Department of English
Mission Statement
The Towson University Department of English explores what it means to be human. Considering the human experience across time and space, we foster an expanded understanding of our histories and cultures, giving voice to creative, literary, technical, and rhetorical forms of expression.
As our unique contribution to the liberal arts, our faculty and students think about words and what they do in the world. Consequently, in pursuit of intellectual and social growth, we read critically, write imaginatively, and think expansively to broaden our personal, academic, professional, and civic lives.
The Department of English serves all students at the university through extensive general education offerings that strive to improve writing skills, expand liberal learning, and focus critical and analytic thinking. In addition, the English major supports the university’s areas of emphasis in three key areas: teacher education; public and private sector development and service; and liberal education. The department’s graduate program in professional writing, unique in Maryland and paralleled by only six other programs nationwide, graduates expert writers who meet the needs of government, social and commercial organizations that rely on expert and efficient writing.
The department’s teacher-scholars pursue scholarship in literature as well as new techniques for teaching and evaluating and improving writing. In addition, faculty members play key roles in shaping and sustaining university programs in women’s studies, American studies, Afro-American studies, multicultural studies, English education, Law and American Civilization, ancient Mediterranean studies, and the Master of Arts in humanities. They also actively serve the needs of the region, the state, and the nation through consultations, contracted research and instruction, conferences, publications, and presentations on writing improvement and educational reform.
Publications
Grub Street
Grub Street, the university's literary magazine, is the venue for student fiction, poetry and art.
Discourse
Discourse, the English Academic Journal of Towson University invites student scholarship, research and criticism.
Grantwriting In Valued Environments
Grantwriting In Valued Environments (G.I.V.E.) is a BTU Priority Investment project in the English department that advances students' professional writing goals by connecting their coursework to the writing needs of small nonprofit organizations in the Baltimore/Washington region.
Full-time faculty
Student-to-faculty ratio in the English major
Bachelor's degrees awarded since 2013-2014
About Our People
Contact Information
Hours
Mon - Fri: 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.