2016-2017 University Catalog
English
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Undergraduate Policies Phone: 703-993-1160
Web: english.gmu.edu
Faculty
Professors: Albanese, Clark, D’Andrea (Robinson Professor), Foster, Goodwin, Kaufmann, Lathbury, Matz, Mori, Pankey, Tichy
Associate professors: Amireh, Anderson, Atkinson, Brkic, Burr, Chang, Eisner, Eyman, Fuchs, Gallehr, Habila, Harvey, Jones, Keith, Kuebrich, Lattanzi Shutika (chair), Lockwood, Malouf, Michals, Reid, Rogers, Rutledge, Scarlata, Weinberger, Wheelock, Wulf, Yadav
Assistant professors: Chakravarty, Denevi, Fraser, Gatling, Hoefer, Holmes, Jackson, LaFrance, Lawrence, Morrill, Samuelian, Streckfus
Term professors: Koch, Miller, Scott, Taciuch, Thompson
Term associate professors: Berg, Burnham, King, Matthews, Nanian, Saunders, Taylor
Term assistant professors: Corbett, Doetsch-Kidder, Fitzpatrick, Green, Habib, Holmes, Howell, Lawrence, Liberatore, Lister, Mack, Nichols, Photos, Rudnicki, Savage, Shreve
Term instructors: Baker, Broderick, Hoy, Killiany, Raffel, Scolaro
Adjunct assistant professors: Broyles, Cabral, Carbo, Casal, DeFazio, Dutta, Fowler, Grogan-Barone, Jacobs, Johnston, Laptad, Kuhta, Orlando, Pabich, Patrick, Sorvillo
Adjunct instructors: Holcomb
Courses
The English Department offers all courses designated CL, ENGH, LING, and NAIS in the Courses section of this catalog.
Related Courses
Courses offered by other departments are occasionally cross listed with English and given the ENGH subject code. Such courses may be applied to the English major.
Undergraduate Programs
The department offers a bachelor’s degree in English and a bachelor of fine arts degree in creative writing.
The BA in English is a versatile major with seven concentrations designed to meet students’ individual interests and career objectives. English majors can also pursue a special option in comparative literature and 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 through 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.
The BFA in creative writing encourages freedom of thought, speech, and inquiry. Through its innovative courses, the program enables students to exercise analytical and imaginative thinking. Through its combined classroom and work-world curriculum, it prepares students to make well-founded ethical decisions. The degree offers three concentrations allowing for the opportunity to learn the conventions of several genres.
300-level courses in English and linguistics teach the foundational principles for a field of study, include courses of broad scope, and provide an introduction to a genre, literary period, or methodology.
400-level courses in English and linguistics provide an in-depth approach to a field of study, a single genre, literary period, or methodology. They include special topics classes and English honors classes. Some 400-level courses require ENGH 305 as a prerequisite.
Honors in the Major
Highly qualified students in either the BA in English or the BFA in creative writing programs may pursue advanced work leading to graduation with honors in the major. To graduate with honors in the major, students must complete a two-course honors sequence and receive a minimum GPA of 3.50 in all courses counted toward the major and, separately, a minimum GPA of 3.50 in their honors courses. Honors courses may simultaneously satisfy concentration and distribution requirements in the major.
Students satisfy the honors course sequence by taking one of the following:
Students interested in pursuing honors in the major should consult the English Department for more 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. See the section on Credit for More than One Undergraduate Major in Undergraduate Policies .
Minors
The department offers a minor in English, which is available to students in any major at Mason.
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 .
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 699. 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. Writing Center tutors, who are graduate teaching assistants in the English Department, have been trained in current methods of composition instruction. They help clients overcome writing anxiety, develop organizational and revision skills, and learn useful strategies for editing their own work. To learn more about the Writing Center services or to schedule an appointment, students should consult the Writing Center website.
Northern Virginia Writing Project
The Northern Virginia Writing Project (NVWP) is a professional development organization dedicated to improving writing instruction, writing practice, and learning at all educational levels, and to developing teacher leaders across the disciplines.
Each summer, selected teachers attend an intensive four-week institute where they demonstrate successful teaching methods, develop their own writing lives, and study the latest research and theory on the learning and teaching of writing. After the summer institute, participants receive the designation of Teacher Consultant and join over 900 other teachers in carrying out the work of the NVWP. The NVWP is an affiliate of the National Writing Project and one of the six sites of the Virginia Writing Project.
Graduate Programs
The department offers graduate programs in the study and practice of literature, writing, rhetoric, and linguistics, as well as course work in related fields such as folklore, film, 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 has a terminal degree, the MFA in creative writing, with concentrations in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Also offered are doctoral programs in linguistics and writing and rhetoric.
The department offers graduate certificates in folklore studies, professional and technical writing, and teaching English as a second language. Students may take these as stand-alone certificates or pursue them concurrently with a graduate degree program. In many cases part of the course work for a certificate may also count toward a degree. Students must apply and be admitted to a graduate certificate program.
Faculty from the department coordinate the concentration in folklore studies in the master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies (MAIS). See Interdisciplinary Studies (MAIS) in this section for details.
Funding
The department offers teaching assistantships and fellowships 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.
ProgramsUndergraduate Degree(s)Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Minor(s)Undergraduate Minor(s)Bachelor’s/Accelerated Master’s Program(s)Master’s Degree(s)Master’s Level Certificate(s)Doctoral Degree(s)
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