English

Augustana students pose for a picture with English professor Jan Keessen, second from right. In the background is the Cascade Mountain Range--the students are on a study abroad term at Holden Village, a remote community in the northernmost region of Washington state.

English studies at Augustana are designed to prepare you for both work and leisure. You'll learn to read with insight and write with precision--skills employers value. And you'll deepen your experience of what it means to use words well: to shape thought, story, image, characters. In literature courses you'll encounter texts that have moved and excited people for generations, as well as new works that interpret the moment we're living in. Writing courses encourage you to explore your world and yourself, to stretch your imagination in fresh new ways.

Augustana English faculty teach with different styles and perspectives, but ultimately all of us believe we teach people, not data. We believe that reading and writing educate the whole person, mind, emotion, and spirit. Our own experiences as scholars and writers have shown us that the pleasures and challenges of English studies grow with your own growth, both accompanying and assisting it, throughout your life. It's our goal to nurture that growth.

If you're like most of our students, you'll have fun with your English major. In addition to course work, extra-curricular activities such as After Hours Poetry and Fiction; Saga, the student-edited literary and art magazine; the student newspaper Observer; Bibliophiles Anonymous, the campus English club; and the River Readings, a series of on-campus readings by contemporary writers, give you chances to develop skills outside your class assignments. You can take trips to places near--like the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago--or far--like England, Ireland, or Vietnam--with other students and faculty who care about the things that matter to you.

This is only a cursory glance at the opportunities you'll have as an English major at Augustana. Browse the links at the left to read more.