Why Be An English Major? | Rockhurst University

Here are the top reasons we think that you should major or minor in English:

The student-run English Club celebrates literature and writing in its many forms. Recent events have included a Harry Potter party, a Coffee and Company open mic night, a marathon reading of The Handmaid’s Tale, and open-air Shakespearean performances in Kinerk Commons. All are welcome at English Club events!
English students edit and contribute to two literary journals. Each issue of Rockhurst Review, edited by Rockhurst students, showcases lyrical, emotionally resonant writing from some of the strongest voices in contemporary literature. Our second literary journal, the Rockhurst Reader, features the work of current Rockhurst students and of other undergraduates.
English majors can become members of the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society. In 2013, Rockhurst’s Alpha Mu Gamma chapter of Sigma Tau Delta won the national Chapter of the Year award.

English majors and minors pursue one of four tracks (Literature, Writing, Education, or Film), allowing them to take classes that matter to them
With a minimum of 22 hours of upper-division coursework, the English major can easily be combined with other majors.
English courses also fit into a variety of interdisciplinary minors, including Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Environmental Studies, and Medical Humanities.

More than $74,000 in scholarship funds are available each year to English majors and minors, including $10,000 in renewable scholarships that are reserved for incoming freshmen or transfer students. For more information on the Lakas scholarships for incoming students, contact, Dr. Dan Martin.

English students gain their critical and creative work annually at national conferences, including the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society annual convention and the undergraduate symposium of the Midwest Modern Language Association's annual conference.
Workshop Wednesdays are offered several times each semester on topics related to professional development. Recent topics have included: “How to Apply to Graduate School” and “Do I Need a Website?”
Recent English majors have gone on to careers in grant writing, publishing, teaching, producing, business and non-profit, among many others.

Every year, Rockhurst students moderate conversations among local high school students as part of the Kansas City Race Project, which brings together local high schools to learn the history of race relations in Kansas City and discuss how to improve those relations in the future.
English majors also judge the annual “Louder than a Bomb” slam poetry competition that empowers high school students by giving them a platform and a voice.

English faculty keep their doors open and are keen to work with you on projects in and beyond your coursework. Students are invited to drop by any time, whether to continue conversations from class, to revise work for conference presentations or publication, and to discuss internship, graduate school, and career possibilities.
Our faculty practice what they teach; check out these samples of their recent work:
- Dr. Jason Arthur, who studies American literature and culture, recently published a book entitled Violet America: Regional Cosmopolitanism in U.S. Fiction since the Great Depression(2013). He has also written a range of works for the public on such varied topics as the rock musician Craig Finn and the literary representation of intimacy in the digital age.
- Dr. John Kerrigan writes on Irish literature and on teaching strategies, including a recent article on “The Emergent Postsecular in Contemporary Irish Literature”. He has worked closely with the Mission and Ministry program and speaks about the importance of the Jesuit value of magis in our lives.
- Dr. Dan Martin, who studies American non-fiction and environmental writing, publishes personal non-fiction essays like “Sebastiano’s Cross” and flash non-fiction pieces like “City Rill.”