University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Department of English

The Department of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) embraces multiple approaches to, writing, reading, and teaching English, and offers innovative courses of study for students at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The department offers BA and MA degrees in English Education, Creative Writing, and English Studies; it offers PhD degrees in Creative Writing and English Studies. Graduates in English, at all levels, distinguish themselves with rewarding jobs in schools, businesses, community organizations, and government, and with prestigious awards for their writing and teaching.

Students in all areas of study in English take advantage of the department’s internationally renowned faculty, engaged in path-breaking research.   Faculty strengths range from early modern British literature and American literature to creative writing and rhetorical studies.  At both undergraduate and graduate levels, moreover, students are encouraged to pursue exciting interdisciplinary paths of inquiry, connecting literature and culture, politics and rhetoric, creative writing and critical writing, composition and urban studies. 

Beyond their course work, students engage in stimulating intellectual exchanges that put them in contact with faculty and other students from UIC and from other universities.   A weekly colloquium features speakers from UIC and beyond; interdisciplinary groups and reading groups connect faculty and students from departments across the humanities; and each year the department hosts a Visiting Writer who presents readings and workshops for undergraduate and graduate students.   

Last but not least, the English department community combines the scholarly strengths of a research university with the vitality of one of the world’s great cities.  Chicago combines cosmopolitanism with ethnic diversity; it thus offers students unparalleled entertainment as well as virtually endless opportunities to explore and study language, literature, and culture.  

(Source: Mark Canuel, Professor and Head, Department website.)