Major

Director of Undergraduate Studies: Professor Susan Eilenberg
Office of Undergraduate Studies: 303 Clemens Hall (645-2579)
Secretary: Nicole Cavallaro

 

What do English students do?

Students choose from a variety of courses within every area of the English major.  Also, because of the size of our faculty (we are returning to the level of 50 full-time faculty), students may develop concentrations in a variety of fields—including several historical periods, cultural studies, popular culture, ethnic literatures, film, creative writing, and critical theory.  In any given semester, we offer courses like Medieval Epic, Love in the Western World, Mythology, Revenge in Renaissance Drama, 18th-Century Fiction, American Travel Writing, The Bible as Literature, Crime Fiction, Comedy, The Modern American Novel, and National Cinemas.  There is a concentration in Creative Writing, staffed by five published poets and fiction writers, and the department offers an interdisciplinary Journalism Certificate, staffed in large part by working journalists and offering multiple internship possibilities.

Students also enjoy a rich array of extracurricular offerings.  There are multiple fiction and poetry readings every semester, bringing a range of emerging and established writers to Buffalo.  The Buffalo Film Seminar (a course open to the public in a downtown theater) screens great films weekly in the context of discussion led by practicing film makers. Scholarly lectures abound, and so do literary opportunities in the city of Buffalo—from poetry slams to opportunities to meet world-famous writers: in 2008-09, including Chinua Achebe, Isabelle Allende, and Michael Ondaatje.  Students produce their own literary magazine, host their own readings, and form undergraduate clubs on the subjects that most interest them—including, recently, a Shakespeare and an Old and Middle English Club. 

Students also work with faculty on scholarly research projects—for example, on Whitman’s Civil War poetry, on popular fiction in the UK, or on the nineteenth-century literature of politeness. In 2007-08, an English major won an international United Nations writing contest and was flown to Paris as part of her prize; another English major received honorable mention in a national essay contest. 

The English Minor easily complements multiple areas of study and assists students wanting to hone writing and analytical skills in their major areas of study.

The English Honors program enables students with a high GPA or nominated by department faculty to work even more closely with faculty in the department in seminar-style courses, and in writing a senior thesis.  Honors students are especially likely to participate with faculty on research projects or as research assistants. In the last few semesters, for example, students have worked with faculty members on projects about Irish literature, Italian horror movies, American short stories, and American film.

The English Department offers numerous prizes:

*The English Department Essay Contest

*The Albert Cook, Mac Hammond & John Logan Prizes for drama, fiction, or poetry *The Arthur Axlerod Memorial Award for poetry *The George Knight Houpt Prize for excellence in work in the English Department *The Joyce Carol Oates Fiction Prize *The Scribblers Prize for the best piece of creative writing by an undergraduate woman.

Additionally, the Oscar A. Silverman undergraduate library offers an Undergraduate Research Prize (won in 2007-08 by an English major) and two poetry prizes:

             

*The Academy of American Poets Prize

*The Friends of the University Libraries Undergraduate Poetry Prize.

For more information about our courses, check out The Whole English Catalog at our web site at http://english.buffalo.edu.

 

Full Major in English

Minimum Requirements for Department Acceptance:

Students should be in good standing (i.e., have a GPA of 2.0), have satisfied the University Writing Skills requirement, and have completed two courses in the English 202-299 range, at least one of them a literature course, with a minimum GPA in these classes of 2.5. Application includes a conference with the Director of Undergraduate Studies about the programs requirements and how the student may meet them.

Department Requirements for Graduation:

  1. The aforementioned two courses (6 credits) in the English 202-299 range, with a minimum GPA in these courses of 2.5. At least one of them must be a literature course, and we recommend that at least one be a survey of literary history such as World Literature (221-222), British Writers (231-232), or American Writers (241-242).
  2. Eleven courses (33 credits) on the 300-400 level, as follows:
    1. One course (3 credits) in Criticism - English 301. Criticism introduces the students to the practice and principles of literary criticism. Classes will discuss the close reading of texts (including poetry, prose, and analytical writing), the intelligent use of secondary sources, the revision of critical prose, the meaning of scholarly conventions, and several varieties of literary theory. Topics vary with instructors' interests, but in all sections students will draft and revise a research paper of at least twelve pages. A student's first section of Criticism may not fulfill any other requirements for the major.
    2. Four courses (12 credits) in Earlier Literature, chosen from among specified courses that focus on literature written before 1830. At least two of these four courses must come from the following three categories: 303 (Chaucer), 309/310 (Shakespeare), and 315 (Milton).
    3. Two courses (6 credits) in Later Literature, chosen from among specified courses that focus on literature written after 1830.
    4. Four elective courses (12 credits) chosen from the 300 and 400 levels. These may include courses in Earlier Literature, Later Literature, or Criticism courses in addition to those specified above. They may not include more than six credits of Independent Study or any credits earned in an internship.
    13 courses (39 credits) in all.

Departmental Language Requirement for Graduation

  1. Every English major must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language through the second semester of the second year or its equivalent.
  2. Any student entering the University with less than strong beginning proficiency in a foreign language will start with the introductory class and proceed through a total of four semesters. The normal sequence for Spanish, for example, would be Span. 101, Span. 102, Span. 151, Span. 152.

Joint Major in English

Minimum Requirements for Department Acceptance:

Same as for the full major.

Department Requirements for Graduation

  1. Two 200-level courses (6 credits) of English in the 202-299 range, with a minimum GPA of 2.5 in these courses. At least one must be a literature course, and we recommend that at least one be a survey of literary history such as World Literature (221-222), British Writers (231-232), or American Writers (241-242).
  2. One course (3 credits) in Criticism - English 301.
  3. Three courses (9 credits) in Earlier Literature, chosen from among specified courses that focus on literature written before 1830. At least two of these four courses must come from the following three categories: 303 (Chaucer), 309/310 (Shakespeare), and 315 (Milton).
  4. One course (3 credits) in Later Literature, chosen from among specified courses that focus on literature written after 1830.
  5. At least two additional (elective) courses (6 credits) in the 300-400 level.

Nine courses (27 credits) in all.

Departmental Language Requirement for Graduation

Same as for the full major.

General Recommendations

  1. Literature Surveys. Students entering the University as freshmen are encouraged to take a full year of a 200-level survey course to satisfy the major requirement. The survey courses (221-2, 231-2, 241-2) will provide students with a sense of literary history that will serve as context for what they will study within the major. Transfer students or students who decide on the English major after taking their 200-level courses may wish to take more than the required four earlier literature courses if their 200-level courses were not surveys. Those planning to take the GRE in Literature and pursue English at the graduate level are strongly urged to take as much work as possible in the literature of historical periods before 1900.
  2. Foreign Languages. While any language, ancient or modern, satisfies the departmental language requirement, the preferred choices for those planning to do graduate work in the humanities are German, French, Spanish, Latin, and Greek.
  3. Program Planning. Individual programs should be chosen in a coherent way and should take advantage of groupings and concentrations within the Major.
  4. Department Advisement and Degree Evaluation. Feel free to consult with the Undergraduate Director in Clemens 303 about your progress towards the degree or your course selections. English majors should check with the Director if they have questions about their records, department requirements, or their program in general.
  5. Transfer Credit Evaluation. Transfer credit is evaluated on an individual basis by the Undergraduate Director. Students must make an appointment with the Undergraduate Director to have an evaluation of transfer work. Students transferring from MFC or who are re-entering after several years absence should also consult with the Undergraduate Director for an evaluation of their English work. The Department may accept two lower-level and four upper-level transfer courses at the Director's discretion.