2009-2010 University Catalog

English

■ English

Phone: 703-993-1160
Web: english.gmu.edu

Faculty

Professors: Cheuse, D’Andrea (Robinson Professor), Foster, Goodwin, Hodges, Jann, Lathbury, Lowry, Nadeau, Pankey, Tichy

Associate professors: Albanese, Amireh, Anderson, Atkinson, Burr, Clark, Fuchs, Gallehr, Hawk, Holisky, Jones, Kaplan, Kaufmann, Keaney, Kuebrich, Lattanzi Shutika, Matz (chair), Mori, Rutledge, Weinberger, Yadav, Yocom, Zawacki

Assistant professors: Brkic, Chang, Eisner, Eyman, Habila, Harvey, Hoffmann, Keith, Lawrence, Lin, Lockwood, Malouf, Marcantonio, McCarthy, Michals, Reid, Rogers, Sample, Scarlata, Stanica, Widerhold, Wulf

Term associate professors: Koch, Michals, Miller, Samuelian, Scott, Taciuch, Thompson

Term assistant professors: Beach, Berg, Burnham, DeNys, DeFazio, Habib, Jacobs, Johnson, Lister, Matthews, McGeehan, Nanian, Nichols, Rudnicki, Saunders, Taylor, Williams

Term instructors: Hoy, Raffel, Scolaro

Adjunct assistant professors: Broyles, Cabral, Casal, Dreisonstok, Fletcher, Fowler, Humbertson, Johnston, Kuhta, Moody, Pabich, Redondo, Waldron

Adjunct instructors: Baker, Cooper, Dutta, Grogan-Barone, Johnston, Lawrence, McKinney, Morris, Rhein, Surrette

Course Work

The English Department offers all course work designated CL, ENGL, LING, and NAIS in the Courses chapter of this catalog.

Related Courses

Courses offered by other departments are occasionally crosslisted with English and given the ENGL course designator; such courses may be counted toward the English major.

Undergraduate Programs

The department offers a bachelor’s degree in English, a versatile major with thirteen specialized concentrations that are designed to meet students’ individual interests and career objectives. English majors can also pursue a special option in comparative literature or do an internship in technical writing or linguistics. Students interested in becoming teachers can participate in a program offered in conjunction with the College of Education and Human Development that allows undergraduates to simultaneously complete their BA in English and their licensure requirements to teach English at the secondary school level in Virginia.

English majors learn to read critically and write carefully in classes that are uniquely small for a university the size of Mason. Students develop these abilities not only thorough reading traditional texts but also through the use of technologies such as blogs, wikis, and multimedia production. Because English majors have excellent skills in written and oral communication, research, critical thinking, and focused creativity they are well prepared for any career - teaching, journalism, creative writing, management, law, and more.

Honors in the Major

Highly qualified students may pursue advanced work leading to graduation with honors in the major. To graduate with honors in the major, students must complete the honors course sequence and receive a 3.50 GPA in all courses counted toward the major and, separately, a minimum 3.50 GPA in their honors courses. Honors courses may simultaneously satisfy concentration and distribution requirements in the major.

Students may satisfy the honors course sequence in several ways:

Students may take two sections of ENGL 414 Honors Seminar.
Students may take one section of ENGL 414 Honors Seminar and ENGL 415 Honors Thesis Writing Seminar.
Students in the creative writing concentration may take one section of ENGL 414 Honors Seminar and write a creative honors thesis in ENGL 416 Honors Independent Study.
Students in the nonfiction concentration may take ENGL 416 Honors Independent Study in conjunction with an advanced course in nonfiction writing and complete a nonfiction thesis as part of ENGL 415 Honors Thesis Writing Seminar.

See the English Department for application procedures and other information.

English with a Second Major

Students can combine a major in English with a second major. Students interested in this option are encouraged to discuss their plans with their English advisor and the director of undergraduate programs in English. See the section on Credit for More than One Undergraduate Major in the Academic Policies chapter of the catalog.

Minors

The department offers a minor in English, available to students in any major.

Faculty from English coordinate or co-coordinate the Film and Media Studies Minor , the Folklore and Mythology Minor , the Native American and Indigenous Studies Minor , and the Linguistics Minor . See the Interdisciplinary Minors section of this chapter for more information.

Bachelor’s/Accelerated Master’s Program

The department offers highly qualified undergraduates in any major the opportunity to apply to an accelerated master’s degree program in English with a concentration in linguistics. If accepted, students will be able to earn an undergraduate degree in their chosen major and a graduate degree in English with a concentration in linguistics after satisfactory completion of 144 credits, sometimes within five years.

Undergraduates in Graduate Courses

The English Department permits qualified undergraduates to enroll in its graduate courses numbered 500 through 599. They may apply these credits to their undergraduate degree or mark them for reserve graduate credit. See the department for details on how to register.

Writing Center

The Writing Center offers one-on-one conferencing during all stages of the writing process. Conferences are free to all Mason students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Writing Center tutors, who are graduate teaching assistants in the English Department, have been trained in current methods of composition instruction. They can help clients overcome writing anxiety, develop organizational and revision skills, and learn useful strategies for editing their own work. Appointments should be made by calling 703-993-1200 or stopping by the center in Robinson Hall A, Room 11, to schedule a session.

Northern Virginia Writing Project

The Northern Virginia Writing Project (NVWP) is an inservice organization dedicated to improving the writing of Northern Virginia students, kindergarten through university level. Each summer, selected teachers attend an intensive five-week institute where they demonstrate successful teaching techniques, study research on the teaching of writing, and write. After the summer institute, participants return to their schools, colleges, and universities to lead workshops and in-service seminars for other teachers. NVWP is an affiliate of the National Writing Project and one of the seven sites of the Virginia Writing Project.

Graduate Programs

The department offers graduate programs in the study and practice of literature and writing, as well as course work in related fields such as folklore, film, linguistics, and cultural studies. The master’s degree in English provides concentrations in literature, cultural studies, professional writing and rhetoric, the teaching of writing and literature, and linguistics.

The department also offers a terminal degree, the MFA in creative writing, with concentrations in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

Faculty from the department coordinate the concentration in Folklore in the master’s degree in individualized studies (MAIS).

Funding

The department offers teaching assistantships and fellowships, which are awarded on a competitive basis. Other sources of funding such as grants, loans, and employment on campus are also available. Students awarded assistantships must show satisfactory progress toward their degree.

Certificates

The department offers graduate certificates in folklore, professional writing and rhetoric, and teaching English as a second language. Students may take these as stand-alone certificates or pursue them concurrently with a graduate degree program. Part of the course work for the certificates may be able to be applied to a degree. Students must apply and be admitted to a graduate certificate program.