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About Us

If you’re the kind of person who wants to be an English major, then you already know that life is a story and that stories tell you about life. Being an English major means knowing how to unlock those stories. It means knowing that reading and writing are revolutionary undertakings and our most intimate technologies. They change our lives – they change the ways we think and act. We will set you up for success anywhere by teaching you how to master them here, in New York City.

As one of the largest departments at Manhattan College, we nurture that success by cultivating strong communities on and off campus. Our world-renowned faculty offer coursework and campus programming designed to foster rich discussion about culture and expression – and how we understand ourselves through them. Our campus is, after all, shaped by one of the world’s leading producers of literature; New York City. We lean into our city and use it as an extension of our classroom – to contextualize and illuminate what it means to look critically at culture and cultural production. To join the English department is to join a community of scholars and alumni that quite literally spans the world as well as some of the most exciting professions it has to offer.

Meet an English Major: Kieran Rock

English major Kieran Rock discusses his experiences conducting research with a faculty mentor and other hands-on learning opportunities.

Our Programs

To major in English at Manhattan College is to master, of course, an understanding of how cultural production has shaped the world we live in, but also, and perhaps more importantly, to put that understanding to work in the world through connecting it to various other critical perspectives. To this end, the English major is designed to give you historical grounding in the study of literature while also attending to contemporary developments in theory, author and genre studies, global perspectives, writing studies, and the digital humanities.

Majoring in English is to get a deep critical perspective on these areas through coursework – and linking that coursework to your own interests and goals, whether that be through working for (or publishing in) our student-run literary magazine, Manhattan Magazine, or academic journal, Logos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the Arts, or through an internship at one of New York City’s publishing houses, or grant-funded summer research projects, or any one of the department’s incredible on-campus events, such as the Major Author Reading Series, where students are able to participate in discussions with Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning authors. To study the literary arts at Manhattan College is to study them in the world – and in an intimate setting with professors who thrive on rewarding relationships with students.

Major

Minors

  • Faculty Emeriti in this Department

    The below is a complete list of living faculty members who retired from the English department and hold emeritus status

    • Br. Patrick Horner, Professor Emeritus
    • Dr. Mary Ann O'Donnell, Professor Emeritus
    • Dr. Gary Vena, Professor Emeritus
    • Dr. William Kenney, Assistant Professor Emeritus
    • Dr. Lydia Panaro, Assistant Professor Emeritus

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