Undergraduate Course Descriptions: Summer 2025
Need more info?
For the most up-to-date list of classes offered, visit the dynamic schedule. For questions about classes, consult our undergraduate advising page or contact the listed instructor. To see what we'll be offering in future semesters,
visit our two-year course rotation template. Interested in studying literature, taking a writing workshop, improving your writing
skills, or brushing up your teaching skills, but don't want to pursue a degree? You
should apply as a Non-Degree Seeking Student.
General Education Requirements:
ENGL 1010 - English Composition (multiple sections; online courses available)
Practice in expository writing with emphasis on content, organization, and style (levels
of usage and sentence structure) for different purposes and audiences.
ENGL 1020 - English Composition/Analysis (multiple sections; online courses available)
Practice in expository writing that synthesizes ideas from various readings. Includes
library work and production of documented papers.
ENGL 2201 - Literary Heritage (multiple sections; online courses available)
Major texts of literary heritage; modes of literary expression and cultural context;
emphasis on works as products of their historical contexts and as processes shaping
human consciousness.
ENGL 2202 - Literary Heritage: African American Literature (multiple sections; online
courses available)
Consideration of major texts of literary heritage with emphasis on African-American
culture; modes of literary expression and cultural context; emphasis on work as products
of historical contexts and as processes shaping human consciousness.
First Half-Term Summer 2025:
ENGL 3501 - Modern English Grammar | Dr. J. Elliott Casal | Online
Introduction to current grammatical theory; description of sounds, word structures,
syntax, and semantics of English within theoretical frameworks.
ENGL 3601 - Intro to Technical & Professional Writing | Dr. Scott Sundvall | Online
Introduction to rhetoric and style of documents written by scientists, engineers,
technical writers, and other professionals; extensive practice in writing reports,
proposals, manuals, and correspondence.
ENGL 3603 - Engineering Communication | Prof. Gabrielle Alston | MTWRF 10:50am-12:30pm
Form and contexts of written and oral communications in engineering professions; extensive
practice in oral reporting, written reports, manuals, and proposals. *Does not apply to the English major or minor.*
ENGL 4373 - African American Authors Since the Harlem Renaissance | Dr. R. Nicole
Smith | Online
In-depth study of two or three authors since 1930, focusing on relationships among
them and comparing their aesthetics. May be repeated for maximum of 6 hours credit with change in course content.
ENGL 4452 - Modern Drama | Prof. Rhonda Powers | MTWRF 10:50am-12:30pm
Theater has historically been the most censored of all artistic forms as it responds
most immediately to social and political change, often representing a voice of opposition
or a reflection of civil unrest. In this course, we will examine the specific culture
conditions and preoccupations of "Modernists," the late 19th and early 20th century
artistic rebellion against academic historicist traditions and Victorian cultural
absolutism. Reading the plays of such dramatists as Ibsen, Pirandello, Shaw, Beckett
and Miller, we will focus on the rapidly evolving art of drama--from Realism/ Naturalism,
Expressionism, Symbolism, to Epic and Absurdist Theater, to study rapidly changing
cultural conditions brought on by industrialization and the resulting individual alienation.
Second Half-Term Summer 2025:
ENGL 3220 - British Literature Since 1750 | Dr. Jeffrey Scraba | MTWRF 10:50am-12:30pm
Survey of major authors, themes, and movements in American literature from the colonial
period through 1865.
ENGL 3604 - Persuasive Writing | Prof. Terry Ansbro | Online
Study and practice of writing essays and reports with emphasis on persuasion; introduction
to empirical and library research, application of rhetorical principles, and nature
of evidence, including numerical; academic and professional writing, editing, and
revision.
ENGL 4531 - Methods & Techniques in ESL | Prof. Tammy Jones | Online
Methods and techniques of teaching English as a Second Language in various settings.
Undergraduate Course Descriptions: Fall 2025
Need more info?
For the most up-to-date list of classes offered, visit the dynamic schedule. For questions about classes, consult our undergraduate advising page or contact the listed instructor. To see what we'll be offering in future semesters,
visit our two-year course rotation template. Interested in studying literature, taking a writing workshop, improving your writing
skills, or brushing up your teaching skills, but don't want to pursue a degree? You
should apply as a Non-Degree Seeking Student.
Jump to:
- African American Literature Courses
- Applied Linguistics/TESOL Courses
- Creative Writing Courses
- Literature Courses
- Professional Writing Courses
- Honors & Internships
Click on each course title to read the professor's full course description; click on each thumbnail image to view the course flyer.
General Education Requirements:
ENGL 1010 - English Composition (multiple sections; online courses available)
Practice in expository writing with emphasis on content, organization, and style (levels
of usage and sentence structure) for different purposes and audiences.
ENGL 1020 - English Composition/Analysis (multiple sections; online courses available)
Practice in expository writing that synthesizes ideas from various readings. Includes
library work and production of documented papers.
ENGL 2201 - Literary Heritage (multiple sections; online courses available)
Major texts of literary heritage; modes of literary expression and cultural context;
emphasis on works as products of their historical contexts and as processes shaping
human consciousness.
2201.010 - Literary Heritage: LGBTQ+ Literature | Prof. Nina Myers | MW 12:40-2:05
This class offers a space to engage with texts by Southern and Filipino/a/x American
writers in an effort to explore gender identity and sexuality as they relate to both
familiar and culturally distinct literary contexts.
2201.303 - Literary Heritage Honors | Dr. Darryl Domingo | TR 9:40-11:05
Students will study the major literary modes of fiction, poetry, and drama, and engage,
through writing and discussion, with literature representing a variety of cultures
and literary forms. This Honors section of ENGL 2201 will encourage students to cultivate
a critical self-consciousness by focusing their attention on the ways in which authors
of different kinds in different contexts reflect upon their own art and invite their
audience to reflect upon their special role as arbiter, interpreter, literary critic.
ENGL 2202 - Literary Heritage: African American Literature (multiple sections; online
courses available)
Consideration of major texts of literary heritage with emphasis on African-American
culture; modes of literary expression and cultural context; emphasis on work as products
of historical contexts and as processes shaping human consciousness.
African American Literature:
ENGL 3325 - African American Literature Through the Harlem Renaissance | Dr. Verner
Mitchell | MWF 9:10-10:05
Examination of works by black authors starting with the Colonial Enlightenment, continuing
with slave narratives, and ending with the rise of the black novel.
ENGL 3326 - African American Literature Since the Harlem Renaissance | Dr. R. Nicole
Smith | MW 12:40-2:05
Examination of African American literary tradition from the Harlem Renaissance to
the present; Chicago writers, integrationist aesthetics of the 1950’s; black aesthetics
of the 1960’s.
ENGL 4372 - African American Authors of the Harlem Renaissance | Dr. Shelby Crosby
| TR 11:20-12:45
In this course we will examine the nineteenth century through the lens of the neo-slave
narrative. A neo-slave narrative is a contemporary narrative of slavery that uses
race, gender, notions of home/place and sexuality as reference points to discuss the
enduring legacy of slavery. This class will interrogate how twentieth and twenty-first
century Black authors re-imagine and give voice to the enslaved. As a class we will
interrogate notions of freedom, resistance, power and literacy. May be repeated for maximum of 6 hours credit with change in course content.
ENGL 4374 - African American Literary Movements | Dr. Verner Mitchell | Online
As an American cultural phenomenon, the Harlem Renaissance extends far beyond the
geographical boundaries of New York. Artists from all over the United States, including
New Mexico, California, Utah, Kansas, and Tennessee contributed to the movement. The
work of Renaissance writers Langston Hughes and Claude McKay, among others, was translated
and was well-known in Europe and the Soviet Union. You can expect to come away from
the class having read major works of Harlem Renaissance fiction, poetry, drama, and
autobiography, as well as a number of important essays. May be repeated for a maximum
of 6 hours credit with change in course content.
Applied Linguistics/TESOL:
ENGL 3501 - Modern English Grammar | Dr. Elliott Casal | MW 12:40-2:05
Introduction to current grammatical theory; description of sounds, word structures,
syntax, and semantics of English within theoretical frameworks.
ENGL 3511 - Intro to Linguistics | Dr. Rebecca Adams | Online
This course introduces the scientific study of language as a means for understanding
the cognitive, behavioral, and social aspects of language use and learning. We will
explore how the human mind processes and constructs language, how human language is
potentially different (or similar to) other types of animal communication, how language
development and learning occur, the social meanings encoded in the ways in which we
speak, sign, write, and communicate, and the sociopolitical aspects of language in
broader society.
ENGL 3521 - The American Language | Dr. Lyn Wright | Online
What is American Language? In this course we will look at the diversity of English
(and other spoken and signed languages) used across the United States. We will examine
the emergence of an “American” English and how different dialects of English formed
in different regions across the country. We will also consider how social factors
such as gender, sexuality, social status, and ethnicity, among others, affect our
language and what role our language(s) play in producing social identities. We will
look at multilingualism and multilingual communities in the U.S. and consider how
the different languages in our country make up a diverse language ecology. Students
in this class will participate in a citizen sociolinguistic project to document the
varieties, dialects, and languages of Memphis during the semester.
ENGL 4521 - Language and Society | Dr. Sage Graham | TR 1:00-2:25
Place of language in society and how it creates and reflects social relationships;
geographical and social dialects, male/female differences, and language of various
subgroups within our culture; intensive examination of implications of language differences.
ENGL 4531.M50 - Methods & Techniques in ESL | Dr. Ronald Fuentes | Online
Approaches to working with ESL or EFL students in multicultural settings.
ENGL 4531.001 - Methods & Techniques in ESL | TBA | TR 11:20-12:45
Approaches to working with ESL or EFL students in multicultural settings.
ENGL 4533 - ESL/EFL in Multicultural Settings | Dr. Emily Thrush | MW 2:20-3:45
Approaches to working with ESL or EFL students in multicultural settings.
Creative Writing:
ENGL 3606 - Poetry Writing | TBA | TR 9:40-11:05
Exploration of the creative process within the forms and traditions of poetry. Emphasis
on student’s own work.
ENGL 3607.001 - Fiction Writing | Dr. Kendra Vanderlip | MWF 11:30-12:45
Calling all writers! ENGL 3607 is an introductory class for anyone who wants to learn
more about writing and reading fiction. Students will learn the conventions of the
genre through close reading, analysis, creative practice, and constructive critique
studying contemporary selections of fiction to analyze the use of style, structure,
and figurative language. We will compose short stories throughout the semester with
guided prompts, culminating in a portfolio at the end of the semester showcasing the
writer’s growth and understanding of literary fiction conventions.
ENGL 3607.002 - Fiction Writing | TBA | TR 1:00-2:25
Exploration of the creative process within the forms and traditions of fiction. Emphasis
on student’s own work.
ENGL 4601 - Poetry Workshop | Dr. Emily Skaja | TR 1:00-2:25
This is an upper-level undergraduate poetry workshop devoted to the creation, revision,
and critical analysis of poetry. Building on the skills developed in ENGL-3606 (Poetry
Writing), students will study poetry as an art form, working in admiration of its
history, difficulty, and depth. The students will write original poems and read collections
of poetry with attention to figurative language, form, music, and arrangement. The
workshop is a supportive environment where students are invited to encourage and challenge
one another as their creative work expands and intensifies. ENGL-3606 (Poetry Writing)
is a prerequisite. All are welcome.May be repeated for maximum of 6 hours credit with
permission of instructor.
ENGL 4603 - Fiction Workshop | Dr. Mark Mayer | TR 2:40-4:05
In a creative writing workshop, a community of other minds helps us to interrogate
our own. By providing us with travelogues of their ventures into our fiction, our
peers help us perceive what we have dreamt. This process requires difference—peers with their own instincts for language, their own sensitivities to experience,
and their own narrative intuitions—and solidarity, a shared commitment to putting this difference in service of the author's vision.
This upper-level workshop offers a rigorous exploration of fiction writing and revision.
Through collaborative discussion and peer critique, we will focus on core elements
of storytelling—story structure, character development, emotional depth, language
precision—and the iterative nature of revision.
ENGL 4604 - Forms of Poetry | Dr. Emily Skaja | TR 11:20-12:45
Forms of Poetry is a creative writing course where students are introduced to a wide
variety of poetic forms and invited to try them out in class. After studying each
form and participating in writing exercises, the students select the poems they want
to revise and submit for workshop. ENGL-4604 not only emphasizes traditional forms
like the sonnet, the villanelle, and the ghazal, but also contemporary and experimental
forms like the prose poem, collage poetry, the Golden Shovel (an homage to the great
20th century formalist Gwendolyn Brooks), and the duplex (invented by Jericho Brown).
No prior experience with formal poetry is necessary. Everyone is welcome.
ENGL 4605 - Forms of Fiction | Dr. Kendra Vanderlip | MW 12:40-2:05
This course will take a closer look at indigenous writers and their storytelling methods.
We will focus on a range of indigenous writers, such as Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise
Erdrich, Tommy Orange, Nick Medina and others. This course places heavy emphasis on
reading in preparation to better understand indigenous narratives and the history
that complicates them. You do not have to be an indigenous identifying student to
take this class, as the emphasis will be on identifying the choices writers make in
craft in conversation with identity.
Literature:
ENGL 3105 - Law, Literature, and Justice | Dr. Joshua Phillips | TR 9:40-11:05
This class provides an exploration of literary representations of law and justice
and analysis of the ways that literature, law, and justice interrelate. The class
will consider law in literature, the laws of literature, and law and literature as two domains for interpreting and effecting justice. This class is perfect
for those considering a career in the law or related fields and for those interested
in problems of justice. Readings may include works by Aeschylus, Shakespeare, Kafka,
James Baldwin, Claudia Rankine, and Jesmyn Ward.
ENGL 3210 - British Literature to 1750 | Multiple sections offered, online and honors
available
Survey of major authors, themes, and movements from the medieval period through the
18th century.
3210.001 | Dr. Darryl Domingo | TR 1:00-2:25
This course will introduce students to the formative periods in the British literary
tradition, beginning in the eighth century and running through to the middle of the
eighteenth century. The course will survey some of the major authors and major works
of the complex periods classified by literary historians as the Medieval, the Early
Modern, and the Restoration and Eighteenth Century. We will examine the development
of genres and themes over time and analyze their connection to broader developments
in British culture. Yet given how foreign early British literature can often feel—the
strangeness, curiosity, and novelty with which twenty-first century readers experience
works written between the eighth and eighteenth centuries—this section of ENGL 3210
will pay particular attention to the ways in which authors reflect upon the very problems
associated with cultural difference and historical distance.
3210.002/350 | Dr. Cristina Maria Cervone | MWF 11:30-12:25 *honors embedded*
3210.M50 | Prof. Rhonda Powers | Online
ENGL 3220.001 - British Literature Since 1750 | Dr. Grace Gal | TR 11:20-12:45
In this survey course, we will read, analyze, and deconstruct some of the most influential
works in British literature from three major literary periods – Romanticism, Victorianism,
Modernism, and beyond. In particular, we will critically explore how British writers
have defined and conceptualized what it means to be “British,” both at home and abroad,
since the late eighteenth century, and how this national identity – along with ideas
of gender, class, race, and ethnicity – has shifted under the pressures of industrialization,
urbanization, and globalization. By engaging with these texts both as foundational
literary works and as constructs open to critique, we will consider how their authority
has been upheld, challenged, and reinterpreted over time.
ENGL 3220.002 - British Literature Since 1750 | Prof. Stacy Smith | MWF 10:20-11:15
Survey of major authors, themes, and movements from the medieval period through the
18th century.
ENGL 3327.001 - American Literature to 1865 | Dr. Jeff Scraba | MWF 11:30-12:25
Survey of major authors, themes, and movements in American literature from the colonial
period through 1865.
3327.002 - American Literature to 1865 | Dr. Andrew Donnelly | TR 9:40-11:05
When you make a claim, today, about the views of those writing the U.S. Constitution,
or the legacy of enslavement in the US, or the history of colonialism, expansionism,
or ‘Manifest Destiny,’ or the meaning of America as a national idea, you are saying
something about how people thought and saw the world in the early period of the United States. The very best way to understand that—how
people thought and saw the world—is through that period’s literature. In this course,
we will explore that literature roughly from the European colonization of the New
World, through the creation of the Puritan mindset, the founding moment of the national
government, its subsequent territorial & state-building expansion, and the movement
to abolish slavery, up to the point in time when Martin Delany abandoned his in-progress
novel, Blake, to fight the Civil War.
3327.M51 | Dr. Christopher Black | Online
This survey will cover major texts, literary modes and cultural contexts of American
Literature from its beginnings to the Civil War. Readings will include Freedom narratives,
Indian captivity narratives, sermons, speeches, autobiographies, political tracts,
poetry, criminal narratives and gothic tales. We will also read two novels: Charles
Brockden Brown’s Wieland (1798) and William Wells Brown’s Clotel or the President’s Daughter (1853).
ENGL 3401 - Children's Literature | Dr. Lorinda Cohoon Multiple sections offered,
online and honors available
3401.001/350 | TR 11:20-12:45 *honors embedded*
3401.M50 | Online
This course is a survey of children’s literature. You will be introduced to authors
and texts that have defined the field of children’s literature. You will discuss children’s
books and write about how children’s literature shapes and reflects cultural ideas
about children and childhood. You will develop knowledge of children’s books and
children’s authors and illustrators, and you will learn about the history of children’s
literature as well as contemporary issues in the field of children’s literature and
demonstrate this knowledge in discussions, exams and quizzes, presentations, and papers.
ENGL 3404 - Studies of Popular Texts: Dystopian Tales and Alternative Futures | Dr.
Carey Mickalites | TR 11:20-12:45
Dystopian tales, stories that give form and expression to our collective fears, have
long enjoyed a popular status. And yet maybe part of that popularity comes not only
from the “relatability” of all that is horrific about the human experience, but for
the way dystopian fantasies can summon our desire for a better world, for alternative
futures that are not foredoomed by historical realities like authoritarianism, racism
and sexism, or even the bland banality of evil we call contemporary capitalism. In
other words, we will spend some time reveling in texts that deal with our darkest
desires and fears, while asking how they point to the possibility of a better world.
May be repeated for a maximum of 6 hours credit with a change in course content.
ENGL 4346 - Studies in American Literature: American Literature and its Publics |
Dr. Donal Harris | TR 2:40-4:05
This course has two goals: 1) to explore how a select group of authors in the U.S.
have conceptualized the idea of “the reading public,” and how those ideas have changed
(or not) since the end of the nineteenth century 2) to survey how currently working
humanities scholars, especially those in literary studies, create audiences for their
work, with special attention to the recent emergence of the ‘public humanities’ as
a research field.Rather than essays and exams, students will conduct project-based,
multi-modal assignments that contribute to on-going public humanities projects. No
prior knowledge is expected or assumed. Come one, come all! May be repeated for a
maximum of 6 hours credit with a change in course content.
ENGL 4401 - Young Adult Literature | Dr. Lorinda Cohoon | TR 1:00-2:25
This course examines the genre of young adult literature focusing on historically
significant examples of young adult literature and also contemporary young adult texts,
and it includes exploration of connections to other areas of literary and cultural
studies; discussions of approaches to young adult literature in middle, high-school,
and college classrooms; applications of critical and theoretical approaches to young
adult literature and culture; and consideration of young adult literature’s efficacy
in promoting literary, educational, critical, and cultural literacies and in developing
a lifelong appreciation of the study literature.
ENGL 4454 - Studies in Forms & Genres | Dr. Cristina Maria Cervone | MW 2:20-3:45
Study of a particular literary form and/or genre. May be repeated for a maximum of
6 hours credit with change in course content.
ENGL 4461 - Bible as Literature | Dr. Dean Clement | MW 12:40-2:05
This course studies the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity as works of literature
with attention to the historical, cultural, and literary contexts of the Bible’s composition.
Students will read books of the “Old” and “New” Testaments, as well as the Apocrypha,
and study theories as to how the Hebrew Bible and Christian Bible, as we know them
today, came together.
Professional Writing:
ENGL 3601 - Intro to Technical & Professional Writing | Multiple sections offered,
online sections available
Introduction to rhetoric and style of documents written by scientists, engineers,
technical writers, and other professionals; extensive practice in writing reports,
proposals, manuals, and correspondence.
3601.001 | TBA | TR 1:00-2:25
3601.M50 | Prof. Terry Ansbro | Online
3601.M51 | Prof. Terry Ansbro | Online
ENGL 3602 - Professional Editing | TBA | Online
Workshop in techniques of editing effectively in academic, industry, government, literary,
and research settings; developing practical genre familiarity for printed and online
formats within those areas.
ENGL 3603 - Engineering Communications | Multiple sections offered, online sections
available
Form and contexts of written and oral communications in engineering professions; extensive
practice in oral reporting, written reports, manuals, and proposals. Does not apply to the English major or minor.
3603.001 | Prof. Calen Verbist | TR 9:40-11:05
3603.002 | Prof. Calen Verbist | TR 11:20-12:45
3603.M50 | Prof. Calen Verbist | Online
3603.M51 | Dr. Adam Sneed | Online
ENGL 3604 - Persuasive Writing | Multiple sections offered, online sections available
Study and practice of writing essays and reports with emphasis on persuasion; introduction
to empirical and library research, application of rhetorical principles, and nature
of evidence, including numerical; academic and professional writing, editing, and
revision.
3604.001 | Dr. Joseph Jones | TR 11:20-12:45
3604.M50 | TBA | Online
3604.M51 | Dr. Joseph Jones | Online
ENGL 4602 - Advanced Composition: Style and/as Content | Dr. Scott Sundvall | Online
Recent advances in generative artificial intelligence (genAI), such as ChatGPT, have
not posed a danger to writing so much as such advances have merely reflected a bankruptcy
in how we understand, teach, and practice writing. GenAI can only gather information
and mimic mechanical patterns of composing; it cannot invent with imagination nor
produce style in the proper sense of the term. Nonetheless, GenAI arrives in the wake of a broader
apparatus shift, wherein we must ask ourselves not only what writing is but how it works. We do not lack information; we merely lack the techniques (e.g., style) for working
with an over-abundance of information. By way of experimental and avant-garde methods and modalities, this
course will ask students to rethink composition as an art and to further explore how
such an art can be augmented by emerging technologies, such as GenAI.
ENGL 4618 - Document Design | Dr. Chloe Robertson | Online
This course takes a theoretical approach towards visual and written communication,
honoring the interrelationship between visual and verbal elements present in documentation.
In other words, we will interrogate how documents are designed to be both visually
and verbally appealing for audiences while conveying the necessary information clearly
and artfully. We will then apply what we have learned to creating our own documents,
practicing what it means to be thoughtful authors and designers in solo and collaborative
settings.
Honors & Internships:
ENGL 4640 - Internship in English | Rachel Cantrell | TBA
Experience with a local community partner requiring the assistance of English majors
with strong oral and written communication skills. Dependent upon availability. Visit our internships page for more information.
ENGL 4995 - Honors Thesis Research | Dr. Cristina Maria Cervone | TBA
Students engage in individual, intensive study of a unique problem or issue in English
Studies, culminating in a prospectus for their Honors thesis. Visit our English honors page for more information.