Department of English
Teachers, Creators, Innovators
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, TESOL, Applied 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 TESOL, 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.
Literature >
Writing >
- Applied Linguistics Ph.D graduates Mahmuda Sharmin and Nesar Uddin have both been awarded Post-Doctoral Fellows at Emory University!
- Creative Writing professor Dr. Mark Mayer was named a 2022-23 Scholar of Note for the American Library in Paris. Dr. Mayer is also the recipient of the Faculty Research Grant here at the University of Memphis.
- WRTC professor Dr. Liz Lane was awarded the College of Arts and Sciences Early Career Research Award!
- Literary and Cultural Studies professor Dr. Cristina Maria Cervone was awarded the Distinguished Research Award in the Humanities for the College of Arts and Sciences!
- Literary and Cultural Studies’ Dr. Kathy Lou Schultz is the winner of the MOCH Catherine and Charles Freeburg Fellowship for 2023.
- Creative Writing’s Professor Marcus Wicker is the recipient of the Faculty Research Grant here at the University of Memphis. Prof. Wicker is also the First Horizon Foundation Distinguished Professor for the term 2022-2025.
- Literary and Cultural Studies’ Dr. Donal Harris is the recipient of the Department of English Orgill Chair title for the term 2022-2025.
- Huge congratulations to our English Advisor, Bridget Wells, for winning the 2022 Dean's Outstanding Employee Award!
- Congratulations to all of our 2021-22 awards winners! To see a full list, click here.
- Congratulations to WRTC student Edel Pace, for winning the 2022 Instructional Design & Learning Special Interest Group Student Outreach Article Competition! Edel's article "Becoming an Instructional Designer" will be published in Intercom's May/June 2022 issue.