English

The Department of English educates students to become careful readers and effective writers and to derive joy from each role. To cultivate students as readers, the Department asks them to study literature in a variety of genres, including poetry, drama, the novel, the short story, and the essay. Study in the discipline of English enlarges students’ sensibilities, enriches their intellectual lives, broadens their imaginations, strengthens their critical thinking, and helps to initiate students into a community committed to liberal learning in the arts and sciences. With Francis Bacon, the Department believes that reading makes a full person, and writing an exact person. Our writing courses, both introductory and advanced, cultivate critical thinking by asking students to analyze the work of their own peers and of accomplished writers. In this way, students learn to clarify their own thoughts, examine personal biases, explore complex issues, and find the best style to communicate with various audiences.

Building upon introductory Core courses in composition and in world literature, the English major and minor seek to advance students’ skills in writing and in analytical and creative thinking; to deepen understanding of the major developments in literature written in the English language, particularly British and American literature; to strengthen competence in methods of literary theory and criticism; and to broaden the experience of language in linguistics. In short, the Department participates in the broader mission of Rockhurst University by contributing to the education of the whole person, helping to make clear what it means to be fully human: that is, a person who is advancing in knowledge, open to the transcendent, and intent on the good of others.

Besides preparing majors for teaching and graduate work, English studies prepare students for professional study of law, journalism, business and government. English studies also prepare students with a careful selection of electives and  internship experiences to take a variety of paths after graduation, including medical school, service to the Church, careers in marketing, management and corporate communication.

Program Goals

• Valuing Literature: Students will value the study of literature as the basis for a lifelong enjoyment of literary works, a spur to social engagement, a perspective on the diversity of human experience, and a guide for making ethical choices in their lives.

• Thinking and reading critically: Students will demonstrate ability to function as close readers and critical thinkers by applying higher-order thinking skills to the analysis, interpretation, and critique of texts.

• Writing with effectiveness and imagination: Students will demonstrate skill in writing by generating and focusing ideas, by maintaining audience awareness, and by exhibiting formal competence.

• Connecting texts with contexts: Students will be able to make relevant connections between texts and contexts (such as history, the culture of science and politics and religion, literary theory, and other art forms).

• Conducting and incorporating research: Students will be able to apply research skills, including integrating sources purposefully and gracefully into their writing.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Students will be able to synthesize ideas from multiple sources in order to achieve a specific purpose.

• Students will be able to integrate primary source materials effectively into their own writing.

• Students will be able to integrate secondary source materials effectively into their own writing.

• Students will be able to select, incorporate, and document appropriately ideas derived from a variety of sources, such as library print and electronic sources, and the internet.

• Students will focus their ideas in a formal essay effectively in order to demonstrate proficient skill in writing.

• Students will exhibit formal competence in the written conventions of Edited American English.

• Students will be able to articulate connections between authorial and/or cultural contexts in which works of art are created and their reception and/or performance.

• Students will develop a passion for literature and language.

• Students will appreciate literature’s ability to elicit feeling, cultivate the imagination, and call us to account as humans.
   

Return to College of Arts and Sciences  

Programs

• English, B.A., Education Track
• English, B.A., Film Track
• English, B.A., Literature Track
• English, B.A., Writing Track

• English Minor, Literature Emphasis
• English Minor, Writing Emphasis
• English Studies Minor