concentrations (digital humanities, literature, writing and education)
90%
of English majors get full-time work in a related field with their bachelor's degree
Asterisk
4+1
BA/MA in Creative Writing program offered
Asterisk indicates
based on self-reported survey data.
Explore Our Courses
Do you wish to...
Explore the rhetorical and linguistic strategies used by legal, government and media
experts?
Discover the roots of English drama starting in the 10th century?
Analyze the conflict of rational and irrational that permeates Gothic literature?
Our diverse course offerings provide an abundance of opportunities to study every
and all aspects of the English language.
Featured Upcoming Courses: Spring 2026
Taught By: Dr. David Hicks
This course will provide you with lessons on the craft of fiction writing, along with
extensive opportunities to practice this form. In addition, we will read, discuss,
and learn from examples of contemporary fiction. By the end of the course, you will
have developed an improved ability to craft a scene, story, or book chapter; to “read
as a writer”; to identify successful and unsuccessful uses of craft elements and apply
those lessons to your own writing; and to revise your work efficiently and effectively.
Required Text: The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story
Taught By: Dr. Thomas A. Hamill
In this course we will examine the history of English, beginning with a comparative
study of the language from its origins in Proto-Germanic (and Proto-Indo-European)
and working our way chronologically up through the sounds and symbols we use (and
continually adapt) today. Our aim will be to acquire a working vocabulary for language
study and grammatical and linguistic analysis, as well as a critical understanding
of the historical, social, political, cultural, and material forces that have affected
(and still shape) the ways we communicate and comprehend—and the ways in which we
identify ourselves and others—in and through English.
We will study in detail the internal lexical and grammatical features of the major
versions of the English language that have evolved over the last 1500 years—Old, Middle,
and (Early) Modern English—as we consider thoroughly the broader, external factors
involved in language change. In conjunction with our chronological mapping of developments
across the history of English, we will regularly examine and engage contemporary instances
of language change that unfold around us (and that we participate in and perpetuate)
every day; we will also consider and project, from an historical linguistic perspective,
the changes English will likely continue to undergo due to variables as language-specific
as usage patterns and as general as socio-cultural change and technological innovation.
While our course focus and readings will primarily be linguistic, we will also read
and literary texts that provide important historical examples of English and that
align with Wilkes University Spring Theatre Production and the Department of English’s
Allan Hamilton Dickson Spring Writers Series.
Tentative Course Assignments: Students will complete two unit exams, a final exam, one short response paper (5-7
pages); a word history paper (5-7 pages), a research essay (10-12 pages), and a digital
lexicology/lexicography project.
Taught By: Dr. Mischelle Anthony
This course will explore how gender, race, and class concerns appeared across texts
of the long eighteenth century (1660-1820) as the reading public expanded. In addition
to sampling the era’s rich individual perspectives, discussions and assignments will
revolve around audience, purpose, and context. Our explorations will complicate stereotypes
and assumptions and also examine how reading changes with cultural pressures and practices.
Major Assignments
Oral Presentation,
Research Essay (10-12 pages)
Midterm
Final Exam
Possible Texts
Knight, Sarah Kemble. The Journal of Madam Knight
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
Eliza Haywood, Love in Excess
Burney, Frances. Journals And Letters
Nightwalkers: Prostitute Narratives from the Eighteenth Century
Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Gay, John, The Beggar’s Opera
Voltaire, Candide
Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang, The Sorrows of Young Werther
Brown, Charles Brockden. Wieland
Manvill, Mrs. P.D. Lucinda; Or the Mountain Mourner
Bailey, Abigail Abbot. Religion and Domestic Violence in Early New England
As a course in Literature and Film, this section of ENG 397: Senior Seminar will involve
the close and careful study of a range of texts within the field of late-20th Century
American plays and their film adaptations. Most specifically, we will focus on the
work of Edward Albee, David Mamet, Neil Labute, and John Guare. We will spend 2/3
of our in-class time watching films, using written work to engage in response and
analysis, supplementing discussion.
In a broader sense, this section of ENG 397 will provide a basic introduction to the
theories, methods, questions, and concerns of film studies, helping students develop
a vocabulary of cinematic analysis and criticism, and providing an analytical base
that is vital to work in actual film production or screenplay writing. Considering
our approaches to film studies, students will be able to work with the course materials
(films and literary texts) in ways that relate to varied studies.
Focusing on writing and the written analysis of film and literature, students will
be responsible for numerous in-class/take-home worksheet assignments. In terms of
major assignments, students will complete: TWO 5-page Cinematic Analysis Papers; ONE
Annotated Bibliography; and ONE 10-page Cinematic Criticism Paper, employing research
in the areas of literary and cinematic studies. Notably, as film studies involve the
study, analysis, and commentary on visual media, we will practice the inclusion and
analysis of visual data—or “visual quotes”— and well as traditional textual quotes
in our writing. The course will also include an end-of-semester roundtable discussion
of our final research and work.
Please consider that this course focuses on, in part, texts that contain realistic
and potentially “harsh” language, complex political, racial, ethnic, religious, and
sexual themes, etc. This course will require our mature, thoughtful, and ethical study
of these aspects of the material.
Required Texts
William Inge Picnic (film only)
Edward Albee Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Berkley. ISBN-13: 978-0451218599
David Mamet Glengarry Glen Ross Grove. ISBN-13: 978-0802130914
David Mamet Oleanna Vintage. ISBN-13: 978-0679745365
Neil Labute In the Company of Men Faber & Faber. ISBN-13: 978-0571199313
Neil Labute The Shape of Things Faber Drama. ISBN-13: 978-0881452228
John Guare Six Degrees of Separation. Vintage. ISBN-13: 978-0679734819
Courting Success
If you’re pondering a career as an attorney, consider pursuing an English major. A
BA in English will give you a solid foundation of reading comprehension, compelling
writing and analytical thinking.
Through Wilkes’ pre-law program, you’ll work with a pre-law advisor in addition to
your advisor in the English department. The pre-law program provides guidance on law
school preparation and admission, as well as access to guest speakers and law school
visits.
Wilkes English majors consistently earn some of the highest scores on the Law School
Admission Test (LSAT) as well as admission and full scholarships to highly ranked
law schools.
English majors often pursue careers in writing, publishing, education or law, but
a variety of industries and corporations need the creative and analytical skills English
majors bring to the table.
Job Titles
Secondary or Middle-Level Educator
Attorney
University Professor
Managing Editor
Senior Editor
Content Writer
Public Relations Representative
Grant Writer
Health Care Manager
Employers
Google
Wyoming Valley West (PA) School District
Winchester (VA) Public Schools
Berkshire Hathaway Guard Insurance
Syracuse University Press
Elsevier Publishing
U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior
Web.com
Salisbury University
Think Company (PA)
Epic Games
Graduate Schools
Penn State Dickinson Law
University of Illinois
UCLA School of Law
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Hofstra University
Rosemont College
Villanova University
New York University
Tulsa University
Spring Writers Series
The Allan Hamilton Dickson Spring Writers Series brings published authors to campus,
providing the Wilkes community and other literature lovers with access to readings
and book signings.
English majors have a unique opportunity to connect with these professionals and gain
insight into the creative process through small class sessions and writing workshops.
We’ve hosted writers such as Margaret Atwood, Zach Linge, Poupeh Missaghi and Howard
Norman, who shared a diverse look at poetry, fiction and memoir.
