The Department of English Mission Statement

Through its interlocking and interdependent undergraduate and graduate programs, the Department of English Language and Literature at Eastern Michigan University prepares reflective, knowledgeable and skilled teachers, writers, artists, scholars, and other professionals. Collectively the Department strives to nurture creative teaching and impassioned learning; to impress upon students the systematic, creative, and flexible nature of language; and to foster the ongoing intellectual and practical contributions of our faculty, staff, students, graduates, and other area professionals.

Based on this mission statement, departmental faculty and programs could be categorized under three headings: Literature, Language, or Writing. Yet one of the greatest strengths of our Department, discussed in greater detail below and in individual reviews, is the manner in which the three categories are, in fact, blended in the Department. In a sense, one could argue that literature programs analyze texts and their language, that language programs focus on a scientific analysis of language and texts, and that writing programs focus on generating texts and the language of those texts. In fact, literature and linguistics faculty members are concerned with generating texts, literature and writing faculty are concerned with the nature of language, and writing and linguistics faculty are concerned with analyzing texts. Even the Department’s most applied majors, Journalism and Public Relations, emphasize textual analysis and the nature of language, just as its most theoretical and scientific major, Linguistics, is concerned with the practical applications of theory. What could be a contentious mixture of programs and programmatic goals turns out to be a collaboration that is productive for all. The eleven undergraduate and six graduate programs allow the Department to do work that is often interdisciplinary in nature and to offer a particularly strong preparation for secondary English teachers. The key is our shared concern for the nature of language and its uses.