Message from Kenneth Daley, Chairperson

The Department of English offers both a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing with concentrations in both Poetry and Creative Nonfiction and, at the graduate level, a master of fine art’s degree in Creative Writing-Poetry. We also offer minors in Creative Writing, Literature, and Professional Writing. Our literature courses represent a multiplicity of literacy and critical interests and fulfill requirements for the LAS Core, the Creative Writing major, the Humanities, History, and Social Sciences major in Cultural Studies, and the minor in Literature. The Department’s First-year Writing program serves every undergraduate student in the College, with courses designed to strengthen writing, reading, and thinking skills, and our Literacy program provides courses in basic writing and reading, enhancing students’ academic and cultural literacy. Our ESL program offers specialized sections of college-level writing, public speaking, and reading courses to students with home/heritage languages other than English.

The department’s broad spectrum of courses provides students with valuable critical thinking skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in careers in the arts and communication fields, as well as preparation for study in graduate and professional school. English courses often involve an interdisciplinary component that enhances and complements other courses at the College, while encouraging students to explore multiple perspectives.

In addition to offering an exciting array of courses, the department supports various events to involve students in the writing life, and the life of the College and wider community. Throughout the year, prominent and emerging poets from around the country give readings of their work. In October, the department celebrates Creative Nonfiction Week with five days of events, readings, and panels. And in April, the department supports the Citywide Poetry Festival, where an undergraduate poet from Columbia College joins other student poets from across the city to read their work. The department also publishes four journals: Hotel Amerika (a national literary magazine), Court Green (a national poetry magazine), The Columbia Poetry Review (for both student and professional poets), and The South Loop Review, a journal of nonfiction (for both students and professional writers).

Full-time faculty members in the department have published over 50 books, including books of poems, creative nonfiction, short stories, novels, scholarship, and textbooks, and they are published widely in national, international, and online journals. Faculty are committed to improving students’ abilities to think, write, read, and speak effectively. Course offerings and teaching approaches reflect this philosophy. The Department of English provides student-centered classrooms where instructors are sensitive to individual student writers’ and readers’ needs. We seek to encourage reading and writing as lifelong habits, for our personal and professional development depend upon our abilities to communicate clearly, creatively, and with confidence.

Kenneth Daley
Chairperson, English

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