Department of English

The English major at Loyola offers unique opportunities to find wisdom across cultures, communicate in ways that reach people, and help create change in the present. From Chaucer to Adichie, postcolonial writers to filmmakers, the texts and images we focus on ignite insight and empathy. The English major fosters the “soft skills”—critical and creative thinking, intellectual curiosity, understanding of diversity, and adept written and oral communication—that all employers highly value. 

Teams of students are invited every semester to be of service with our community partners in Baltimore, in opportunities ranging from tutoring high school students to working in an urban forest. Students frequently collaborate with faculty to pursue and sometimes to publish independent research. Internships and study abroad opportunities are abundant and have led to jobs and careers in the US and to overseas work after graduation. Our majors frequently pick up minors or a double-major, in disciplines including Biology, Psychology, Communication, Economics or Business.  Interdisciplinary majors with Business, Writing, and Communication are also a popular option.

Our majors have gone on to successful careers in everything from law, business, advertising, publishing, teaching, and advocacy, to medicine and anthropology. 

Loyola English students and faculty care about you and your personal and professional future.  Students often gather to study in the English Department lounge, which has a coffee-shop vibe. The Department welcomes all students to a spectacular literary Christmas Feast annually, and an end-of-the-year celebration that celebrates student accomplishment and toasts our Seniors on their future success. 

An English major will prepare you well for a variety of career paths.

• The ability to think critically will help you become a leader in your chosen field.
• Advanced reading and writing skills will enable you to communicate clearly and concisely.
• The capacity for creative thinking and problem solving will render you indispensable to your employer—and eventually, your employees.
• Increased understanding and respect for diversity will help you better serve clients and customers.
• Discovering unique insights will make you intellectually interesting and increase your competitive edge in the workplace.

Shakespeare, Milton, Romanticism, Victorian Lit, Poetry, Fantasy Fiction, the Great American Novel, World Lit—we've got it all! Check out our course offerings. 

Welcome, English majors and minors! Contact us if you have any questions about the program or the department.

Spotlight On

Dr. Mark Osteen is the editor of the Library of America's collection of  Don DeLillo's works. Volume I was just published and is over 1,100 pages. It is entitled Don DeLillo: Three Novels of the 1980s. The Names, White Noise, Libra. The LOA is a nonprofit dedicated to publishing the best in American literature. Getting published by LOA is the informal hallmark of an author's acceptance into the canon, and DeLillo is only the fourth author to be published by LOA while still living (he turns 86 next month). Dr. Osteen compiled a bibliography and a chronology and created the notes for all three novels. The next volume, Don DeLillo: Novels of the 1990s, includes Mao II (1991) and Underworld (1997) and will be published in 2023.

Congratulations to Dr. Kathleen Forni!  Dr. Forni is the 2020 winner of the Nachbahr Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Humanities. This award, sponsored by the Center for the Humanities, is Loyola's most prestigious scholarly prize, as it recognizes a scholar's career-long achievement.

Dr. Mark Osteen has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize for nonfiction for his piece with the Maine Review called "Why I Break Stuff" (September 2021). 
https://mainereview.com/why-i-break-stuff/

Julia Sikora (class of 2021) completed a Masters in Publishing at NYU and was offered a full-time position (October 2022) in publicity for Macmillan’s new imprint, Celadon Books.

Kyra McDonnell (class of 2022) received this year's "Rev. John P. O'Connor, S.J. Award for Community Service" for her outstanding involvement in service and commitment to the pursuit of justice with the Loyola community.

Kevin Kane (class of 2020) graduated Summa Cum Laude, received the Carrell English Medal and the Ayd Medal for Philosophy, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Honors Program. Kevin will pursue a Juris Doctor degree at the George Washington University School of Law in Fall 2020.

Shannon Ward (class of 2020) graduated Summa Cum Laude, was a member of the Loyola Honors Program, and also served as the co-president of Ad Honorem, the Honors Program student council

Learn more about English major career options