Programs
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English Department
509-963-1546
english.department@cwu.edu
The English/Language Arts Teaching Major, in combination with the Professional Education Program, prepares you for a teaching career in middle, junior, and high schools. Our program blends knowledge of English studies with methods of teaching language arts, including courses on teaching multicultural literature, young adult literature, and writing.
Clear and concise writing, analytical thinking, persuasiveness, and precision are all valuable skills for a wide range of fields including teaching.
Students involved in this program will find numerous opportunities to write and publish their work and to meet professionals in the field through activities and organizations such as Manastash (Student Literary Journal), Inklings Creative Writer's Club, Lion Rock Visiting Writers Series and Central Washington Writing Project.
English Department
509-963-1546
english.department@cwu.edu
The study of language and literature will broaden your knowledge of literary history and traditions, develop your understanding of different cultures, and introduce you to the world's most brilliant writers. Our inclusive curriculum offers a diverse selection of courses that cross national borders, literary genres, and minoritized cultures.
A degree in English Language and Literature provides you with essential skills in persuasive communication, analytical reasoning, creative thinking, and emotional intelligence that are most in demand by employers in a variety of professional fields, including teaching, training, writing, publishing, law, research, business, and government.
Our faculty is comprised of excellent teacher-scholars who genuinely care about you, the student. We offer small classes with innovative learning activities, such as multimedia writing projects, mock trials, archival research, and collaborative group work. We actively publish in scholarly journals and present at national and international conferences, while closely mentoring students in research, writing, professionalization, and preparation for graduate study.
English Department
509-963-1546
english.department@cwu.edu
In an increasingly technological world that depends on evolving, merging, and expanding forms of writing and communication, our Professional and Creative Writing Program offers students a range of courses across modalities and writing styles. In professional and technical writing courses, students learn practical elements including necessary workplace skills in usability testing, document design, and new media. In creative writing courses, students learn the nuances of genre and develop writing practices in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, playwriting, screenwriting, and blurred forms. All students can take publishing, editing, and grant writing courses that offer further skills across specializations.
This program produces graduates with a set of valuable skills adaptable to a wide range of industries and workplace opportunities. Recent graduates of this program have found careers in teaching, marketing, grant writing, technical writing, advertising, publishing, arts networking and community organizing, and more, and others have gone on to graduate programs in rhetoric and composition, creative writing, and editing.
Moreover, our undergraduates connect with diverse opportunities through publishing, community immersion, regional and international travel, and internships.
The Professional and Creative Writing program is rigorous yet also flexible and adaptable to student needs. The program can be completed face-to-face, online, or via a combination of the two modalities. Students work closely with faculty mentors, all of whom are published professionals in their own fields, to develop their own professional identities.
Why study English at CWU?
As undergraduates, students in the English program at CWU write and publish their own work and meet professionals in literature through a variety of activities and organizations.
Intensive study of language and literature allows us to understand human problems more perceptively and to express ourselves in ways others may appreciate.
Everyone benefits from sharpened communication skills. Success in the job market depends on professionalism, including fluency in the many forms of speech and writing.
CWU English Career Opportunities
Career Opportunities
Government Agencies
Journalism
Law
Business
Teaching
Ministry
Social Justice
Web Development
Experience English at CWU
Points of Pride
CWU’s Online Professional and Creative Writing degree was named among the nation's top 10 online Bachelor of Arts in English degree programs.
As undergraduates, students in the English program at CWU write and publish their own work and meet professionals in literature through a variety of activities and organizations.