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

Greg SteirerAssociate Professor of English and Film Studies

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

“With the time, space and resources to conduct long-term research, I had the freedom to be creative about my writing process. I was able to put texts together that have never been analyzed next to each other, and I experimented with different approaches to my writing process. All of this freedom gave rise to work that I’m still proud of, years later.”

- Alejandro Heredia ’16


English Department News

All News Department News
Poet Ada Limón Named Dickinson

Poet Ada Limón Named Dickinson's 2023 Stellfox Scholar

The current U.S. Poet Laureate will serve a campus residency in February 2023, giving a public lecture and meeting with students.

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Amy Impellizzeri ’92 Pivots Away From the Law Into a Writing Career

Amy Impellizzeri ’92 Pivots Away From the Law Into a Writing Career

The former English and philosophy major returns to campus Oct. 7 for a public discussion with President Jones.

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See, Learn and Engage the World With Alumni Global Adventures

See, Learn and Engage the World With Alumni Global Adventures

Alumni Global Adventures are extraordinary opportunities to learn from Dickinson experts as you explore exciting destinations. Here are the trips we're planning for 2023.

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Acclaimed Poet

Acclaimed Poet's Residency at Dickinson Creates 'Incomparable Opportunity' for Student-Translators

Famed German poet Jan Wagner is serving an artistic residency on campus this spring that includes a reading, classroom visits, a panel discussion and a translation contest for students.

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English Major Jobs and Graduate School Acceptances 2022

English Major Jobs and Graduate School Acceptances 2022

Graduating seniors secure jobs at Enterprise Knowledge and McDonogh School and are accepted to graduate school in Scotland.

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Poetry, Graphic Novels and Provocative Fiction: Meet the 2022 Stellfox Honorees

Poetry, Graphic Novels and Provocative Fiction: Meet the 2022 Stellfox Honorees

Natasha Trethewey (poetry), Greg Rucka and Cully Hamner (graphic novels) and the Wu Ming collective, creator of fiction that inspired QAnon's name, are Dickinson's 2022 Stellfox honorees.

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