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JOSH KOTZIN, Ph.D., Chairperson

MISSION:

The English program offers concentrations in literature, writing, and theatre; the goals and principles underlying these concentrations are the same:

1. To increase the student’s appreciation and understanding of the literary, pragmatic, rhetorical, and dramatic uses of language.
2. To develop the student’s ability to write effectively in a variety of situations.
3. To help the student become more receptive to the many-sided pleasures of reading, writing, and oral presentation.
4. To enable the student to see how literary and nonliterary texts illuminate the complexity of human experience.
5. To heighten the student’s awareness of the moral and ethical implications of literary and nonliterary texts.
6. To foster the student’s intellectual, aesthetic, and professional creativity.

The professional goals of the three concentrations are similar:

1. To prepare students for careers utilizing analytical writing skills and/or performance skills in such fields as business, industry, education, government, theatre, and media.
2. To prepare students for graduate studies in literature, theatre, and writing and in fields that require analytic, interpretive, and writing skills.
3. In conjunction with the Teacher Education Program, to prepare students for careers in secondary education.

Theatre Program

The Theatre Program is the academic wing and production laboratory for the English Department’s Concentration in Theatre and Theatre Minor. Open to students of all majors and minors, the Theatre Program produces two mainstage productions per year in conjunction with the student theatre club, MCCTA, and offers several Theatre Scholarships to incoming freshmen. In addition to a host of theatre courses each offered semester, students opportunities include professional workshops and lectures, the Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honor Society, the HuMarists improv troupe, and alumni networking through events such as the Marist Theatre Alumni Hall of Fame Induction. Additionally, the campus theatre club, MCCTA, produces several productions a year, including a musical, a comedy or drama, and an original play competition and festival. A Summer Pre-College Theatre Institute is available for high school students.

Writing Program

The Writing Program includes not only the variety of courses offered by the English Department’s Concentration in Writing and the Minors in Professional and Creative Writing, but also the diverse array of student events and activities of interest to writers outside the classroom. This includes regular visits to campus by established writers in all genres, student readings, excursions to places of literary interest, and popular campus-wide events like the Red Fox Poetry slam. The Program also offers writing assistance and tutoring opportunities through The Writing Center. All Marist students are welcome to participate in Writing Program events, regardless of major. Student organizations like the Literary Arts Society and Sigma Tau Delta (English Honors Society) are active in planning many of these annual events, and always welcome new members.

Concentration in Literature

The literature concentration provides students with a sense of the historical development of the Western literary tradition, especially that of English and American Literature. Students also examine how that tradition is continually re-formed and reshaped as writers from previously excluded cultural traditions and once-marginalized groups are added to the canon. Students in the concentration develop the analytical skills and the critical language to describe, analyze, and evaluate literary texts.

Internships within the English department offer students the opportunity to gain experience in research and teaching, while internships in the private and public sectors present students with the opportunity to gain work experience that utilizes the analytical, interpretive, and writing skills that the concentration fosters.

Honors in English

Up to 10% of graduating seniors in English will be awarded honors in the major on the basis of demonstrated excellence and achievement. Departmental faculty will select recipients each spring from among seniors meeting the following criteria:

1. a minimum of 60 credits earned at Marist College; a minimum of 27 credits earned in English at Marist College;
2. a minimum cumulative G.P.A. of 3.25 overall;
3. a minimum G.P.A. of 3.5 in English courses;
4. distinguished achievement in a senior Capping Course project, which may take as its focus (1) research, (2) analysis, or (3) creative expression.

Programs

• Creative Writing Minor
• English Literature Minor
• English, Literature Concentration, B.A.
• English, Theatre Concentration, B.A.
• English, Writing Concentration, B.A.
• Professional Writing Minor
• Recommended Program Sequence for a Bachelor of Arts in English (Literature)
• Recommended Program Sequence for a Bachelor of Arts in English (Theatre)
• Recommended Program Sequence for a Bachelor of Arts in English (Writing)
• Theatre Minor

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