Professors: Kathleen Cassity, Henry Hughes, Gavin Keulks, Marjory Lange, Katherine Schmidt, Uma Shrestha, Robert Troyer
Associate professors: Ann Bliss, Leigh Graziano, Lars Söderlund, Ryan Topper

Mission

Provides personalized learning opportunities leading to advanced studies or a variety of careers including teaching, writing, editing, linguistics and literature. The various programs help students develop a broad knowledge of literature, language and writing to foster analytical and critical skills. Students encounter new ideas; appreciate aesthetic and practical language; become impassioned readers, writers and thinkers; and gain perspectives in assimilating and evaluating their new experiences.

Learning Outcomes: Foundations

1. Develop basic understanding of the nature of language and of the appropriate methods for language inquiry /analysis.
2. Develop the skills required to write persuasive, coherent explications of literary texts, to appropriately support arguments with both primary and secondary source material and to properly employ the conventions of documentation for writing effective critical essays.
3. Develop familiarity with the key issues in writing studies.

Core Courses

Before taking the Foundations courses, students should have the General Education writing requirement completed, and one lower-division Literature course before LIT 317  (recommended: LIT 201  or LIT 202 ).