Welcome to the Department of English

Words, so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Our Undergraduate Program offers a versatile major that can be tailored to suit the needs and interests of its students.

Our Graduate Program provides extensive teaching opportunities, emphasizes professional development, and boasts an outstanding placement record for its graduates.

The Department’s award-winning Faculty combine excellence in teaching, research and service.

The Center for Writing Excellence supports writing in significant ways through University-required classes such as English 101, 102, and 103; through the Writing Center; through distance writing courses; through work with area teachers engaged in the National Writing Project; and through programs in creative writing and professional writing at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The Department’s Centers and Projects include a Center for Writing Excellence, a Center for Literary Computing, the West Virginia Dialect Project, the scholarly journal, Victorian Poetry, and the WVU Press.

Find out about our successful graduates with the latest alumni news.

Click here to view our blog, The Tenants of Colson Hall.

Learn about the exciting things happening at the English Department in the Chair’s Welcome Message.

Did You Know?

Our most recent graduating class included 1 Ph.D.; 10 M.F.A.’s; 4 M.A.’s; 4 M.A.P.W.E’s; and 42 B.A.’s.

During the past twelve years, 84% of our graduates who sought academic jobs found tenure-track positions. In the last five years, 100% of our graduates who sought academic jobs found tenure-track positions.