The English Discipline is one of the largest at the University of Minnesota, Morris, offering a curriculum to match. Some examples of the range of courses are: Writing Poetry for the 21st Century; Representations of American Indians in Popular and Academic Culture; Holocaust Literature and Film; The Environmental Imagination; Harlem Renaissance; Detection and Espionage in Fiction and Film; and Gender in Literature and Culture. Research seminars explore timely and historical topics in detail. Recent themes include:
- How some cultures or groups of individuals, often disregarded, have become more prominent in the global conversation, and how that affects and enriches our understanding.
- The struggle of writers in the early part of our nation’s history to create new, innovative ways of writing that could reflect the political and social upheavals taking place at that time.
- A reading of poems, essays, and other writings about nature and our planet, to see how language can change the way we see and think about the environment.
The English major begins with surveys of American and British literature and a foundational skills course called Literary Studies. Typically, six electives from a combination of topical classes and seminars fill out the minimum coursework.
The English minor can be satisfied with 20 credits—for instance, two core survey classes and three others from a similar selection of that offered to majors.
Some students who wish to perfect their powers of language and communication take English as part of a double major, or include English in a personalized curriculum.