Department of English
Department Overview Helping Students Tell Redemptive Stories
In the Department of English, our English majors and minors get to engage with some of the best minds in human history and pursue big questions about truth, beauty, goodness, and power, all while developing rare skills and abilities in high demand in the workplace: concentration, connective thinking, and creativity.
Concentration and Focus: Recent research in neuroscience demonstrates that engaging deeply with complex, extended, creative texts develops areas of the brain and deepens synaptic connections within the brain that other types of reading cannot. Put simply, reading fiction, poetry, and other creative texts are “big brain” workouts that strengthen concentration, focus, and executive function.
Connective Thinking: Literature pulls together real history, individual experience, and speculative possibilities in a way that enables English majors and minors to adapt to change, understand connections between diverse peoples, cultures, and situations, to solve complex problems better than those who train their minds in a more narrow path of study.
Creativity: Every year, our students edit and publish a campus literary and arts magazine—and are also regularly published in additional national venues. Every year, we award a $1000 cash prize for the best creative writing portfolio.
Faculty Friday: Diana Pavlac Glyer’s Dedication to Creative Collaboration
Glyer’s early love for literature established the roots of her outstanding career as a writer and professor, whose goal is to cultivate creativity in collaboration among every student who enters her classroom.
Faculty Friday: Kat Ross’ Versatility as an Author and Receptiveness to the Doors God Opens
For Kathryn Ross ’15, MA ’18, she never imagined that English would be her major, her hobbies would become a career, and she would stand in front of a classroom of students eager to hear what she has to teach.
Distinguished Lecture Series
In addition to courses, the English Department nurtures concentration, connective thinking, and creativity, by presenting you with our distinguished lecture series.
Dynamic Conference for Christianity and Literature Draws Scholars from Across U.S.
APU hosted the Conference for Christianity and Literature, bringing more than 120 students representing 36 universities across 10 states to campus to learn from renowned speakers under the theme, “Literature as Vocation.”
Your Faculty Mentors
Your English faculty bring years of experience, guiding you to become a critical thinker and an impactful writer. Every fall, a mentor-matching survey pairs you with a faculty member who shares your interests and has walked the path you’re hoping to take.
