Department of English

It fosters a historical understanding of our cultural moment rooted in awareness of what it means to be human—and the diverse ways of being human—in an ever-changing world.

Sought-After Practices, Built-In Choices

English students at Rhode Island College focus on literary studies, with optional concentrations in creative writing and professional writing. Regardless of your individual path, all practices learned in English classes:

• careful analysis
• creative problem solving
• aesthetic awareness
• effective communication attentive to the needs of a variety of audiences

are highly valued in today’s workplaces.

Diverse Professions and Next Steps

Our majors enter a wide range of careers in areas such as:

• education, academia
• writing, copyediting, journalism, publishing
• communications, marketing, public relations, advertising
• film and video editing, multimedia content development
• arts and nonprofit administration
• social work
• librarianship
• management
• policy research
• law

And many of our graduate go on to postgraduate study. We regularly connect with alumni and host events for current students about career options. We also place great emphasis on providing our students with the tools and skills to be career ready.

Career Readiness

We take great care in setting up English students for success. Career Readiness for Humanities Majors, a new one-credit course from the Rhode Island College English Department, intentionally builds towards success after college. Students prepare their portfolios, participate in workshops with the Career Development Center and learn from alumni experience, taking away insights that the alumni had learned along their career paths.