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

---

Location

3rd & 4th Floors East College Mailing Address

Department Features



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

Uplifting Their Voices: Ukraine Takes Spotlight During Fall Arts Events

Uplifting Their Voices: Ukraine Takes Spotlight During Fall Arts Events

Ukrainian music, literature and art come to life this fall, with visits from the Prometheus Ukrainian Male Chorus and the translator and artist Veronika Yadukha.

Student Snapshot: Arwyn Forbes ’25

Student Snapshot: Arwyn Forbes ’25

"Thanks to Dickinson’s brilliant professors, my understanding of the world around me has deepened considerably,” says Arwyn Forbes ’25, a House Divided and Knowledge for Freedom intern.

Jack Maley ’79 Breaks World Bench Press Record

Jack Maley ’79 Breaks World Bench Press Record

At 66, the advertising exec follows the mantra ‘life is for living’ in all his pursuits.

Serving Under-resourced Communities

Serving Under-resourced Communities

Former English major Mary McCusker Goodie ’92 serves students from under-resourced communities as co-founder and co-executive director of the Early Math and Language Initiative.

Student Snapshot: Evelyn Mace ’24

Student Snapshot: Evelyn Mace ’24

“The friends I’ve met and people I’ve encountered are a constant reminder to live my life, not just learn about it,” says English major Evelyn Mace '24, recipient of the Moorehead-Timberlake Award.

Student Snapshot: Lily Bibro ’24 

Student Snapshot: Lily Bibro ’24 

“I am forever grateful to Dickinson," says Lily Bibro ’24, an English major who interned for a scholarly journal and studied abroad through the college's Oxford program.