Department of English & Communication

The English & Communication Department serves a diverse group of majors: a group that includes those who intend to go on to graduate study; those who intend to enter the teaching profession and those who plan careers in such areas as public relations, editorial work, journalism, technical and professional writing, creative writing, personnel work and the like. The department also serves many other majors: those students who elect English and Communication courses in order to gain some acquaintance with the rich cultural heritage that English, American and comparative literature provide; and those who, through advanced courses in writing, wish to improve their powers of communication.

In addition, the department provides a first-year English program that includes introductory composition courses (ENL 101 and 102), testing and evaluation of the writing ability of incoming students, English-as-a-second language instruction and professional communications courses for students in business, science, technology, engineering and computer science programs.

English & Communication students may choose major options in English or in Communication. English majors may choose our B.A. in English which balances studies in literature and writing, or may choose some greater specialization in one of two concentrations: Literature & Criticism or Creative & Professional Writing. These options reflect the department’s conviction that perceptive reading, effective writing and clear thinking are interconnected.

Communication majors take a core of requirements but then have flexibility among their electives to develop pathways of specialization such as Journalism, Strategic Communication, Multimodal & Visual Communication, and Technical Communication.

The English & Communication Department offers a graduate program leading to a Master of Arts degree in Professional Writing & Communication designed to give students a background in rhetorical and communication theories and the advanced skills necessary for professional jobs in business, government, technology or publishing, as well as continued academic studies. For more information go to: http://www.umassd.edu/cas/english/graduateprograms/

The English & Communication Department offers a 4+1 option for qualified majors to earn the Master in Professional Writing & Communication degree in just a single year of graduate study. For more information go to http://www.umassd.edu/cas/english/graduateprograms/

Teacher Preparation Program Option:

Enrollment in the 4+1 (BA/BS-MAT) Teacher Preparation program allows undergraduate students to explore teaching as a profession through completion of graduate-level education coursework and field experiences within local public school settings. Students pursing teacher preparation at UMass Dartmouth graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in their chosen major, a Master’s degree in Teaching, and a Sheltered English Immersion endorsement. In order to develop a plan towards a license to teach, students should indicate their interest to both their English major advisor and the Coordinator of Teacher Preparation Programs. Students may enroll in the 4+1 program once they have earned 30 credits with a 3.0 GPA or above.

Learning Outcomes:

English B.A. Learning Outomes

Explain key concepts from English studies
Develop and write original texts across genres and modes
Understand and apply concepts and ideas related to issues of diversity such as race, class, sexuality, gender, ethnicity and others to texts across multiple genres and modes
Conduct research effectively in both traditional and new and emerging formats
Evaluate and employ resources effectively, using disciplinary conventions for citation and documentation

English Literature & Criticism Learning Outcomes

Understand literature as a mode of expression that is more than informational, but also aesthetic, imaginative, and generative
Examine and address human conditions, causes, and contexts and how they are embedded in language, narrative, and structure in literary texts
Analyze a variety of literary texts through close reading of language, genre, and form
Describe and analyze how literary texts and theories engage with issues of race, class, sexuality, gender, and ethnicity
Participate in inquiry-based and student-centered dialogue by listening to others’ perspectives, asking productive questions, and articulating original ideas
Articulate and engage a variety of perspectives and points-of-view with both openness and critical engagement
Conduct original research in literary studies that interprets, evaluates, synthesizes and integrates primary and secondary sources
Write to discover, interpret, analyze, argue, and persuade

English Creative & Professional Writing Learning Outcomes:

Write and compose original texts
Apply key concepts writing analytically, creatively, and professionally across multiple genres and modes based on audience needs and information design principles
Identify and summarize foundational concepts in creative writing, literary studies, and rhetorical studies
Understand and apply concepts and ideas related to issues of diversity such as race, class, sexuality, gender, ethnicity and others to texts across multiple genres and modes
Analyze the compositional and rhetorical strategies used in texts across multiple genres and modes
Synthesize primary and secondary sources, using appropriate research and writing methods across genres and modes
Evaluate the appropriateness of compositional and rhetorical strategies used in texts

Communication B.A. Learning Outcomes:

Create written texts using appropriate supporting materials and theories in communication and rhetoric
Communicate ideas orally within multiple contexts
Use information design principles to produce texts appropriate for audience, purpose, and context
Summarize and apply key concepts in communication and rhetorical theory
Evaluate the historical and cultural contexts of communication practices and describe their ethical, social, or environmental implications
Understand and apply concepts and ideas related to issues of diversity such as race, class,
sexuality, gender, ethnicity and others to texts across multiple genres and modes
Evaluate messages from a variety of media and technologies using methodologies in communication and rhetoric

Faculty and Fields of Interest

Caitlin Amaral, BA 1992 Tufts University, MFA 1995 Columbia University

Anupama Arora, BA 1995 University of Delhi, MA 1997 Jawaharlal Nehru University, PhD 2004 Tufts University, Post-colonial Theory and Literature (especially from Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia and its Diaspora), Women’s Studies, Asian American Literature, Colonial Literature, Literary Criticism and Theory

Joshua Botvin, BA 2013, MA 2016 University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, First-year English, Intermediate Writing

Julie Bowman, PhD 2015 Carnegie Mellon University, First-year English, Literature

Eric Casero, BA 2007, MA 2009 Temple University, PhD 2016 University of Kentucky, First-year English, Literature

Katherine DeLuca (Graduate Program Director, Director of Teaching Fellows), PhD Ohio State University, New and Digital Media, Rhetoric, Professional Writing

Christopher Eisenhart, BA 1993 Nebraska Wesleyan University, MA 1996, PhD 2003 Carnegie Mellon University, Rhetorical Criticism and Theory, Professional and Political Communication, Discourse Studies

Eli Evans, BA 1998 University of Wisconsin, MFA 2001 University of Arizona, MA 2007 Art Center College of Design, PhD 2013 University of California, Santa Barbara, First-year English, Literature

Shari Evans (Chairperson), BA University of Pennsylvania, MA, PhD University of New Mexico, Multicultural Literature and African-American Literature, Contemporary Women Writers, Feminist and Critical Race Theory

Meghan Fair, BA 2005 Skidmore College, MA 2009 University of Massachusetts Boston, PhD candidate University of Rhode Island, First-year English, Literature

Megan Fletcher, BA 2013 Bridgewater State University, MS 2016, PhD 2022 North Carolina State University

Caroline Gelmi, BA Boston College, PhD 2014 Tufts University, Poetry and Poetics, Nineteenth and Twentieth-century American Literature

Karen Gulbrandsen, BA 1989 University of Wisconsin Madison, MA 2003 Northeastern University, PhD 2009 Iowa State University, Technical Communication, Technology Transfer, Rhetoric of Science and Technology

Laurel Hankins, BA 2006 Bryn Mawr College, MA 2006, PhD 2011 Tufts University, Early American Literature, Nineteenth-century American Literature, Transatlantic Literary Culture, Theories of Moral Sentiment

Stanley Harrison, BA 1985 SUNY Cortland, MA 1988 University of Kentucky, PhD 1999 University of Rhode Island, Rhetoric, Professional Writing, Advanced Computer Applications

Tracy Harrison, BA 1989 Salve Regina College, MA 1991, ABD 1995 University of Rhode Island, American and British Literature, First-year English

Jenny Howe, BA 2002 Boston College, MA 2005 Boston College, PhD 2014 Tufts University, First-year English, Literature

Yuni Kim, PhD 2022 University of Arizona

Lucas Mann, BA 2008 Vassar College, MFA 2012 University of Iowa, Creative Nonfiction, Journalism, Professional Writing

William Nelles (emeritus), Narrative Theory, Medieval Literature

Jacqueline O’Dell, BA 2006 New York University, MA 2008, PhD 2014 Tufts University, First-year English, Literature

Morgan Peters, BA 1991, MS 1993 Boston University, MFA 2006 Goddard College Vermont, Drama, Creative Writing, Filmmaking, Oral traditions

Nicholas Santavicca (Director, American Language and Culture Institute), BA University of Kentucky, University of Cincinnati, PhD Texas Tech, ESL/ELL Education, Discourse and Culture

Judy Schaaf (emeritus), MA Columbia University, MLitt Middlebury College, PhD Yale University, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 19th-century American Literature, Travel and Nature Writing

Zack Sitter, BA 1994 Harvard University, MA 2001, PhD 2006 Brown University, First-year English, Literature

Alexis Teagarden (Director, First Year English), BA 2005 Georgetown University, MAT 2008 The John Hopkins University, PhD 2014 Carnegie Mellon University, Rhetoric, College Writing Pedagogy, Assessment, Public Policy

Robert P Waxler (emeritus), Romanticism, Jewish Studies, Professional Writing, Communication Theory

Mary Wilson, BA 1999 College of William and Mary, MA 2004, PhD 2009 University of Massachusetts Amherst, Transatlantic Modernist Fiction, Domesticity and Sexuality in Literature

Yuan Zhang, PhD 2013 Illinois State University, First-year English, ESL

Jay Zysk, BA 2005 Stonehill College, MA 2007, PhD 2011 Brown University, Renaissance/Early Modern British Literature