English Concentrations
Creative Writing & Publishing
In this concentration, imagination, writing craft, and the publishing world are explored in workshops led by distinguished writers and scholars. Students write in courses focused on fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. They build creative and critical thinking skills which work both for emerging authors and for professionals in all fields requiring powerful writing.
Graduates often work as editors, publishers, communications consultants, critics, and novelists.
English Studies
This concentration allows majors to customize the 18 hours they take beyond the 15-hour Core Curriculum. Students create a plan with their faculty advisor, drawing from the full array of department course offerings. This concentration is ideal for students who need maximum flexibility in the major, such as those in pre-professional programs (pre-med or pre-law, for example) or those taking English as a second major.
Students graduating in this concentration focus on shaping their job paths with their faculty advisor at the same time that they customize the direction their classes take them.
English Studies Pedagogy
The English Studies Pedagogy Concentration, required for students pursuing a B.S.Ed. in Secondary and Special Subject Teaching (grades 9-12) English Education, can also be a stand-alone concentration for students interested in pedagogy-centered careers by providing them with the content knowledge and skills needed for success.
Although this robust concentration does not lead to a North Carolina teaching license, it is a gateway to such jobs as teaching abroad, educational software consultant, news/education correspondent, curriculum specialist, and director of children鈥檚 programming for a museum.
Film & New Media
Students in the Film and New Media concentration analyze visual media texts in their cultural and economic contexts to understand how media shapes the stories we tell and informs our understanding of the world.
This concentration often leads to jobs in film and media studies, journalism, social media, media correspondent, and educational technology.
Global English Studies
This concentration highlights the vitality and interconnectedness of historical and contemporary textual traditions from across the globe, and the relevance of global learning and approaches to everyday life. This focus provides students with the cultural studies tools that they need in order to make sense of parts of the world that may be unfamiliar to them, and they will engage in thinking critically about how global change has come about during their lifetimes.
Students graduating in this area often work in travel writing, investigative journalism, foreign service, and teaching positions abroad.
Literary Studies
In this concentration, students explore written and visual texts from both critical and creative perspectives in their cultural contexts. They also develop writing and analytical skills including research, collaboration, and facility with relevant new technologies.
Graduates often work in editing and publishing, journalism, content writing, public relations, museum curating, and non-profits, and some go on to study law, medicine, library science, and graduate English.
Public Writing & Rhetoric
Students in this concentration will gain experience in planning for the public life of their writing鈥攁dapting messages for diverse audiences, planning for how audiences interact with writing, and using writing to intervene in our social and political worlds.
This concentration prepares students for careers in law, non-profit and advocacy organizations, public relations, politics, and speech writing.
Writing & Editing In Professional Environments
Professional Writing students sharpen their writing skills and learn to adapt to the changing demands of the marketplace. Students will have opportunities to work on interdisciplinary teams, collaborate with community partners, and publish their work in digital environments.
Graduates are prepared for careers in technical writing, marketing and public relations, magazine writing, usability studies, and project management.
