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Department of English

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The Department of English offers a number of majors and minors as well as courses in support of American Studies, Women’s Studies, teacher certification programs, the Liberal Arts Core and the University Honors program. English majors learn to engage with the complexity and versatility of the English language and literature.

Courses in the English Department:

  • Cultivate your skills in critical and creative thinking
  • Deepen your ability to glean pertinent ideas from reading and research
  • Refine your skills as a writer and communicator
  • Develop your ability to evaluate competing points of view
  • Broaden your perspective on the world
  • Enable you to explore and consider human emotions and values

The study of language and literature prepares students for careers and/or further study in:

  • Editing and Publishing
  • Law
  • Library and Information Science
  • Writing
  • Public Relations
  • Teaching
  • Business
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Dispatches from the Pandemic

First-year college students in Honors 150 were asked to document their experience of the pandemic as their final class project.

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Department Chair
Dr. Stephen Ferruci
Webb Hall Rm. 230
(860) 465-0653
(860) 465-4580
ferrucis@easternct.edu		 Secretary
Ms. Miranda Lau
Webb Hall Rm. 225
(860) 465-4570
(860) 465-4580
laum@easternct.edu
Associate Chair
Dr. Kenneth McNeil
Webb Hall Rm. 234
(860) 465-4578
(860) 465-4580
mcneilk@easternct.edu		  
group of english majors receive awards
english majors speaking at forum
students working together on project
professor handing out books to studentss

Faculty Spotlights

Christopher Torockio

Professor

“My favorite teaching moments are when a student who came to class having no idea that they liked to write discovers their voice and realizes that they have a passion for writing.” Read More

Christopher Torockio

Allison Speicher

Associate Professor

“As a liberal arts true believer, a trained teacher and a first-generation college graduate, I knew Eastern’s students were the students I was meant to be teaching.” Read More

Allison Speicher
View All Faculty Spotlights

In the News

Author Madeline Miller speaks with Eastern community

Author Madeline Miller closes Eastern's 'Big Read' program

 April 18, 2024

New York Times #1 best-selling author Madeline Miller hosted a virtual lecture on her book “Circe” at Eastern Connecticut State University on April 17. Readers from across the state joined in the culminating event of Eastern’s “Big Read” program.

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English undergraduates publish in academic journals

February 28, 2024

Two honor students in the English Department recently published major writing projects in academic journals. Recent alumna Kai-li Davey ‘23 was featured in the January 2024 Sigma Tau Delta creative writing journal “Rectangle,” and Marcus Grant ‘24 received recognition in the Fall 2023 issue of the scholarly journal “Metamorphosis.”

Global voices unite: Professor Donaghy and students publish sixth edition of ‘Here’

Donaghy and students publish sixth edition of ‘Here’ poetry journal

 February 07, 2024

Contributors, editors and Eastern students packed into the David G. Carter Science Building auditorium on Feb. 1 to celebrate the sixth issue of “Here: a Poetry Journal,” published each year by students working with English Professor Daniel Donaghy.

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Connect With Us on Social Media Eastern English Department @ECSUEnglishDept ecsuenglishdept Eastern English Department
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Programs of Study

  • Eastern’s English major provides students with exciting educational and career options. Introductory, writing intensive, and senior capstone courses required of all majors provide students with a solid foundation for future success. The faculty are passionate about teaching and dedicated to helping students explore their interests while developing their skills as critical thinkers, perceptive readers and effective writers. Concentrations include General English Studies, Creative Writing, Cultural Studies, English for Early Childhood/Elementary Education, English for Secondary Education, Literary Studies, Rhetoric and Composition and Student-Designed. An English minor is also available to students in other majors. An English concentration is also available in the Liberal Studies major.

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  • The Liberal Studies major at Eastern is offered exclusively to students who are preparing to become elementary or early childhood educators. Students may complete the undergraduate education program or enroll in the Early Start master’s degree program to earn their certification. The program offers concentrations in the Natural Sciences, History/Social Sciences, English, Mathematics and Environmental Earth Sciences to prepare students for certification as early childhood or elementary teachers and develop in-depth expertise in a single subject.

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  • Eastern is the only public university in Connecticut with a major in Women’s and Gender Studies. The program offers a quality undergraduate education in gender scholarship. Students learn about the achievements and activism of women and other historically underrepresented groups as they consider how gender and other identities shape social experiences. Students think about social change in informed ways and are able to apply their acquired knowledge, analytical skills and competencies to their careers and everyday life. A minor in Women's and Gender Studies is also available.

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  • Students in the Writing minor explore writing from the imaginative to the persuasive, from fiction to political blogs, from graphic novels to digital hypertexts – as writers and critics. Students develop interests and goals, whether in creative writing, rhetoric, business writing, editing and publishing, or any combination of these.

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