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

Siobhan PhillipsAssociate Professor of English

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


Alumni in Action


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Solving Strategic Communications Challenges

Former English and political science major Rachel Warzala Chesley ’11 guides clients through the logistics and challenges of financial restructuring as a consultant for FTI Consulting.


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Department News

Department News


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News Feature

Diversifying the Canon: The Ongoing Story of a Dickinson College English Major

By: David Blosser '19 Dickinson College

“Thank God for liberal-arts requirements,” said Rev. Dr. Annie Lockhart-Gilroy ’97, who recently extolled the virtues of Dickinson College's liberal-arts curriculum during a visit to campus through the English department’s Cogan Alumni Fellowship.

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News Feature

Boubacar Boris Diop Visits Dickinson College Through Stellfox Residency

By: MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson Dickinson College

As the world pauses this month to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, Dickinson College welcomed to campus an esteemed writer whose fictionalized account of a 1994 massacre brought a deeper understanding of the complex issues surrounding postcolonialism in Africa.

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Discuss, Decode and Write

Internships with the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center and Phi Beta Kappa have helped Julia Dolinger ’16 make the most of her English major.


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Cooking Like Welty and Punting on the Thames

English major Courtney Helt ’16 discusses her study abroad year at Oxford, her passion for cross-stitch and taste-testing Southern writers’ home recipes.


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Well-Versed

Meet English major John Kneisley '16, an award-winning poet who's presented research on critical-reading instruction at an international conference.


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English Major Navigates Journalism Outlet Frontline PBS

As the audience development intern at Frontline PBS, Leah Struzenski '20 got a glimpse inside a lively journalism outlet, where she also learned about the processes involved in TV production.


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English Major Gets a Glimpse of the Corporate World Through IBM Internship

Graham Klimley '19 prepares for a career in sports marketing through an internship with IBM.


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Learning a New Approach

Jane Dudzinsky '19 spent her time as an intern at the Franklin Institute working with kids with special educational needs, and by doing so, she gained a greater understanding for learning.


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