Choose English
The study of literature provides an outstanding opportunity to cultivate the life of the mind, perhaps the most rewarding of all human pursuits. Reading and analyzing literature teaches us to think critically and deliberately, never shying away from difficult or controversial topics.
The Department of English
The Department of English is a hub of loud, embracing energy that generates student awareness of language and culture that is crucial for success in the professional world. Through our Master’s programs and undergraduate degree programs, we train students in the arts of writing, critical thinking, argumentation.
Students in our programs benefit from community-based internships, hands-on teaching experience in the UWF Writing Lab, small classes, visiting lectures by notable scholars and writers, and participant-centered workshops. Our students and faculty also publish two literary journals: Troubadour, the student magazine of poetry, fiction and graphic art, and Panhandler, distributed and recognized nationally as an important showcase for fresh creative voices. The Department also boasts its own book imprint, Panhandler Books.
We place a strong emphasis on active student learning through a rigorous program that emphasizes historical breadth, skills development, and diversity. From single-author seminars to lectures in literary theory, our classes provide students ample opportunity to pursue their individual interests while receiving guidance from a dedicated, internationally-recognized faculty.
Our faculty all hold advanced degrees—from the Universities of Oxford, Washington, Miami, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Southern California, Florida State, Syracuse, Duke, Samford, Rutgers, Yale and West Florida. We regularly contribute to the international conversation of scholars and critics, publishing translations, editions, articles, poems, stories, and works of cultural analysis and criticism.
English majors at UWF are some of the most successful graduates of our university, earning high salaries and fulfilling a crucial demand for talented writers, communicators, and critical thinkers. Employers routinely hire English majors and graduate students because of our exceptional skills and our ability to work in diverse cultural settings. Our graduates have been accepted into a wide variety of master’s and doctoral programs in leading universities around the country and overseas. We count as “our own” several novelists and many emerging poets.
So please—consider this website a beginning of our relationship with you. We look forward to meeting you face-to-face or in one of our online Master’s programs.
