The undergraduate programs of the Department of English at
St. John's University are lively and growing. The numbers
of our students and faculty have increased over the past few
years. As of Fall 2005, we have twelve (12) full-time faculty
on the Queens campus and five (5) full-time faculty on
the Staten Island campus. The undergraduate
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) program has 186 English majors on
the Queens campus, and 48 English majors on the Staten Island
campus. Students may take classes on either campus as suits their
convenience. The graduate programs,
Bachelor of Arts / Master of Arts (B.A./M.A.),
Master of Arts (M.A.) and
Doctor of Arts (D.A.) have about 60 students combined.
The English department has particular strengths in American
Studies faculty, and we are seeking to develop our
offerings in creative writing and rhetoric. Over the past several
years, the department's combined degree program, the B.A./M.A., has
become a popular way for students to earn a Master's degree within
five years of enrolling for their B.A. degree.
Each semester, the Queens campus offers
approximately twenty (20) upper-level courses for the
undergraduate major, and nine (9) courses for the graduate
programs. The department also offers approximately sixty (60)
expository writing, core literature, and honors classes each
semester on the Queens campus. The Staten Island campus offers
approximately fifteen (15) upper-level B.A. courses per
semester, one or two graduate courses, and about twenty
(20) courses in expository writing and core English.
The English department also sponsors an active intellectual
life. There are generally three department-funded colloquia a
semester, in addition to lectures by department faculty and film
series. For descriptions of recent students and faculty
achievements, see the
English Department Newsletter. The department graduate students
founded a literary journal in 2003 called, 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. Directed
by the English Department's Derek Owens, the Writing Center
hires qualified graduate and undergraduate students as writing
tutors. The Writing Center also presents lectures, and faculty and
student colloquia.
For those students interested in using their B.A. toward
graduate education, the department has recently placed its students
in top graduate English programs such as those of Brown,
Columbia, SUNY Buffalo, and CUNY. Students who major in
English tend to develop very strong skills in reading comprehension
and writing. They also acquire powerful habits of analytic thought,
which is why most law students prepare for their future careers as
English majors. Because almost every field of employment is in need
of people who can read and write with skill, an English major or
minor is a valuable asset. Particularly when coupled with other
professional skills, a degree in English provides students with a
versatile educational foundation.
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Directions
to the Queens Campus
Directions
to the Staten Island Campus
General Information
Stephen Sicari, Chair
Robert Fanuzzi, Assistant Chair
St. John Hall , Rm. B-16
Mon-Thurs: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Fri: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Phone: (718) 990-6387
Fax: (718) 990-2527
sjceng@stjohns.edu