Department of English and Modern Languages
Location: 04 Maes Building
Phone: (409) 880-8558
Chair: Sara Hillin
Administrative Assistant: John Rutherford
About Our Department
The mission of the Department of English and Modern Languages (which also houses Philosophy) is to provide superior teaching, research, and service. Faculty members seek to develop student literary comprehension, creative and critical thinking, and writing and communicative abilities in a range of diverse intellectual and cultural traditions. The department is committed to fostering sound Liberal Arts academic experience and preparing graduates to meet the educational, professional and cultural needs of the region and beyond. The Department of English and Modern Languages emphasizes excellent teaching in a variety of languages, literatures, and theories.
The Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees are available in English. Scholarly interests of members of the department include the Renaissance, Shakespeare, eighteenth-century studies, English and American romanticism, the Victorian age, contemporary English and American literature, African American literature, film and media, creative writing, professional and technical writing, and Rhetoric and Composition. The English program endeavors to advance the study and appreciation of the English language as a tool for scholarly analysis, criticism, creativity, and communication. The program also seeks to help students understand literature as an expression of aesthetic and humanistic values.
The Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern Languages, with a concentration in Spanish, is also available, enabling the student to acquire competence in conversation and composition in this languages as well as familiarity with its literature and culture. The department also offers a Master of Arts in Teaching in Spanish, offering further study of Spanish literature, pedagogies for teaching Spanish, study abroad in Spain, and corresponding English courses. The department also offers minors in Philosophy, French, Spanish, Writing, English, and Humanities for Professionals.
Majors frequently certify for public school teaching in conjunction with earning the Bachelor of Arts degree in English or Modern Languages (Spanish). However, many others pursue the degree as part of their liberal arts educational goals and go on to careers in business or government service or to graduate study or law school. A degree in a foreign language is especially valuable for those anticipating Foreign Service employment in the public or private sector. The English writing concentration, as well as Modern Languages and Philosophy concentrations, can combine with other majors to improve marketability.
The graduate programs of the Department of English and Modern Languages offer the opportunity for intensive study of writing, literature, culture, pedagogy, and language in a variety of areas.