Popular Electives
- Advanced Creative Nonfiction
- The Black British Short Story
- Black Ecopoetics
- Elegy and the Environment
- Introduction to Film Studies
- Native American Literature
- The Queer Nineteenth Century
- Representations of Disability
- Shakespeare
- Shakespeare and Kurosawa
- Travel Writing
Hands-on Experiences
- Tutor at the Writing Learning Center
- Student affiliate in the Center for Digital Learning
- Teaching assistant in English and creative writing courses
- Edit and produce SUNY-wide literary magazine Gandy Dancer
Recent Internships
Alumni Spotlight
Alanna Smith '12
Major: English (Creative Writing)
Minor: Studio Art
Career: Associate Editor at Marvel Comics
“I'm editing Avengers books, which is the coolest job ever. I'm using a lot of skills I learned from The Lamron and in my English and art classes, as well as skills I picked up from all my internships. I get to critique scripts, check art for readability and mistakes, and chat with and manage a bunch of awesome comic creators.”
English
Why study English at Geneseo?
Widely honored for its teaching excellence, the English department believes students flourish when given the freedom to pursue their own passions. The English major is short on rigid requirements and long on dynamism and variety. Whatever a student’s interests—from classical authors to contemporary social issues, from crafting poems to developing skills in digital humanities—they’ll find a host of great options.
Students learn critical thinking and how to write clearly and compellingly as well as how to self-diagnose their writing and revise effectively toward specific goals. They are exposed to a wide range of literary production and literary history with special attention to context, genre, interpretation and identity. The major foregrounds social justice and responsible citizenship, with regularly offered classes on race, ethnicity, LGBTQ+ authors, disability studies, and global literatures. Creative writing students learn how to write and revise fiction, nonfiction, and poetry manuscripts, and education students get introduced to a broad range of literary traditions, forms, and periods. Finally, because Geneseo is home to the SUNY-wide literary magazine Gandy Dancer, majors in both tracks can take a class that teaches them the basics of literary publishing.
Program Options
- BA in English (Creative Writing)
- BA in English (Literature)
- BA in Comparative Literature
- BA in English, Adolescence Education
- Minor in English
- Minor in Film Studies
- Minor in Linguistics
Partnership Program
Additional Options
- Concentration in English with Early Childhood/Childhood Education (B–6)
- Microcredential in Performance as Social Change
- Microcredential in Science Communication
Program Highlights
- Award-winning faculty (SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor)
- Gandy Dancer, SUNY’s undergraduate literary magazine, edited and produced by Geneseo students
- Opportunities for community, leadership, and national conference presentations through English honor society Sigma Tau Delta
- Award-winning English majors (Richard Roark Award—the highest honor given annually a student who combines excellence in academics with a commitment to community service—has gone to an English major seven of the past 11 years)
Example Careers
- English Educator
- Government Administrator
- Journalist
- Lawyer
- Librarian
- Publisher
- Screenwriter
- Technical Writer
Recent Grad Schools
- Boston College
- Brown University
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- Duke University
- Durham University, England
- Emory University
- Harvard University
- Iowa Writers’ Workshop
- Rutgers University
- Stanford University
- University of Edinburgh, Scotland
- University of St. Andrews, Scotland
Contact Info
Alice Rutkowski, Department Chair
rutkowsk@geneseo.edu
Welles Hall 222A
585-245-5290
