About Us

About the Department

About the English Department at UCCS

Academic Focus
Faculty & Research
Mission & Vision

A Message from the Department Chair

Stephen Carter
English Department Chair

Hello and welcome to the UCCS English department!

Studying English outfits students with a broad set of highly transferable skills, an empathetic and capacious approach to the world, keen aptitude for adaptive and flexible thinking, a firm base of historical understanding, imaginative and analytic capacities in equal measure, and strong facility in the arts of both textual interpretation and written craft.  Did you know that…

  • The top five “career readiness competencies,” as highlighted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), include written and verbal communication, critical thinking, professionalism, and appreciation for equity and inclusion—all skills central to studying English? (NACE 2024 Job Outlook Report)

And that…

  • Studying English allows students to aim for the highest learning outcomes in the liberal arts, outlined by the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), such as engagement with big questions of both contemporary and enduring import; cultivation of crucial competencies in inquiry and analysis, critical and creative thinking, information literacy, and intercultural knowledge; and the establishment of strong foundations for lifelong learning? (AAC&U Essential Learning Outcomes)

By studying English at UCCS, you can have it all in your college education—a bedrock of liberal arts and humanistic learning that sets you up for a life rich in meaning, and robust preparation for a career or profession that sustains you in enduring, purposeful work.  

In helping you chart pathways toward these goals, the UCCS English department offers a host of exciting ways to engage with the discipline.  For instance:  

  • Our English degrees allow students to study topics from literary traditions and rhetorical theory to the craft of creative writing and the discipline of teaching.
  • Our fully online English Studies Online (ESO) degree provides top-notch instruction combined with accessibility and flexibility for busy lives.
  • The First-Year Rhetoric and Writing (FYRW) curriculum is grounded in rhetorical theory to provide students from any discipline with powerful and broadly transferable conceptual frameworks for reading, writing, research, and critical thinking applicable to their academic, civic, personal, and professional lives. 
  • The creative writing minor offers students the opportunity to hone their creative writing craft through introductory, intermediate, and advanced workshop courses in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, as well as through special topics courses such as collaborative poetry and novel writing.
  • For the past five decades the English department has supervised the UCCS student literary and arts journal, riverrun.  In the department’s course, English 3170, delivered by English faculty, students design, edit, and publish the journal, while also curating the journal’s website and hosting printing and creative writing activities on campus.  The journal also provides any UCCS student an opportunity to have their creative work—poetry, fiction, visual art, creative nonfiction—published!

Explore these opportunities, and many more, through one of our classes, at one of our numerous department events each year, or as an English major or minor!  Feel free to get in touch with any questions.  We look forward to working with you!

Steve Carter, English Department Chair, Fall 2024

Academic Focus

The UCCS Department of English provides students with the literary analysis, research and writing skills that they need to succeed in different careers. We offer a Bachelor of Arts in English with degree tracks in Literature, Rhetoric & Writing, Secondary English Education, Elementary Education, Special Education and English Studies Online.

Department Faculty

At UCCS, our faculty believe in research to not only advance their knowledge, but also assist their students who may participate in the studies. Current research ranges from social media writing, Old English, medieval manuscripts and intersections of language, gender and place. 

Mission Statement

The English Department is committed to exemplary teaching, research, creative work, and service. Through engaged study of diverse texts and contexts, we foster a love of language, critical research, respect for evidence, thinking at multiple levels and across multiple genres, and strong close reading. In learning to read and write critically and imaginatively, UCCS English majors will express themselves with clarity, agility, and confidence in diverse settings. The English Department educates students campus-wide in their development as writers and cultivates a responsible and empathetic approach to peers, texts, and communities. We contribute to scholarly, creative, and civic life in the Colorado Springs community and to the discipline of English Studies nationally and internationally.