Mar 28, 2024  
2020-2021 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2020-2021 Undergraduate Catalog [NOTE!!!! THIS IS AN ARCHIVED CATALOG. FOR THE CURRENT CATALOG, GO TO CATALOG.NIU.EDU]

English (ENGL)


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The Department of English offers a major leading to the choice of a B.A. or B.S. degree. The English major enables students with a love of literature, rhetoric, language, and writing to advance their analytical, research, and communicative skills. The major readies students for a competitive job market in a global economy. English majors may choose one of three tracks: Studies in Literature, Language, and Film; Secondary Licensure in English Language Arts; or Studies in Writing. Advisers will help students plan their curricula according to students’ professional interests.

In the English B.A., knowledge of a foreign language prepares students for advanced studies, careers in translation, and intercultural business communication. The English B.A. also prepares future teachers to interact with English language learners and their families.

In the English B.S., students can combine their knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and math with the kinds of excellent reading, writing, and speaking skills that employers value most highly.

A certificate of undergraduate study in Creative Writing is available for students in English or other majors.

The department supports several minors. The Literature minor may focus on a particular topic, historical period, or genre such as the novel, short story, play, poetry, or nonfiction. The Linguistics minor includes courses offering a range of approaches to the study of the nature of human language; the Cognitive Studies minor offers courses with interdisciplinary approaches to the nature of knowledge and thought. The department participates with the Department of Communication in offering a minor in Professional Communication and with the Department of World Languages and Cultures in offering a minor in Comparative Literature. The department also participates in offering interdisciplinary minors with Black Studies; Classical Studies; Latin American Studies; and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

A concentration in Medieval Studies exploring the historical, cultural, and literary roots and languages of the era is available.

The department offers an honors program for its majors and regularly offers courses for the University Honors Program. Several English courses can be used by non-majors toward fulfilling the humanities and the arts area requirement in the university’s general education program. A maximum of two approved general education courses in the student’s major department may be used to fulfill general education requirements. (A course with an affiliated laboratory course shall be counted as a single course.)

Department Requirements

All students graduating with a BA or BS degree in English will complete a comprehensive core of coursework in the following areas:

  • Introduction to Literary Study
  • English Grammar
  • Analytical Writing
  • Literature to 1660
  • Literature 1660-1900
  • Literature 1900-present
  • Diverse Literatures

The GPA in the English major and minor is calculated by using all and only those English courses at NIU numbered 110 or higher, specifically excluding Foundational Studies in English composition (ENGL 103, ENGL 203, and ENGL 204). These foundational courses are not counted toward the maximum of 60 hours allowed in a single department, as described in “Special Requirements in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.”

Students with a major or minor in English must demonstrate competence in the fundamentals of English grammar by successfully completing ENGL 207 or by passing the Grammar Exemption Exam (GEE). Teacher licensure candidates in English cannot be exempt from ENGL 207 through the GEE. Students who pass the GEE will be required to substitute another English course at the 100-400 level, taken at NIU or elsewhere, to complete the 39 required semester hours in the major or the 18 semester hours required in the minor. Failing to pass the GEE necessitates that a student successfully complete ENGL 207.

English Faculty

Lara Crowley, Ph.D., University of Maryland, associate professor, chair
Melissa Adams-Campbell, Ph.D., Indiana University, associate professor
Gulsat Aygen, Ph.D., Harvard University, Distinguished Teaching Professor
William Baker, Ph.D., University of London, Distinguished Research Professor, Board of Trustees Professor, professor emeritus
Scott Balcerzak, Ph.D., University of Florida, associate professor
Alexandra G. Bennett, Ph.D., Brandeis University, professor
Betty J. Birner, Ph.D., Northwestern University, professor
Joseph W. Bonomo, Ph.D.,Ohio University, professor
Nicole Clifton, Ph.D., Cornell University, professor
Timothy Crowley, Ph.D., University of Maryland, associate professor
Michael J. Day, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, professor
Deborah C. De Rosa, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, associate professor
Susan E. Deskis, Ph.D., Harvard University, professor emeritus
Jeffrey Einboden, Ph.D., University of Cambridge, Presidential Research, Scholarship, and Artistry Professor
Philip E. Eubanks, Ph.D., University of Illinois, professor emeritus
Ibis Gómez-Vega, Ph.D., University of Houston, associate professor
David Gorman, Ph.D., Columbia University, associate professor
Ryan Hibbett, Ph.D., Southern Illinois University, assistant professor
Elizabeth A. Kahn, PhD., University of Chicago, associate professor
John V. Knapp, Ph.D., University of Illinois, professor emeritus
Amy K. Levin, Ph.D., City University of New York, professor emeritus
Doris M. Macdonald, Ph.D., Louisiana State University, associate professor emeritus
Brian T. May, Ph.D., University of Virginia, professor
Thomas McCann, Ph.D., University of Chicago, professor
Amy Newman, Ph.D., Ohio University, Distinguished Research Professor, Board of Trustees Professor
Bradley T. Peters, Ph.D., University of Iowa, professor
Kathleen Renk, Ph.D., University of Iowa, professor emeritus
Jessica L. Reyman, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, professor
Timothy Ryan, Ph.D., University of Nevada-Reno, professor
John D. Schaeffer, Ph.D., St. Louis University, professor emeritus
Diana L. Swanson, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, professor emeritus
Mark W. Van Wienen, Ph.D., University of Illinois, professor

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