English

The power of words.

Love to read and write? Believe that the written word can open minds, touch hearts, and connect people? If so, you’ll find a home in the English department.

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Why English?

As a Butler English major, students are immersed in the writer’s life. Through the Delbrook Visiting Writers Series, students interact with influential figures in contemporary literature such as Toni Morrison, Jonathan Franzen, and Joyce Carol Oates. And, the Efroymson Center for Creative Writing offers rich programming, which includes public readings, writing workshops and discussions, and numerous publishing and service enterprises.

Our faculty are active and highly respected scholars, creative writers, and passionate and dedicated teachers. They teach everything from Chaucer and Shakespeare to video games and graphic novels, from poetry writing to grant writing. Our department offers the resources of a large school with the commitment to one-to-one contact and small classes characteristic of a smaller University.

Students also get a taste of book publishing by editing or submitting original work to Manuscripts, our award-winning undergraduate literary magazine. Students also share their writing in campus poetry events and our annual creative writing contest.

English FAQs

Butler English graduates enter the world as incisive readers, influential thinkers, and powerful writers, well-prepared for any profession requiring a rigorous understanding and mastery of language. There are vast career opportunities, whether they work in education, the legal field, the arts, electronic communication, publishing, business, the nonprofit sector, government, or something else.

Giving Back

Serving the Community

Butler student mentors inspire high school poets and storytellers in our Writing in the Schools program and coach children in grades 3-12 in our summer camp workshops and Saturday Bridge sessions.

Community Programs

Professor teaching in the Writing Center

Customize the Curriculum

Program Tracks

Students can customize a Butler English major to match their interests and career plans. We offer tracks in Literature; Creative Writing; Literary Theory, Culture, and Criticism; and Public and Professional Writing.

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Hone Your Skills

Internships

National Geographic, the Indianapolis Colts, and Macmillan Publishers are just a few of the places where Butler English majors have completed internships. Others have interned for congressional offices, law firms, magazines, arts centers, local service organizations, and in academic administration and research.

Experiential Learning

Peer Tutoring

Refining Your Craft

Find help with writing assignments—or help other students as a paid peer tutor—in the Butler Writers’ Studio. Upper-level students selected as First-Year Fellows work in classrooms as mentors and guides to first-year students.

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Alumni Success

Butler English graduates include widely-published writers and editors. Others are doctors, professors, lawyers, and religious professionals. Some work in marketing or for major tech firms. While others have attended graduate schools, including Yale and Harvard. Skilled in communication, research, and critical thinking, English majors are highly employable in many fields.

Potential Career Paths English Alumni

INTERNAL RESOURCES

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