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English

Students in Dickinson's Department of English study a range of English-language texts, including novels, poems, plays, graphic narratives, films, television and other work.

Our curriculum is flexible and focused, allowing majors to follow their own interests through diverse course offerings that address core questions (of author and audience; culture, nation and identity; form, medium and materiality; and history, period and influence).

Classes deepen the skills that help students to engage in critical conversations with authority and purpose. This culminates in an independently chosen senior thesis project—and then, a life beyond Dickinson in which English majors continue to show how reading, writing and thinking are vital to understanding and shaping our world.  

Contact Info

Chair

Jacob Sider JostAssociate Professor of English (2011)

Department coordinator

Kelly Winters-FazioSr Academic Department Coordinator

Phone

717-245-1347

Fax

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Location

3rd & 4th Floors East College Mailing Address

Department Features


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Study Abroad
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Current Courses

Student Outcomes

Where Graduates Go From Here

Jobs

  • Vanity Fair
  • Penguin Random House
  • FTI Consulting
  • Gartner
  • MLB Network
  • Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
  • National Theater Institute
  • Urban Teachers (AmeriCorps)

Graduate Schools

  • University of Pennsylvania Law School
  • Princeton University Graduate School
  • The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University
  • Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communications
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • Columbia University
Where Students Have Interned
  • NPR
  • Christie’s
  • Rodale Inc.
  • WriteGirl Los Angeles
  • Smithsonian Institution
  • NBC/Universal
  • Penguin Group
  • WHDH Boston

Student Perspective

“I really loved taking Plague Years with Associate Professor of English Claire Seiler. Learning about the different types of literature, propaganda, films and advertisements produced in the influenza epidemic of 1918 and the midcentury polio crisis was incredibly interesting and introduced me to the fields of health humanities and disability/mobility studies, which are now part of my personal interests in the world of literature.”

— Lily Bibro ’24 


English Department News

All News Department News
Madison Hensley

Madison Hensley '26 Wins Dickinson’s Public Speaking Contest

Student competitors reflect on who changed them—and prove that public speaking is a skill worth cultivating.

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Advice From the Road: From English Major to Global Finance

Advice From the Road: From English Major to Global Finance

"Alumni who’ve built dynamic, sometimes unexpected careers expand our sense of possibility.” Michael Meagher ’00 took a nonlinear path to global finance. He recently shared the keys to his success.

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Dickinson Awarded $1 Million Grant to Advance Health Humanities

Dickinson Awarded $1 Million Grant to Advance Health Humanities

Dickinson receives a significant grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to add to its groundbreaking work in literary disability studies.

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Dickinson Celebrates Excellence in First-Year Writing, Research

Dickinson Celebrates Excellence in First-Year Writing, Research

Three first-year students were honored for excellence in writing and research. Their award-winning papers explore political satire, a Tolstoy classic and mythology in art.

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‘Shining Through’: Molly Peacock

‘Shining Through’: Molly Peacock's Literary Legacy at Dickinson

"She made the residency more than just a reading or class visit—it was a chance to grow as a writer and thinker." Learn more about this year's Stellfox residency and its effects on student writers.

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Celebrated Poet, Author Named 2026 Stellfox Scholar

Celebrated Poet, Author Named 2026 Stellfox Scholar

Molly Peacock is a widely anthologized poet and the “poet activist” behind Poetry in Motion, which brought verse into NYC subways.

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