
English Upper-Division Courses
English Upper-Division Courses
Selected Courses Descriptions for English Upper-Division Courses
Introduces students to foundational concepts in critical theory and practice. Readings and written assignments encompass a variety of genres and approaches. Prer., ENGL 1310 or validated equivalent.
- 3 Credits
Writing workshop that offers students the opportunity to work on advanced writing projects and enhance their repertoire of rhetorical strategies. Specific writing projects may vary. The sections of ENGL 3010 also emphasize instructional strategies for managing the writing process in public school settings. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirement: Writing Intensive. Prer., ENGL 1310 and ENGL 1410 or ENGL 2080 or ENGL 2090 or INOV 2100 or their equivalents.
- 3 Credits
Students use the tools of rhetorical analysis and apply rhetorical theory in investigating specific topics (historical or contemporary). Topics and rhetorical theories covered may vary. Prer., ENGL 1410.
Students apply rhetorical and compositional theory to compose texts in specific genres or around specific topics. Genres, topics, and rhetorical/compositional theories covered may vary. Prer., ENGL 1310 and ENGL 1410 or TCID 2080 or TCID 2090 or INOV 2100 or their equivalents.
- 3 credits
For students with previous formal experience studying and practicing the craft of poetry. Students read and write extensively to develop their own poetic voices while opening themselves to the varieties of influence that others can have on their writing. A focus on student work and workshop promotes further exploration and experimentation with poetic craft and technique, including such elements as image, voice, sound, rhythm, and structure. Prer., ENGL 2030 or consent of instructor.
- 3 Credits
In this course students will read and write creative nonfiction: memoir, lyric and segmented essays, literary journalism, and cultural criticism. Writers in this genre are reworking familiar forms, bringing them to life with voice and scenes, while respecting that creative nonfiction emerges from real experiences. Students will locate their own material and develop their voices to shape a variety of creative work to be examined in workshops. Prer., ENGL 2040 or consent of instructor.
- 3 Credits
For students with previous formal experience studying and practicing the craft of literary short fiction. Students read and write extensively to expand their working knowledge of the genre and refine their execution of such craft elements as characterization, plot, setting, dialogue, point of view, language, and scene. The class focuses on student work and workshop and emphasizes originality and dedication to craft. Prer., ENGL 2050.
- 3 Credits
This course offers scope and variety not captured by other creative writing courses (introductory multi-genre course, intermediate poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction courses, as well as advanced course). Students taking this course will be challenged to move beyond the developmental sequence in creative writing, broadening their sophistication and expertise in the discipline of creative writing. May be repeated for credit. Prer., ENGL 1310 or equivalent, intermediate creative writing (any genre) or permission of the instructor.
- 3 Credits
Presents and analyzes different foundational systems of language, e.g., computer coding (digital humanities), linguistic grammar, poetics, etc. Students may engage with language as, e.g. historical artifact, print or digital medium, structure of meaning, signifying practice, etc.
- 3 credits
This course introduces students to the digital humanities through readings, discussions, and projects. This hands-on class is divided into sections such as text-coding, digitization, data visualization and spatial projects. Students will learn how to perform tasks and read relevant criticism. Prer., ENGL1410 or TCID 2080 or TCID 2090 or INOV2100.
- 3 credits
Writing workshop where students work on advanced business and administrative writing projects. Focus is on rhetorical strategies, document design principles, developing an understanding of ethics, and evaluating and synthesizing a variety of texts into students’ own research and writing. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirement: Writing Intensive. Prer., ENGL 2080 or ENGL 2090.
- 3 Credits
Provides a theoretical, historical, and practical study of grammar and the rules governing language use, particularly as they apply to professional writing. The emphasis is on the standard conventions of grammar, usage, mechanics, and syntax. Students will practice a variety of techniques for applying these skills to their own writing. Prer., ENGL 1310.
- 3 Credits
Students will produce a print and/or online issue of the riverrun Literary and Arts Journal. The journal was founded in 1971 and publishes creative work by UCCS students. Students will complete analytical, theoretical, creative, and editing assignments in support of the production. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirements: Navigate; Writing Intensive. Prer., ENGL 1410; ENGL 2010 for English majors; ENGL 1500 or instructor permission for non-English majors.
3 Credits (Minimum) 3 Credits (Maximum)
Study of women writers with attention to issues of authorship, gender and diversity. Fulfills the English department’s diversity requirement. May be repeated for credit with permission of department chair. Prer., ENGL 1500 or ENGL 2010.
- 3 Credits
This course explores the intersections of gender and sexuality as well as race and class in writing that addresses environmental themes in order to better understand the role of written texts in this moment. Possible genres to be of focus are speculative fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir, poetry, short stories, historical fiction, and digital essays.
Study of the experiences, definitions, and judgements about mothers and mothering in North America. Meets the LAS humanities and cultural diversity area requirement. Compass requirement: Explore-Arts, Humanities, Cultures; inclusiveness (Global/Diversity); and Writing Intensive. Prer., ENGL 1410; ENGL 1500 or instructor permission for non-English majors.
- 3 credits
Study of US writing as it relates to broader contexts such as the globe, world, and planet. Course addresses topics of cross-disciplinary and general education significance; non-English-majors encouraged to enroll. Approved for LAS Humanities area requirement. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirement: Explore-Arts, Humanities, and Cultures. Prer., ENGL 1310 or equivalent. Often meets with English 2320.
- 3 Credits
May include literatures of encounter, of transatlantic colonialism, the captivity narrative, Romanticism, Whitman, and/or literatures of abolition. Topics and instructors may vary. May be repeated for credit with permission of department. Fulfills the English department’s historical breadth requirement in American literature before 1900. Prer., ENGL 1310 and ENGL 2010 for majors; or ENGL 1310 and ENGL 1500 for non-majors.
- 3 Credits
May include the literatures of revolution, the sentimental novel and/or poetics, early American women’s writings, Transcendentalism, early American gothic, literatures of Native American removal and resistance, the slave narrative, and the literatures of abolition. May be repeated for credit with departmental permission. This course fulfills the English department’s historical breadth requirement in American literature before 1900. Prer., ENGL 1310 and ENGL 2010 for English majors; ENGL 1310 and ENGL 1500 for non-majors.
- 3 Credits
May include the early American novel, American gothic, Transcendentalism, the literatures of slavery and abolition, the poetics of Whitman and/or Dickinson, realism, naturalism, literatures of western expansion, and/or the New Woman. Topics and instructors may vary. May be repeated for credit with departmental permission. This course fulfills the English department’s historical breadth requirement in American literature before 1900. Prer., ENGL 1310 and ENGL 2010 for English majors; ENGL 1310 and ENGL 1500 for non-majors.
- 3 Credits
This course may include the study of the Realist novel, the Naturalist novel, “Jazz Age” literature, the Harlem Renaissance, the modernist novel, avant-garde poetics, and/or social realism. Topics and instructors may vary. May be repeated for credit with departmental permission. Fulfills the English department’s historical breadth requirement in American literature after 1900. Prer., ENGL 1310 and ENGL 2010 for majors; or ENGL 1310 and ENGL 1500 for non-majors.
- 3 Credits
May include the postwar novel, the modern short story, the Beat movement, literary minimalism, postmodernism, multi-ethnic literature, non-fiction, and/or contemporary literature. Topics and instructors may vary. May be repeated for credit with departmental permission. Fulfills the English department’s historical breadth requirement in American literature after 1900. Prer., ENGL 1310 and ENGL 2010 for majors; or ENGL 1310 and ENGL 1500 for non-majors.
- 3 Credits
Study of the rhetorics and consequences of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Meets the LAS humanities and cultural diversity area requirement. Compass requirement: Explore-Arts, Humanities, Cultures; inclusiveness (Global/Diversity); and Writing Intensive. Prer., ENGL 1310, 1410, 1500 for non-majors, equivalent substitutes or instructor approval.
- 3 credits
When June Jordan created “Poetry for the People” at the University of California Berkeley, she intended it to challenge academic definitions of “poetry” by replacing the Modernist legacy of formal difficulty with expression of content that matters to people individually and socially. She wanted to return poetry to “the people” by encouraging students to understand poetry as dynamic, diverse, and accessible; moreover, she wanted students to write, read, and share it as a means of making connections among people. In this adaptation of her project at UCCS, you will engage with poetry through Jordan’s “Poetry for the People” model that emphasizes participation and engagement. Therefore, you will read poetry, write poetry, write about poetry, experience poetry at public events, and help others get involved with poetry through community outreach. As a class, we will analyze and critique aesthetics of poetry, poetry as historical document, and examples of diverse voices in poetry in order to develop a sense of community through poetry. These experiences will inform your individual arguments about poetry’s role in American history and society.
- 3 credits
Historian Perry Miller called America “Nature’s Nation.” Since the English and Europeans first appeared on the shores of what they called the “New World,” conceptions of nature and sustainability have remained linked to the troubled relations between settlers and first peoples and have been riven by conflicting calls to exploit or revere the environment. This course begins by examining one of the first best-sellers in American literature, Mary Rowlandson’s Indian captivity narrative, a work that epitomizes the Puritan view of nature. We will use the work as touchstone that continues to haunt American literary conceptions of nature and sustainability in the centuries that follow. We’ll read perspectives on nature from American Indians with voices ranging across the centuries. We’ll examine a Romantic view of nature developed by Emerson, complicated by Hawthorne and Thoreau, and celebrated by Whitman. The course touches on Naturalism, where views of nature are inflected by the theories of Charles Darwin. We’ll explore the responses of 20th and 21stcentury writers to the problem of sustainability and the looming threat of climate change in America. As Americans and/or world citizens and as practitioners of the humanities/liberal arts, how will we respond? Finally, you’ll produce an experiential reflective project based on individually chosen topics.
- 3 credits
Contemporary Anglo-American literature and film is permeated with apocalyptic Gothic tales of environmental crisis. This course takes a long view of the Environmental Gothic by grounding it in Amerindian/settler conflicts in the colonial era, including the land-use and property-based roots of racial and gendered social inequities in the English speaking world. The course covers Gothic conventions that arose in England before taking root in America. The course shows how nineteenth-century American literature figures the relationship between humans and the environment in Gothic terms, and uses the racial, gendered, and/or the nonhuman other to symbolize fears of social collapse in an age of environmental destruction, species extinction, and conflict over land use/property. The course includes a survey of Gothic/dystopian/apocalyptic representations of environmental collapse in contemporary literature and film and touches lightly on contemporary theory. The tensions between human development and the natural environment will be at stake throughout the course, from the links between disease and the struggle for natural resources in the face of smallpox (Rowlandson) to a dystopian genetically engineered future (Atwood). Social equity issues will also be featured as racial and class conflicts are often invoked in the Gothic. The commodification of ecosystem functions (including our bodies) is an issue raised by many of the course films (Soylent Green, Blade Runner, City of Men). The course is multidisciplinary (literature, film, documentaries, history, environmental writing).
- 3 credits
Explores the cultural currents during the 16th and 17th centuries through four important literary genres: lyric, drama, epic/romance, and various forms of prose. Prer., ENGL 1310, ENGL 1500, or ENGL 2010.
- 3 Credits
Provides students with the necessary cultural and literary background required to understand and appreciate some of the major works of Native American literature. Fulfills the English department’s diversity requirement. Prer., ENGL 1310 or validated equivalent, ENGL 2010.
- 3 Credits
Provides students with the necessary cultural and literary background required to understand and appreciate some of the major works of African-American Literature. Fulfills the English department’s diversity requirement. Prer., ENGL 1310 or validated equivalent, ENGL 2010, and ENGL 3000.
- 3 Credits
Kirsten Bartholomew Ortega, Online Asynchronous
The verdict is in: rap lyrics are definitely poetry. But what does that mean and why does it matter? Whether you’re a certified hip-hop head or someone who just wonders what all the noise is about, this class will help you answer those questions by building your knowledge of hip hop history and your expertise in Hip Hop Poetics: the theory of rap poetry’s forms. You will analyze the cultural impact of rap poems like Melle Mel’s verse in “The Message” or Ice Cube’s verse in “Straight Outta Compton.” You will develop your voice as a hip hop critic to respond to the forms, messages, and aesthetics of rap poetry. For example, you might debate whether Tupac or Biggie was the better rapper or whether Eminem really is a “Rap God” (and why Machine Gun Kelly is not). Join the class to respond (Machine Gun Kelly fans and haters and those who don’t know who he is)! (This course fulfills the LAS Cultural Diversity Area Requirement; it fulfills a “Diversity” requirement in all of the English emphases and can also fulfill either the “genre” or “movement” Designated Elective requirements in the Literature emphasis.)
- 3 Credits
A study of representations and theories of gender and sexuality. The course combines theoretical approaches to gender and sexuality, such as psychoanalysis, feminism, performance theory, and queer theory, with an intensive study of representations of gender and sexuality in literature and film. May be repeated once with permission of department chair. Prer., ENGL 1310 and ENGL 1410 or equivalent, ENGL 2010.
- 3 Credits
This course gives students an opportunity to apply academic skills to a work environment and to gain practical experience in professions for which their English degree prepares them, while reflecting on and synthesizing their internship experiences through writing-intensive pedagogy. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirement: Writing Intensive
- 3 Credits
- Prer., ENGL 1410
Explore the many opportunities that an English degree opens, bridging your work in the major with life after graduation. Engage in practices that help in recognizing and seizing opportunities, imagining yourself into a variety of professional, career, and life possibilities. Prer., Junior standing.
- 3 credits
Study of Writing Center theory and practice. Students will participate in weekly observations and consultations in the Writing Center. Students in all majors are encouraged to enroll. Required for employment as a Writing Consultant at the Writing Center. Prer., ENGL 1310 and ENGL 1410; or ENGL 2080, ENGL 2090, or INOV 2100.
- 3 Credits
Course examines the inquiry processes in the Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities, and how that knowledge is expressed through specific writing styles, forms and conventions. Students will complete a practicum component either in the Writing Center or classroom. Prer., ENGL 1310 and ENGL 1410.
- 3 Credits
Learn the ways Rhetoric has shifted from a system of tropes, figures, and imitation to discovering multiple sites of epistemology and inquiry, drawing on art, literature, culture, and theory. Read and write about canonical and contemporary rhetorical texts and ideas. Prer., ENGL 1310 and ENGL 1410.
- 3 Credits
In this course, you will learn to read, analyze, and write about law. Because writing about law requires finding and interpreting law, you will first learn about the sources of law and the basic construction of legal argument. You will then gain practice writing about the law for a variety of purposes. Prer., Junior standing.
- 3 Credits
Training practicum for writing instructors at the college level. Theoretical inquiry and practical development of syllabi, course plans, and instructional materials. May be taken for a grade or Pass/Fail. Meets with ENGL 5840.
- 3 Credits
Foregrounds the work of reading texts historically, with an emphasis on materials from past (especially pre-1900) historical periods. Students may engage in, e.g., archival work or theoretical readings, to relate texts and historical contexts, and to reflect on that relationship.
- 3 credits
Introduces the theories, practices, and cultural power of rhetoric in ancient Greece and Rome. Also includes the debates surrounding the relevance of classical rhetoric to the teaching of writing today. Prer., ENGL 3010, ENGL 3110, and senior standing, or instructor permission. Meets with ENGL 5820.
- 3 Credits
This course explores the theoretical and practical study of writing processes across diverse contexts. In it, you will learn how to teach diverse populations in the K-12 English Language Arts classroom, how to design writing assignments and scaffold students’ learning through an assignment sequence, and how to give feedback on and grade students’ writing. Throughout the semester, you will engage in readings of theoretical texts and related written responses; write a series of observational and analytical essays; participate in discussion of course concepts and your own and peers’ lines of inquiry and written work; present a demonstration of your teaching ideas and abilities; and compose a portfolio containing lesson plans, activities, and a culminating assignment for a writing unit.
In-depth inquiry into theoretical topics in the teaching of writing in the public schools, with practical applications via the production of a theory-into-practice portfolio suitable to the topic. Topics vary. Prer., ENGL 3010. Meets with ENGL 5810.
- 3 Credits
While the topic varies by semester and instructor, this course will focus on national awareness and/or global awareness through the study of how literature and socio-political conditions are reciprocally influenced. Approved for LAS Humanities area requirement. Prer., ENGL 1310 or validated equivalent, ENGL 2010.
- 3 Credits
Topics will vary from semester to semester. Check Fall and Spring schedules. May be taken up to two times for credit with permission of department chair. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirements: Explore-Arts, Humanities, and Cultures; Writing Intensive. Prer., ENGL 1500 or ENGL 2010.
- 1 Credit (Minimum) - 3 Credits (Maximum)
Fairy tale versions from classic to contemporary. Includes images and illustrations, film, and theory (theories may include literary, historical, feminist, Marxist, psychoanalytic, visual, queer, disability, or other). Includes global fairy tales in translation. This course meets the English department definition of a genre class. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirements: Explore-Arts, Humanities and Cultures; Writing Intensive. Prer., ENGL1305, 1308, or 1310; and ENGL1500 or 2010 or permission of instructor. Meets with ENGL3911.
- 3 credits
Study of major works with emphasis on “Canterbury Tales.” Readings will be in middle English; short introduction to the language will precede study of the poetry. Prer., ENGL 1310 or validated equivalent, and either ENGL 1500 or ENGL 2010.
- 3 Credits
Comedies and Histories. Prer., ENGL 1310 or validated equivalent, ENGL 2010.
- 3 Credits
Tragedies and Romances. Prer., ENGL 1310 or validated equivalent, and either ENGL 1500 or ENGL 2010.
- 3 Credits
Advanced seminar focusing on the study and practice of literary fiction. Students participate in a mature workshop community and exhibit a sophisticated understanding of craft theory and its bearing on practice through a variety of reading, writing, and discussion. Prer., ENGL 3050 or instructor permission.
- 3 Credits
Advanced seminar focusing on the study and practice of literary poetry. Students participate in a mature workshop community and exhibit a sophisticated understanding of craft theory and its bearing on practice through a variety of reading, writing, and discussion. Prer., ENGL 3030 or instructor permission.
- 3 credits
Advanced seminar focusing on the study and practice of literary creative nonfiction. Students participate in a mature workshop community and exhibit a sophisticated understanding of craft theory and its bearing on practice through a variety of reading, writing, and discussion. Prer., ENGL 3040 or instructor permission.
- 3 Credits
What is a novel, exactly? How did the genre take shape? This course relates the history of the novel in the 17th and 18th centuries to questions about character, power, and the role of art in human flourishing.
- 3 Credits
Continuation of ENGL 4200, but may be taken without previous novel course. Examines major British novels of the 19th century and early 20th century. Authors include the Brontes, Dickens, Eliot, and Hardy. Prer., ENGL 1310 or validated equivalent, ENGL 2010, and ENGL 3000. Meets with ENGL 5210.
- 3 Credits
Study of the American novel from its beginnings, with the work of Charles Brockden Brown, through the 19th century, concluding with the work of Henry James. Will examine both artistic development of American writers and the novels’ functions as vehicles of cultural history. Prer., ENGL 1310 or validated equivalent, ENGL 2000, ENGL 2010, and ENGL 3000. Meets with ENGL 5230.
- 3 Credits
Continuation of ENGL 4230. Covers development of the “Modern” realistic novel, from beginning of the 20th century through 1945, and examines work of Wharton, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dreiser, Wright and others. Prer., ENGL 1310 or validated equivalent, ENGL 2010, and ENGL 3000. Meets with ENGL 5240.
- 3 Credits
Study of major novelists and developments in the genre, with emphasis on British and American novels written since 1965. Prer., ENGL 1310 or validated equivalent, ENGL 2010, and ENGL 3000. Meets with ENGL 5250.
- 3 Credits
Advanced study of such topics as American Gothic, antebellum American literature, and the literature of the American Cold War era. May be repeated for credit with permission of department chair. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirement: Summit. Prer., ENGL 1310 or validated equivalent, ENGL 2010, and ENGL 3000. Meets with ENGL 5300.
- 3 Credits
Kirsten Bartholomew Ortega, TuTh 10:50-12:05, Columbine 221
The explosion of art, music, performance, and literature that make up the movement commonly known as “The Harlem Renaissance” attempted to define black culture in 1920s & 1930s America and to establish it as a unique and powerful cultural force. In this course, we will read works that represent the wide variety of artistic methods that Harlem Renaissance writers employed. You will analyze the texts for insight into the historical and cultural moment they represent. You will critique the effectiveness of different representations, make literary critical arguments about the texts, and consider the effects of reading this literature in the 21st century. You will develop research questions and compile information into a “case book” about a piece of literature that you will use to write an original piece of literary scholarship. (This course meets the Summit Requirement in Compass Curriculum and is a senior literature seminar; it also fulfills the English Department’s “Diversity” requirement and the “movement” designated elective in the Literature emphasis.)
Topics may include medieval epic and romance, lyric poetry, dramatic comedy, medieval comedy, satire. May be repeated for credit with permission of department chair. Prer., ENGL 1310 or validated equivalent, ENGL 2010, and ENGL 3000. Meets with ENGL 5400.
- 3 Credits
Analysis of poetry relevant to discussions in contemporary poetry studies. Topics and poets covered will vary from semester to semester. Can repeat up to 6 credit hours with different topics. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirement: Summit. Prer., ENGL 1310, ENGL 3000.
- 3 Credits
Studies of major works in prose, poetry, and drama from the Middle Ages (roughly 500-1500 C.E.).
- 3 Credits
An advanced seminar in critical theory. Course is organized around a theoretical topic and emphasizes theory’s role in the interpretation of literary texts. Course topics vary by semester. May be repeated once with permission of department chair. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirement: Summit. Prer., ENGL 1310, ENGL 1410, ENGL 2010, ENGL 3000. Meets with ENGL 5700.
- 3 Credits
Outline of the history of the English language including a brief survey of sound changes, of grammatical forms and of the vocabulary. Meets with ENGL 5850.
- 3 Credits
This course involves deep inquiry into the theoretical and public-facing accomplishments of rhetors across diverse historical contexts with attention to the ways systemic power structures shape these individuals' work. The course focus shifts across faculty and can range from emphasizing texts' topics to historical moments to writers' identities. Fulfills the English department’s Diversity requirement. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirements: Writing Intensive; Inclusiveness. Prer., ENGL 1310 and 1410 or their equivalents, ENGL 3000, and ENGL 3010. Meets with ENGL 5860.
Advanced, in-depth study of the rhetoric of a particular public issue. Issues, theoretical materials, historical moment, and readings shift with topic. May be taken two times as long as topics are different. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirements: Summit; Writing Intensive. Prer., ENGL 1310, ENGL 1410. Meets with ENGL 5880.
- 3 Credits
This course uses antidiscrimination law to investigate what it means to say that law is rhetorical. Our primary objects of analysis will be legal texts that represent important developments in antidiscrimination law in the United States. In analyzing these texts and their contexts, we will explore how antidiscrimination law shapes notions of equality and the consequences of those notions.
- 3 credits
Course topic will vary by semester. Consult Course Search on the UCCS website or the MyUCCS Portal each term for specific course content. May be repeated for credit with permission of department chair. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirements: Summit; Writing Intensive. Prer., ENGL 3000. Meets with ENGL 5950.
- 3 Credits
This literature seminar examines one aspect of William Shakespeare's oeuvre deeply. It looks at the many facets of one work, one theme, or one character type, through the lenses of not only the playwright's own plays, but also the contributions of his contemporaries and the larger cultural history. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirements: Summit; Writing Intensive. Prer., ENGL 3000. Meets with ENGL 5970.
This course considers Shakespeare through the lenses of ecocriticism and ecofeminist theory. In doing so, not only does it enliven the natural world vocabulary more familiar to an audience more intimate with that world, it also considers the roles of economic inequality, gender norms, and racial categories in determining one’s relationship to that world. Prer., ENGL 2010, ENGL 3000. Meets with ENGL 5973.
- 3 Credits