Capstone Seminars

Each fall semester, the Department of English offers at least two different capstone seminars, and each spring at least one seminar is offered.

Each seminar continues into the following semester for a total of six credit hours.

Prerequisites for ENG 461:
21 Credits of ENG classes beyond 100/100P with a grade of C or higher, including ENG 202; two of ENG 203, 204, 205; and two 300-level ENG classes.

Prerequisites for ENG 462: ENG 461 with a grade of C or above

We leave a few previous seminar descriptions here so that you may see the variety of possible seminar topics.

Current and Future Capstone Seminars

Fall 2024

ENG 461-01 The Craft of the Novel
Dr. Christopher Torockio

ENG 461-02 Gender and Sexuality in Medieval Literature
Dr. Meredith Clerment-Ferrand

Spring 2025 ENG 461-01 Comedy and Identity
Dr. Miriam Chirico

Fall 2023

ENG 461-01 Disability Demands Stories: Extraordinary Bodies in Literature
Dr. Maureen McDonnell

Spring 2024

ENG 461 Contemporary British Postcolonial Literature
Dr. Kenneth McNeil

Past Capstone Seminars

Fall 2022

ENG 461-01 Social Justice Literature
Dr. Daniel Donaghy

ENG 461-02 Cognition and Reading Fiction
Dr. Miriam Chirico

Spring 2023

Fall 2021

ENG 461-01 Monstrous Women
Dr. Maureen McDonnell

ENG 461-02 Playwriting and Social Justice
Dr. Reginald Flood

Spring 2022 ENG 461-01 Inventing Childhood
Dr. Allison Speicher

Fall 2020

ENG 461-01 Gender and Sexuality in Medieval Literature
Dr. Meredith Clermont-Ferrand
Spring 2021 Abstracts

ENG 461-02 Imagining Monsters
Dr. Benjamin Pauley
Spring 2021 Abstracts

Spring 2021 ENG 461-01 American Gods: Religious Expression in the U.S.
Dr. Barbara Liu

Fall 2019

ENG 461-01 The Works & Films of Studio Ghibli
Dr. Jordan Youngblood

ENG 461-02 Civil Rights Rhetoric
Dr. Christine Garcia

ENG 461-03 Rhetorics and Narratives of Crime
Dr. Rita Malenczyk

Spring 2020

ENG 461-01 The Craft of the Novel
Dr. Christopher Torockio

Fall 2018

ENG 461-01 Studies in Comedy
Dr. Miriam Chirico

ENG 461-02 Literature of the Wild West
Dr. Meredith James

Spring 2019

ENG 461-01 Love and Sex in the Victorian Age
Dr. Kenneth McNeil

Fall 2017

ENG 461-01 A Conversation with Poetry
Dr. Daniel Donoghy

ENG 461-02 "Memoir: Exploring the Private/Public 'I"
Dr. Susan DeRosa

Spring 2018

ENG 461-02 Rhetorics of Crime
Dr. Rita Malenczyk

Fall 2016

ENG 461-02 Belief and Doubt in Contemporary Fictions
Dr. Barbara Liu

ENG 461-03 Writing Poems/Reading Culture: Beyond the Workshop
Dr. Reginald Flood

Spring 2017

ENG 461-02 Liberation Literature
Dr. Maureen McDonnell

Fall 2015

ENG 461-01 Social and Political Issues in African Literature
Dr. Raouf Mama

ENG 461-02 Transhuman Literature and Media
Dr. Jordan Youngblood

ENG 461-03 Conceptual Metaphor in Literature
Dr. Elena Tapia

Spring 2016

ENG 461-01 Fictions of Reform
Dr. Allison Speicher

ENG 461-02 Imagining Monsters
Dr. Benjamin Pauley