Exploring the English Major at Berea College: A Comprehensive Guide

Berea College's English program offers a multifaceted approach to literary and writing studies. The program aims to advance students' skills in writing and critical analysis and further their insight into the meaning and the value of human experience through the study of literature and other art forms, as well as through the student's own creativity. With options for concentrations in Literature or Writing, the program equips graduates with a broad, interdisciplinary education and a mature awareness of social and personal issues, alongside crucial skills in research, writing, and critical thinking.

Program Overview

The English program at Berea College provides a wide array of courses in literature (both in English and in translation), film, and writing. These include creative and professional writing, as well as studies in rhetoric and composition. Graduates may receive a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English with a Concentration in Literature or a BA in English with a Concentration in Writing.

The English Department offers courses in literature, creative writing, language, and rhetoric. The Department offers a major and a minor in the study of Literature, and a minor in Creative Writing.

Tuition and Location

Berea College is located in Berea, United States. The tuition fee is $55,480 USD per year.

Curriculum Structure and Courses

The English program's curriculum is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of literature, language, and writing. Courses are categorized into several key areas:

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Authors: These courses focus on a specific author or group of authors, guided by an organizing principle that may be centered on concepts, styles, themes, or related influences shared among the works to be studied. These courses may consider authors from different historical eras or nations (including those whose writing is treated in translation). A course in this category might emphasize a single author or consider significant combinations of authors.
Genres: Courses in this category focus on literature, film, and writing based on types of literary and visual texts-prose (fiction and nonfiction), poetry, drama, or experimental literary or visual forms-or particular audiences. In addition to investigating individual genres, these courses will examine the concept of genre in film as well as literature.
Times: These courses focus on literary developments in a specific historical era, or compare/contrast the literature of different eras, or of different cultures. This category is called “Times” because all literary “times” do not present themselves in tidy century-long packages, and all courses involving literary periods do not confine themselves to one particular chronological time.
Cultures: Courses in this category will introduce students to traditionally under-represented literatures. Regular offerings include ENG 135 (also AFR); ENG 140 (also APS); ENG 141 (also AFR); ENG 212 (also AFR and WGS); ENG 237 (also WGS); and ENG 242. This category also can be fulfilled with any 300-level literature course offered by the Foreign Languages Department.
Questions: These courses focus on a specific major question in literary and cultural studies. They are guided by a principle of organization that may be centered on concepts, problems, themes, or related concerns shared among the works to be studied. These courses may take a variety of approaches, including (but not limited to) inquiries based on: history, adaptation and appropriation, aesthetics and critical appreciation, cultural studies, translation, new media, and narrative.

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Language: These courses focus on English as a modern language and may take a variety of perspectives: linguistic, cultural, aesthetic, and historical. Emphasis is on language as a system of meaning. Regular course offerings include ENG 330, 387, and LAT 117. This requirement also can be met by taking foreign-language courses through the 103 level.
Creative Writing: These courses focus on the art of imaginative writing. Emphasis is on the study of particular genres of writing-poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and drama-as well as the practice of those genres.
Professional Writing: These courses focus on writing in diverse professional situations. Emphasis is on the study and practice of writing in such fields as journalism and media, law and public policy, science, technology, business, and grant writing, among others.
Composition/Rhetoric: These courses focus on academic writing, including classical rhetoric, literacy studies, composition theory/processes, persuasion, the use of research, and the many forms of the academic essay.

Specific courses offered within the program include:

Studies in Times
Methods in English
Creative Writing
Literature in English
Writing: Critical Thinking
Writing: Identity & Diversity

Major Requirements and Sequencing

To successfully complete a degree in English at Berea College, students must fulfill specific requirements and consider course sequencing.

Core Requirements

Students must earn one additional ENG course credit.

Major Portfolio

A crucial element of the English major is the Major Portfolio. This portfolio of course work and study is keyed to the English Major Reading List and reflects the student’s progress through the course categories (Literature, Language, and Writing), as well as with written and oral communication. The Major Portfolio should include assigned papers, tests, quizzes, and journals of reading, along with any independent study projects or other writings pertaining to the Major Reading List work. This portfolio should be maintained throughout the major and evaluated regularly by the student’s Academic Advisor and/or other Program faculty prior to the final regular term of the senior year.

Course Sequencing Considerations

To complete degree requirements within eight terms, students should note the following:

ENG 110 and/or ENG 124 should be taken no later than the end of the sophomore year.
ENG 485 must be taken during the senior year.

Proficiency Requirements

Students majoring in English with a concentration in literature are strongly encouraged, in consultation with their advisors, to select their five courses in the literature categories from a variety of literary periods in order to be broadly educated in the discipline. Students should work on the Major Portfolio throughout the major.

Opportunities and Internships

English majors may apply for department-funded grants that can be used to support student travel to/and or participation in off campus conferences, workshops, lectures, internships, domestic and international study opportunities. There are also labor positions, working with English faculty as teaching assistants or research assistants.

Career Paths and Outcomes

The Liberal Arts and Humanities are only growing in value to the world and job markets. A degree in English indicates a broad, interdisciplinary education and a mature awareness of social and personal issues, as well as skills in research, writing, and critical thinking. A major in English combines well with study in many other fields, such as African-American Studies, Appalachian Studies, Communications, History, Peace and Social Justice Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Theatre, and Women’s and Gender Studies. Students often double major with Education Studies to earn a P-12 teaching certificate.

Faculty

The English Department at Berea College boasts a diverse and experienced faculty:

Division Chair: K.
Department Chair: B.
Faculty: G. Colton, B. Crachiolo, A. Elkins, M. Feifer, S. House, J. Howard, A. Mishra, J. Montgomery, and L.

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