As an English major at Union, you will study how great authors, from Melville to Morrison, have used literature to confront and engage with timeless questions about love, justice, truth and evil.

Courses and requirements

Research and internships

English majors regularly present at the Steinmetz Symposium research day each spring. Topics have included “Melville, Romanticism and the Scientific Imagination,” “Poetry’s Broadening Sexual Definitions” and “Post-9/11 Politics in Superhero Comics, TV and Film.” Our students have held internships at Condé Nast, Martha Stewart Living, NBC, Y&R global marketing and Hearst, among other businesses in the communications and publishing world.

On campus

English majors contribute to the campus literary magazine, the Idol, and the student newspaper, Concordiensis, as well as poetry and fiction readings. They edit and publish in The Minerva Review, an undergraduate scholarly journal, and the Garnet yearbook. Students who live in Dickens House, one of our many theme houses, host events based on literary works and thought. Students also enjoy guest lectures and readings by prominent literary figures. Among those who have come to campus in recent years to talk with students and give readings and class lectures are Maya Angelou, Andrea Barrett ’72, Andre Dubus III, Anne Enright, Nikki Giovanni, Richard Russo and Colm Tóibín.

After Union