English and Philosophy Department
What You'll Study
Open a book and open new worlds. In your English classes, you will explore wide ranging literary traditions in American, British, and world literature, and practice critical and creative reading, writing and discussions. You will learn to articulate and defend ideas with confidence, and to understand and respond to ideas and values different from your own. In this track you will develop your ability to read with comprehension, think critically, and write clearly— all of which are skills required by our rapidly evolving global marketplace.
Topics covered include:
- Haunted American Texts
- Multiracial/Multicultural Literature
- Shakespeare
- Temptation: Narratives of Resistance and Surrender
- The Invisible Disability: Mental Illness and Literature, A Cultural Studies Perspective
In today’s content-driven world, everyone needs a writer. This concentration will develop your creative skills and prepare you for a future as a writer. Whether you plan to pursue graduate school or dive into the job market, a degree in English writing will help you hone your craft and turn your passion for the written word into a marketable skillset.
The courses comprising the writing concentration will give you a strong background in several core disciplines. Topics covered include:
- Creative Nonfiction Workshop
- Advanced Composition: Rhetoric and Writing
- Poetry Workshop
- Business Writing
- Fiction and Drama
Philosophy has historically provided the cornerstone of a classical liberal arts education. The broad background acquired through a philosophy minor meets the demand in both business and government for men and women who have been exposed, through training in the liberal arts, to a careful scrutiny of the history of conflicting ideas, ideals, and world views.
A minor in Philosophy consists of six courses (18 semester hours) distributed as follows:
Required Courses (12.0 sh)
- PHIL102 Ethics
- PHIL201 Classical Philosophy
- PHIL110 Critical Thinking OR PHIL308 Logic
- PHIL328 Humanities Seminar
Electives (6.0 sh)
Students must take at least one 300 or 400 level course as one elective. The other elective can be satisfied by any philosophy course, including PHIL101 Problems in Philosophy.


Program Highlights
- The Writing Center: LHU’s Writing Center is a valuable resource for English students, and the larger student population. The Center is staffed by student peers. English majors have the opportunity to assist others with writing assignments through peer tutoring.
- Scholarships: From honorariums to full-tuition waivers, scholarships exist to reward your hard work and dedication to the major. Find more information here.
- Campus Reading Series: Each semester the LHU English department brings today’s top writers and English scholars
to campus to read from their work and share their literary journey with the campus
community. Past visiting writers and scholars include:
- National Poet Laureate Billy Collins
- American Book Award winner Li-Young Lee
- NAACP Outstanding Image Award winner Jamaal May
- John Newbery Medal winner Susan Campbell Bartoletti
- The Crucible: LHU’s student-edited literary arts journal gives you the opportunity to showcase your creative talent. The journal publishes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, along with art and photography.
- Careers: LHU English majors hold jobs around the world in a variety of fields. The breadth
of their experience speaks to the versatility of the major. Graduates have found careers
in:
- Politics
- Public Relations
- Non-Profit
- Journalism
- Publishing
- Creative Writing
- Business
- Marketing
- Law
- Library Science
- Facilities: Faculty deliver courses in technology-enhanced classrooms with vast multimedia capabilities. Students can access open computer labs and campus wireless network when using personally-owned devices. Students can request technology resources from Stevenson Library, Media Services.