English and Foreign Languages

MISSION STATEMENT FOR THE ENGLISH PROGRAM

The English Program is designed to develop critical thinking and writing skills and to acquaint students with the aesthetic and cultural values inherent in literature.  The English program teaches the traditional cannon of global literature and languages, creative writing, and African American Studies as a body of knowledge to be mastered, as a means of reinforcing literature's aesthetic and cultural values, and as a means of refining thinking, writing, and researching skills.  The program has expanded its course offerings beyond the traditional spectrum to include multicultural literature.

GOALS

As one team with one goal to win, the English and Foreign Languages faculty is an enthusiastic and dedicated group of people.  They are always student-oriented and available for advice.  Most of the full-time faculty are published writers of literary criticism, creative work, or monographs.

1.  To provide all students with general education courses

2.  To prepare students for graduate study in English and related fields

3.  To develop critical thinking and analytical skills in literature and creative writing

4.  To develop competence in foreign languages

All majors must complete all the requirements of the University as well as those of the degree area.

OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES

1.  Students will analyze and evaluate diverse critical and creative approaches to the fundamentals of research in either a thesis-driven essay or a creative project.

2.  Students will compose, analyze and reflect on written language and oral communication by practicing the professional rhetorical and writing styles that are appropriate to the rhetorical situation.

3.  Students will recognize and compare interactions through careful examination of texts within the diverse cultural contexts in global and American literature through oral presentation and writing.

OUR STUDENTS HAVE EXCELLED IN THE FOLLOWING ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES:

  • The Fulbright-Gilmore Scholarship for an English major to study abroad in Costa Rica;
  • Students were encouraged to apply for grants to study in Costa Rica, Mexico, China, Spain, and Russia;
  • The grant-sponsored lectures that enrich students' knowledge of humanities and literature (National Endowment for the Humanities; NEA Big Read, MDNHAP);
  • IHL HEADWAE Award;
  • IHL Diversity and Inclusion Award
  • IHL Critical Need Teacher Loan/Scholarship;
  • Award for the Thurgood Marshall Leadership Institute;
  • William Winter Scholar Award that exposes students to scholarly lectures in Natchez, Mississippi;
  • Delta Research Scholarships;
  • Jobs that use writing;
  • Teaching practicum at regional secondary schools;
  • Serving as writing tutors;
  • Initiation of Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta;  The International English Honor Society;
  • Student community service through presenting the Extending the Richard Wright Experience at Leflore High School;
  • Maya Angelou Words of Wisdom Essay Contest;
  • Poetry readings;
  • Presenting papers at professional conferences such as Mississippi Philological Association and Delta Symposium;
  • Attending the Zelma T. Howard Lecture Series lectures by noted writers and scholars (Tayari Jones, Dick Lourie, Sterling Plumpp, Jerry Ward, Claude Wilkinson, Tyehimba Jess, Floyd Hays, Diane Williams, Charles "Wsir" Johnson, Fulbright Scholars from China, Russia, Morocco and Lebanon);
  • Majors having round table discussion with the noted Richard Wright Scholar Dr. Jerry Ward;
  • Encouraging majors to further study in the graduate programs;
  • Working with the National Read-in-Chain Program for student reading in the Black History Month;
  • Newspaper editing for the campus student paper;
  • Encouraging students to write and publish their research paper and creative in journals;
  • Training students to acquire editorial skills for the literary journal and the departmental newspaper.