What We Do

The Department of English at St. John's University comprises a vibrant, dynamic community of faculty and students exploring literature, writing, and creative arts.

The Department of English at St. John's University comprises a vibrant, dynamic community of faculty and students exploring literature, writing, and creative arts.

The core of the program is our thriving undergraduate Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) major. Students take classes on the Queens campus, and many English undergraduates also study abroad at the St. John’s Rome campus, Paris, and elsewhere.

The department also offers three graduate programs, including a Bachelor of Arts / Master of Arts (B.A./M.A.) that allows ambitious undergraduates to engage in graduate-level work, a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree, and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree.

The department’s faculty adds to the intellectual life of St. John’s University by producing original works of scholarship, creative arts, and public culture. Prominent national and international organizations, from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies to the Folger Shakespeare Library and National Public Radio, have recently supported and featured the work of St. John’s English faculty.

The English department also sponsors an active intellectual life on campus. We organize colloquia and invite outside speakers to speak to our students each semester. We also present public lectures and events organized by department faculty. One popular recurring feature is our “Bookmarks” series, which features conversations with English faculty who have published new books. For details about new and upcoming events, please see the English Department Blog

The department’s graduate students founded a scholarly journal in 2003,The St. John's Humanities Review. The journal features book reviews, essays, and interviews by contributors on campus and from around the world. The department also supports a literary journal of student poetry and fiction, Sequoya.

Students who major in English develop strong reading and writing skills, powerful habits of analytic thought, and research abilities that make them very competitive in a dynamic job market. Many future law students prepare for their careers as English majors, and our majors have attended top law schools such as Harvard, Berkeley, and NYU. For students interested in using their B.A. toward further graduate study in English, the department has recently placed students in prominent graduate programs at Brown, Columbia, Yale, and Oxford, among many others. Because most fields of employment need people who are creative, collaborative, and who can read and write well, the English major or minor is a valuable asset. A degree in English provides students with a versatile and marketable educational foundation.

Contact

Jennifer Travis, Ph.D., Chair
Dr. Steven Alvarez, Assistant Chair
St. John Hall, Room B-16
718-990-6387
[email protected]

English Minors

The Department of English offers the following minors to undergraduate students who wish to supplement their major fields of study with additional understanding of literature and composition.

Students wishing to minor in English must take 15 credits of English electives. ENG 1100C may be counted toward the minor.

Students wishing to minor in Writing must complete 15 credits, including 12 credits of writing courses and one additional elective chosen in consultation with a faculty advisor. ENG 1100C may be counted as an elective toward the minor.