Student in Fraser Hall (SUNY Geneseo/Keith Walters '11)
SUNY Geneseo’s Department of English and Creative Writing is launching a new minor and a menu of microcredentials this fall. The programs are designed to develop professional skills and provide students with a competitive edge when applying for jobs or graduate school.
“Students value having a minor or microcredentials on their transcript and documenting a focus in the field,” says Alice Rutkowski, professor and chair in English. “Now they can make more intentional choices about their areas of interest while on campus.”
New Programs for 2025–26
Literary translation (both a minor and a microcredential) develops practical, intercultural skills that work across languages. Students get to engage with practicing translators and works-in-progress and gain connections at literary translation presses.
Publishing (microcredential) is geared toward students interested in editing, publishing, or literary marketing/publicity. Hands-on experience includes editing a campus publication and interning for a national or regional publication, press, or literary agency.
Library professions (microcredential) is open to students from any major. It focuses on textual analysis and research strategies and offers practical experience gained in a collegiate or community library. “Top academic libraries employ subject librarians in every single field, and lots of Geneseo students would make wonderful instructional librarians or community librarians,” says Rutkowski.
Engaged English (microcredential) recognizes the leadership and service that students are already doing, such as peer advising, leading the Creative Writing Club, editing SUNY’s Gandy Dancer literary magazine, or participating in the Sigma Tau Delta national honor society.
“A third to a half of our English majors are also adolescence education majors,” says Rutkowski. “Now when they interview for a teaching job, they can talk about all these extracurriculars that high school teachers, especially English teachers, are often expected to do.”
Explore Geneseo’s Department of English and Creative Writing.