Department of English

Choose English and Write Your Own Future!

The English Department allows you to write a degree program that will help you reach your career goals as you choose one of our six undergraduate concentrations: African American Literature, Creative Writing, ESL, Language and Linguistics, Literature, and Professional Writing.

In addition to our 300 undergraduate students, we have over 100 graduate students, pursuing Masters' Degrees, MFAs in Creative Writing, Graduate Certificates in ESL, African-American Literature Writing Studies, and PhDs.

English graduates succeed as lawyers, teachers, web designers, writers, administrators, journalists, and business professionals. With online degree programs and a variety of classes, the English major is flexible. English also works great as a second major or minor.

Department of English News

• Congratulations to all of our 2020-21 awards winners! To see a full list, click here. 
• Huge congratulations to Creative Writing professor Marcus Wicker for being awarded a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts! Read more about this accomplishment in The Commercial Appeal, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the University of Memphis Press Room! 
• Our English as a Second Language Masters Program has been featured on the Best Value Schools' list, "Best 20 Online Masters English Programs in 2021" as Number 8! Congratulations to all of our ESL faculty, check out the full list here.
• Congratulations to our Undergraduate Advisor Bridget Wells for winning the Inaugural Professional Advisor Award for 2019-20! 
• Dr. Donal Harris received a Mellon/ACLS Scholars & Society grant for his project "Citizens of Cossitt: The Legacies and Futures of Public Libraries in Memphis, Tenn."This project is in collaboration with the UofM and the Memphis Public Library (MPL) to research the history and reimagine the future of MPL's first library, Cossitt Library. Guided by librarians at both institutions, faculty and student researchers will use MPL archives and UofM Special Collections to create public exhibitions and digital learning tools about the role of Cossitt Library in the city's long civil rights history. Then, using public outreach surveys, the project will develop training workshops and exhibition space for library patrons to produce their own physical and digital exhibitions about the library's place in civic life.Congratulations, Dr. Harris, this is fantastic news!

Department of English Faculty Retirement

Congratulations to Dr. Teresa Dalle on her retirement! Click here to read a personal tribute to Dr. Dalle written by Dr. Emily Thrush. Thank you Dr. Dalle for your years of service to our department and our students!

Congratulations to Dr. Steve Tabachnick on his retirement! Click here to read a tribute to Dr. Tabachnick written by Dr. Brad McAdon. Thank you, Dr. Tabachnick for your service and impact on our students and department, and for your contributions to your field! 

Congratulations to Dr. Gene Plunka on his retirement! After 36 years, 9 published books, and dozens of articles, Dr. Plunka will be retiring at the end of this semester. Click here to read some comments about his career by an English Department colleague. Thank you Dr. Plunka for your years of service and invaluable impact on our students throughout the years. 

Congratulations to Dr. Brad McAdon on his retirement! Click here to read a personal tribute to Dr. McAdon written by Dr. Theron Britt. Thank you Dr. McAdon for your years of service and many contributions to our department and students! 

Department of English Upcoming Events

The University of Memphis Instruction is Now Virtual Until Further Notice

For more information, please visit the University of Memphis Coronavirus update page. 

The English Department Office will be Working Virtually Until Further Notice.

For questions regarding permits please contact Bridget Wells at bwells6@memphis.edu. Questions about scheduling or registration from undergraduate students majoring or minoring in English please contact Bridget Wells at bwells6@memphis.edu. When contacting Ms. Wells, please include your U Number in your email. 

For questions regarding faculty scheduling, faculty contracts, faculty textbook orders, faculty eCourseware, or faculty syllabi, please contact Valerie Foster at vffoster@memphis.edu or Emily Gillo at epsmith2@memphis.edu.

For Graduate Student or Graduate Teaching Assistant questions, please contact Sarah Ellis at smellis@memphis.edu, Dr. Jeff Scraba at jscraba@memphis.edu, or your graduate advisor.