PDF version of this chapterUndergraduate Degrees
Undergraduate Programs
With nearly 40 full-time faculty, the Department of English offers courses a broad range of courses in English, American and Anglophone literature of all periods and genres, but also in related areas such as creative and expository writing, literature and visual arts, ethnic literature and cultural studies, the history of the English language and of literary criticism, and literary and cultural theory. Class sizes are kept at 25 to enable full discussion (16 in creative writing workshops), and faculty are available for advisement. Instructors assign extensive reading and writing in order to help students become perceptive readers, critical thinkers and strong writers – skills that are their own lasting rewards and that also help prepare students for several areas of graduate study and for a number of professional and creative pursuits.Advisement
All students are assigned a faculty advisor with whom they should meet once a semester before registering for courses. Together with the director of undergraduate studies and the department's undergraduate staff advisor, who students should consult about such matters as departmental clearances and course substitutions, faculty advisors help students shape their major according to their evolving interests and the major's requirements.Major Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in English
Undergraduate majors in English are required to take 10 courses (for a total of 40 units) for a B.A. in English or for a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. The major requirements are flexible enough to allow an in-depth exploration in any field of literary or cultural study – such as American or British literature, Renaissance or African American literature -- while providing historical breadth. The creative writing emphasis has several of the same requirements as the B.A. in English, in addition to which students will enroll in at least three, but no more than four, beginning, intermediate or advanced workshops in both poetry and fiction.All majors must take three introductory survey courses, including at least two among the survey sequence ENGL 261, ENGL 262 and ENGL 263. One of the courses may be a 100-300 level course that introduces students to a particular genre or to the study of literature generally. Students should take at least two introductory courses before enrolling in upper-division electives or creative writing workshops.
In addition to three introductory courses, seven upper-division courses are required. For the B.A. in English, those seven courses must include two courses in literature written before 1800, one course in 19th century literature and one course in American literature. For the B.A. in English with an emphasis in creative writing, students must take at least three, but no more than four, creative writing workshops, with at least one in poetry and at least one in fiction. The remaining three or four upper-division courses must include at least one in literature written before 1900 and one in literature written after 1900.