English

Chair of the Department of English: Mason Stokes

Associate Chair: Michael Marx

Director of the Writing Center: Martha Wiseman

Professors: April Bernard, Barbara Black, Robert Boyers, Janet Casey, Director of the First-Year Experience and Associate Dean of the Faculty for Diversity and Faculty Affairs; Catherine Golden, The Tisch Chair in Arts and Letters; Susannah Mintz, Mason Stokes

Associate Professors: Kate Greenspan, Linda Hall, Michael S. Marx, Melora Wolff

Assistant Professors: Paul Benzon, Andrew Bozio, Joseph Cermatori, Bina Gogineni, Margaret Greaves, Nicholas Junkerman, Wendy Lee, Jamie Parra, Tim Wientzen

Visiting Assistant Professors: Olivia Dunn, Maude Emerson, L. Caitlin Jorgensen, Ruth McAdams

Distinguished Artist-in-Residence: Greg Hrbek

Writer-in-Residence: Sonya Chung

Lecturers: *Peg Boyers, Jennifer Fawcett, *Marla Melito, Thaddeus Niles, Archana Sureshas, Martha Wiseman, *Marc Woodworth

Resources: Salmagundi Magazine

* = part time

Department Overview

What is literature? What constitutes a literary education in the twenty-first century? How many ways are there to read and write about the same text, and how do we decide among various interpretations? How does our understanding of a work change when we consider its context, whether biographical, historical, cultural, or political? Why might we ask questions in literature classes about race, class, gender, and sexuality? Why should a student of literature study language? Why should a student interested in creative writing read literature? How does writing enable us to discover and shape our ideas? How does the English major prepare students for living in, and thoughtfully engaging with, the world?

The Skidmore English department invites students to consider such questions and to frame their own. Throughout the curriculum, English majors learn to read closely, think critically, challenge assumptions, practice methods of interpretation and research, analyze the formal qualities of texts, approach texts from various perspectives, place texts in various contexts, and write with clarity, coherence, and precision. As the English major progresses from introductory to capstone courses, students are offered increasingly sophisticated and elaborate writing and analytic tasks and are called upon to perform steadily more original, inventive, independent work.

Through class meetings, lectures, panels, and symposia, English department faculty and students, as well as distinguished visitors, create and nourish a vital intellectual environment. In addition, publications such as Folio (edited and produced by students) and the nationally recognized Salmagundi extend our community’s ongoing discussions and debates.

ENHANCED COURSES: Selected English courses that ordinarily carry three credit hours may carry four credit hours when designated as enhanced courses, developing particular student skills and offering a distinctive approach to learning. Enhanced courses are so designated in the master schedule and follow one of these models:

Research in Language and Literary Studies (designated xxxR): students develop research questions, establish bibliography, review relevant literature, assess sources, and present research findings in written reports and/or oral presentations.

Collaborative Learning in Language and Literary Studies (xxxL): students work collectively or independently to contribute to group projects, make group presentations, and/or present collaborative papers.

Writing in Language and Literary Studies (xxxW): students spend additional time drafting, revising, and critiquing to hone their strategies of argumentation and analysis, to assess their writing in the context of professional literary criticism, and to attend not only to content but also to style and voice in their critical papers.

Critical Perspectives in Literary Studies (xxxP): students study critical and/or theoretical perspectives and apply them to particular literary works.