Department of
English/Communication/Philosophy
Undergraduate and Graduate Programs

Program Descriptions

Overview

Literary Studies

Communication

Writing

Philosophy

MFA in Creative Writing

MA Program in Corporate and Organizational Communication

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Department-based Publications

Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

The Literary Review: An International Journal of Contemporary Writing

New Jersey Journal of Communication

Student Creative Writing Site on Web Del Sol

Literary Studies

The Literary Studies option within the English major provides students with a curriculum that combines traditional literary study with more recent theoretical approaches. Because the English major emphasizes development of analytic skills as well as cultural enrichment, students pursue the major as a preparation for teaching, further graduate study, or entry-level positions in a variety of fields requiring a liberal arts degree. Many English majors have gone into law, corporate management, writing, and various media fields.

The program's requirements include work in a range of literary periods, styles, themes, and authors in English, American, and world literatures. A required course in literary and commmunication theory grounds students in the latest theoretical approaches to questions of authorship, audience, cultural context, and role of literature in society, themes emphasized throughout the curriculum.


Chaucer
Shakespeare
Jane Austen
Dickens


Typical Program of Study

Within the 42 required credits for the Literary Studies option, students complete

  • British Literature
  • American Literature
  • Shakespeare
  • 6 credits in background courses (The Classical Tradition, Modern European Tradition, Myth, Bible as Literature)
  • Literary and Communication Theory
  • Senior Seminar
The remaining credits may be fulfilled by major electives in any literary period, genre, or figure. Free elective credits may be used to pursue work in philosophy, history, languages, to enhance skills for graduate study and teaching, or complete a secondary area of concentration in any of these areas as well or in business management. Students planning to teach in secondary education also take an advanced writing course.

Students may fulfill major requirements in literature at FDU's Wroxton campus in England.

Students in other departments may complete a secondary area of concentration in Literary Studies.

Representative Courses

  • Introduction to Literary Studies
  • British Literature
  • American Literature
  • European Literature
  • Chaucer
  • Shakespeare
  • Milton
  • The Classical Tradition
  • Medieval Literature
  • Renaissance World
  • 18th-Century Literature
  • Romantic and Victorian Literature
  • Modern Poetry
  • Contemporary Fiction
  • Major American Writers
  • Major British Writers
  • Modern European Literature
  • Ethnic American Writers
  • Women Writers
  • Studies in Drama
  • Myth
  • Bible as Literature
  • Senior Seminar

Department Faculty


Geoffrey Weinman, Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University, Department Chair: American literature, organizational communication

John E. Becker, Ph.D. Yale University: American literature, literary theory, Bible as literature

Hester Coan, Ph.D., Rutgers University: communication research, communication theory

Walter Cummins, Ph.D., University of Iowa: 19th-20th century fiction studies, literary theory, fiction writing, corporate writing

Kathryn Douglas, M.A., William Paterson University: writing, Milton

Susan Gerson, M.A., Teacher's College, Columbia University: composition

Michael B. Goodman, Ph.D., SUNY at Stony Brook: corporate communications, technical communication, contemporary American Literature, censorship

Martin Green, Ph. D., Indiana University: medieval literature, literary theory, linguistics, mass media, print media history, new communications technology

Harry Keyishian, Ph.D., New York University: Shakespeare, drama and film

James Kuehl, Ph.D., Northwestern University: Philosophy

Jennifer Lehr, Ph.D., Rutgers University: corporate communication; communication research; oral presentation

Odysseus Makridis, Ph.D., Brandeis University: Philosophy

Sylvia Skaggs McTague, Ph.D., Drew University: Romantic and Victorian literature, the short story, composition

Gary Radford, Ph.D., Rutgers University: communication, literary theory

Marilyn Rye, Ph.D., Rutgers University, Director of Freshman Writing. writing, native American writers, detective fiction

Elise Salem, Ph.D., University of North Carolina: 16th-18th century British literature, world literature, contemporary Arab writers, ethnic American literature, cultural studies, mass media

Rene Steinke, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee: creative writing, contemporary literature

William Zander, M.A., University of Missouri: creative writing (poetry), journalism