The Department of English offers courses on the undergraduate and graduate levels that promote critical, creative, and reflective expression.
Our students engage with diverse literary and cultural texts as well as practice critical reading and effective writing. The skills they develop in research, communication, cultural awareness, comprehension, and analysis prepare them for the creative, entrepreneurial economy of the 21st century. An English degree can generate a valuable return on investment and open up careers in media, public relations, teaching, and hundreds of other areas.
The English Department values critical and creative thinking, innovative research and writing, and ethical engagement in our communities. Students and faculty explore writing in inventive, transdisciplinary ways and foster an understanding of the ways in which literature and writing are created, studied, and understood in their historical, cultural, and political contexts. Our graduates are prepared for the evolving career landscape with skills in writing, reading, communication, research, synthesis, analysis, and reflection.
The NKU Department of English is now on LinkedIn! Our page will be a place where we share departmental news, news from the English field, job interview techniques, and job positions around our community, as well as any other opportunities that arise. This page is meant not only to serve current students, but also our alumni. We are very excited to build this new profile and hope that you will follow us.
At NKU's own faculty awards, Dr. Donelle Dreese was recognized for Excellence in Online or Technology Enhanced teaching; Dr. Jen Cellio for Excellence in University Service; and Dr. Jessica Hindman for Excellence in Research/Scholarship/Creative Activity.
NKU undergraduate English majors Lauren Turner, Zorada Porter, and Anna Camele have been accepted to present their research at the 29th Annual International Virginia Woolf Conference!
Lauren’s paper, “Gender Inequality in Virginia Woolf’s The Years: Rose and Martin,” breaks new ground by comparatively analyzing the impact that gender makes not only on Rose Pargiter but also on her brother Martin. Her analysis introduces complexity into the ongoing critical conversation in Woolf studies about the negative influence of patriarchy on individuals.
In “Pedagogy as Art: How Virginia Woolf Writes Fiction as Pedagogy,” Zorada explores the ways in which Woolf uses stylized stream-of-consciousness techniques and the symbolic use of commonplace diction to illuminate ideas about critical and aesthetic thought usually reserved for an academic context. By examining Woolf’s pedagogy in novels including To the Lighthouse, The Waves, and Three Guineas, she argues, we gain crucial insight into the ways in which Woolf’s characters understand their identities.
Finally, in “Virginia Woolf’s Feminism vs. Feminism Today,” Anna draws a line from Woolf’s feminist polemic Three Guineas and feminism’s third wave. For Anna, Woolf’s arguments resonate today, and they help us to understand how far women still have to go in their fight for equality.
