BW alumna Melanie Winters named to USATF TEAM USA July 7
BW alumna Melanie Winters '16 has the coveted honor of competing at the USA Track & Field Thorpe Cup this week.
School of Education, Humanities, and Social Sciences
(440) 826-2293
Creative writing is a major that melds intellectual inquiry and critical analysis with writing that is compelling and strategic.
It offers outstanding career preparation for journalism, marketing, publishing and other fields where strong writing and analytical thinking are invaluable.
As a creative writing major, you'll learn about poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and drama. You'll build skills in oral and written communication, close reading, formal analysis, problem solving, research strategies and debate.
BW faculty are accomplished writers and poets. They'll work closely with you to deepen your reading and writing abilities and to enhance competencies in self editing and analysis.
Experiential learning is a key part of the major. You'll supplement classroom studies with enriching activities that include co-curricular involvement, independent study, internships, service-learning and study abroad.
Majoring in English aligns well with career preparation by developing the characteristics employers value:
If you would like to become an English teacher, BW has an outstanding teacher education program.
Small class sizes, individual attention and faculty mentoring are at the core of BW's English program. Areas of study include:
BW is one of only two schools in Northeast Ohio offering a creative writing major. Within the creative writing program, engaging courses span traditional offerings like American, British and World Literature, Composition, Exposition and Argumentation, as well as contemporary and creative offerings that include:
At the upper level, a departmental thesis and the honors thesis are options that invite students to engage in singular, long-term projects with a faculty director. Creative theses have focused on the writing of short stories, prose poems, vignettes, poetry and the lyric essay.
Creative writing offers outstanding preparation for graduate school and career opportunities.
The creative writing major prepares students to:
BW creative writing students have had their work published in national literary journals. They also have won or placed as finalists in national and regional literary competitions. Students also have given readings at national conventions and participated in panels at writing conferences
The student literary and arts journal, "The Mill," is a high-quality publication that enables you to hone your craft as a writer or editor. The Mill Reading Series sponsors emerging and established writers to read their works on campus each semester.
You also can gain writing experience serving as an editor or staff member of the student-run campus newspaper "The Exponent."
Other hands-on activities include a project that places BW students at local high schools to tutor writing and a Grant Writing course that matches students with nonprofit organizations to research and write real-world grant proposals.
Interdisciplinary collaboration with BW dance, theatre and other arts-focused departments offer exciting fusion opportunities involving writing, set design and performance. Also beneficial are scholarly interdepartmental projects that include book editing and other publication-related work.
Within the department, English students are regularly recognized for their achievements. Alpha Mu Zeta (BW's chapter of Sigma Tau Delta) is the international English honor society. It fosters a sense of community among English majors and minors by organizing social and cultural events. Other recognitions include:
Denise Kohn
Associate Dean, School of Humanities
Professor
Ph.D., University of Houston
Michael Garriga
Chair, Department of English and Creative Writing
Professor
Ph.D., Florida State University
Ana de Freitas Boe
Professor
Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo
Sharon Kubasak
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University
Terry Martin
Professor
Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo
Heidi Thoenen
Associate Professor
M.A., University of Akron
Eric Gardner
Writing Specialist
Ph.D., Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Judette Kullins
Literacy Specialist
Tammy Layton
Writing Specialist
M.A., John Carroll University