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Major & Minor
Pursue a degree or take courses in one of our distinct program tracks.
Graduate Studies
The National Research Council ranks our English PhD program among the best in the country.
Research
Our faculty and students participate in numerous individual and collaborative research projects.
Faculty News
Jennifer Grotz, professor of English, recently explored what sparks poetry in writers by examining Galway Kinnell’s “When One Has Lived A Long Time Alone,” a poem of poems within a book. Kinnell received his master’s from the University of Rochester. Read Grotz’s piece and an excerpt from Kinnell’s work.
Creative Writing News
The Department of English extends its congratulations to Melissa Balmain, adjunct instructor, for winning the 2020 Poetry By The Sea Sonnet Contest with her work, "Niagara Overlook." Read the piece here.
Did you know?
Feature Story
METS Awarded 3-Year NEH Grant
The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded the Middle English Text Series, a Rossell Hope Robbins Library publication, a Scholarly Editions & Translations grant worth nearly $300,000. The three-year grant will allow the team to publish six volumes of medieval literary texts (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries) in print and online. It will also support the implementation of an updated digital interface to enhance and expand user access to the nearly 100 volumes already published. In recent years, METS online texts have attracted nearly one million hits per year from more than 135 different countries and language groups around the globe. Thomas Hahn, Professor of English, now serves as Principal Investigator for the series, which was originated in 1990 by now Professor Emeritus Russell Peck.
Read More126internships and research projects
In the last two years, undergraduates have completed 126 English Department honors theses, local and national internships, and independent research projects.
Alumni in the News
Kali Quinn '03
BA in English
Via Rochester Review: "What’s Your Script?"
Through ‘compassionate creativity,’ theater artist Kali Quinn ’03 finds her own script, and helps others find theirs. Artwork: David Cowles for Rochester Review
Literature andLanguage
Film andMedia
Creative writing andtheaterWant more information about the Department of English? Contact us.