1) Students learn about diverse literary heritages and a range of ideological perspectives

2) students learn to write intelligent, informed, and persuasive prose

3) students learn the problem-solving heuristics of critical reading and interpretation

4) students learn to interrogate ideas by maintaining a healthy distance and open-minded disposition towards rival perspectives.

• Graduating undergraduate majors will be able to read, decode, and interpret texts;
• Graduating undergraduate English majors will be able to write persuasive arguments about literary and rhetorical texts.
• Graduating doctoral students will be able to write sophisticated scholarly arguments informed by current research in the field of English studies;
• Graduating doctoral students will be able to exhibit pedagogical excellence in the teaching of writing to undergraduates.