About Us

The English Department at the University of Montana has several components: 1) Literature; 2) Creative Writing; 3) English Teaching; 4) Composition; 5) Linguistics; and 6) English as a Second Language. In the first, Literature, students ground their study in the reading and examination of the canonical literatures of Great Britain, Ireland and North America. This study is given an historical focus through the program's core survey courses: 1) British and Irish literatures from their beginnings to 1800; 2) British and Irish literatures from 1800 to the present; 3) North American literatures from their beginnings to 1865; and 4) North American literatures from 1865 to the present. These courses, plus courses in Shakespeare and practical criticism, are required of all Literature majors. In addition to which, there are other courses designed to make the student familiar with other literatures, written in English, from regions outside those named. Such would include the literatures of Australia, India, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa and so forth. Beyond this, there are electives that focus upon genres (e.g., poetry, fiction, drama, science fiction, children's literature, film), periods (e.g., Medieval, Renaissance, Victorian, Modern, Postmodern), authors (e.g., Chaucer, Milton, Blake, Austen, James and Woolf), topics (e.g., gender, the environment, postcolonialism), and theory. The program's aim is to impart to the student an understanding not only of the aesthetic richness of the literatures that have been written in English but also of the historical and cultural forces that have contributed to their making. The classes are of a size that makes discussion very much a part of the classroom experience, and the faculty is actively committed both to teaching and scholarship.

In the Fall of 2007, the University of Montana inaugurated Film Studies as an optional emphasis under the wing of the English Department. This inter-disciplinary program introduces students to all facets of moving-image culture from historical, theoretical, and other critical perspectives, also providing an opportunity to study production through the Media Arts Department as an elective. Students who chose a Film Studies emphasis will learn the critical language of film as a means of analyzing one of the most pervasive forms of cultural representation today. Taking classes in aesthetics, film history, and various courses—in topics as varied as Shakespeare and Film, German Cinema, and Film Noir—students will enhance their critical media skills through learning in depth how to read and write about film. For more information contact Professors Phil Fandozzi or Sean O’Brien.

Taking advantage of the historical connections between Montana and Ireland and promoting international exchange with the University-College Cork in Ireland, the University of Montana has also inaugurated a program in Irish Studies. The program, which is currently administered under the auspices of the English Deparment, involves an interdisciplinary and inter-collegiate collaboration that brings together leading scholars in the humanities and in the creative arts. English Department faculty offer courses in Gaelic literature and culture, Irish film, Irish and Native American literature and culture, contemporary Irish and Northern Irish literature, and courses centering on individual authors such as Joyce and Beckett.

The Creative Writing program, one of the country's oldest and most renowned, is predicated on the model of the workshop, as led by a stellar group of prize-winning poets, novelists, short-story writers and memoirists. The faculty is complemented, each year, with distinguished guest faculty, who take up residencies in posts named after Charles Engelhard, Richard Hugo and William Kittredge. Undergraduates are also expected to fulfill many of the same requirements as those majoring in Literature. Graduate students, pursuing an MFA, will, by contrast, experience a rather more autonomous program. Creative Writing also sponsors the literary magazine CutBank, now in its fourth decade of publishing distinguished works of poetry, fiction and art.

The English Teaching program is designed to transform gifted students of English into equally gifted teachers of the subject, paving the way between being a student and assuming the responsibilities of not only thoughtfully instructing students but also of engaging, in serious and productive ways, one's fellow colleagues and community members. In addition to training apprentices to the field, the program also works, especially in the Montana Writing Project, with seasoned teachers, offering them a structured venue wherein they can both share their experiences and learn about newer developments.

The Composition Program seeks to help students make knowledge in an academic context, and thus to initiate them into academic literacy. Treating writing not as a set of skills but as a venue for a meaningful engagement with ideas, the program aims to help students join a scholarly conversation of voices, to understand the needs of different audiences, to achieve rhetorical versatility, and to become more socially just citizens. The program is founded on a definition of writing as a recursive, collaborative process, with strong emphases on critical reading, revision, and peer critique.

Lastly, the Department offers courses in English as a Second Language and Linguistics. The first is principally designed for those who have plans to teach English to non-native speakers; the second, in conjunction with the Department of Linguistics, is designed to instruct the student in the grammatical, phonological, and historical dimensions of the English language.

The Department offers both undergraduate and graduate courses; and its programs of study lead to three degrees: B. A., M.A. and M.F.A. It is a vigorous Department that is as happy to see its graduates succeed in their professional careers as it is to welcome new students. Regarding those successful careers, see the English Alumni Employment Survey, which reveals an impressive collection of our graduates and the careers they have pursued.