About Us

The Department of English at the University of Delaware is in a fortunate position. UD maintains a healthy balance of undergraduate and graduate education, with uniformly good levels of funding from the state, from a healthy endowment, and from funded research. Each year, the reputation of UD for outstanding undergraduate education grows. Each year, admissions become more competitive, our students keep getting better, and the campus continues to flourish.

Our English program continues to grow, too, in size and quality. Our reputation for outstanding teaching attracts students to our major. We are a large department, with over 900 undergraduate majors, all of whom study literature in its cultural and historic contexts. We have popular concentrations in Journalism, English Education, Business and Technical Writing, Creative Writing, Drama, Film, and Ethnic and Cultural Studies. We have a large writing program and a very active Writing Center, with extensive outreach across campus, in the community, and in our public schools.

Our programs also provide rich opportunities for development outside the regular classroom. Study Abroad is very popular at UD, and many of our students travel to visit cultural sites, attend plays and lectures, meet scholars, and read literature in its country of origin. We offer internships in writing and publishing, as well as opportunities for service learning. Our undergrads also do independent research under faculty mentors. (UD is well known for this program.) We also have a new minor in Interactive Media, an interdisciplinary program we developed with Communication, Art/Visual Communication, and Computer Science.

At the graduate level, admission is highly competitive. The 60-70 graduate students pursuing MA and PhD degrees are all on funding. Most students enter as MA candidates, though a very few enter the PhD with an existing MA. You can find their dissertation topics and graduate placement record at this website. We encourage students to take advantage of our special collections, to work with the extensive historical and archival collections at UD and in the area (e.g., Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, Hagley Museum and Library), and to make interdisciplinary connections to studies in material culture. We tend to be increasingly interdisciplinary in our pursuits, and our graduate classes often include students from history, from the Winterthur program, and from conservation and preservation.

Our faculty represent an interesting range of research interests and writing projects. A sampling of recent and forthcoming books by UD English faculty attests to the range and productivity of our scholarship. Recent hires include British modernism, English education, rhetoric, and early modern English (renaissance). We are currently searching for a new faculty member in print culture, with a probable emphasis on 18th or 19th century trans-Atlantic culture.

The department enjoys a home in a beautifully restored historic building—Memorial Hall—at the center of the carefully maintained, Georgian colonial campus. Newark is a small town on the outskirts of Wilmington, in the I-95 corridor, less than an hour from either Baltimore or Philadelphia. We are influenced culturally and climatically by our mid-Atlantic geography, positioned between the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware Bay.

The region has a rich history, especially in artistic and material culture. The presence of Dupont is still stong, reflected in the large chemical industry and its spin-offs, but also in the culture of art and music engendered by early and prosperous industries. Business-friendly regulations make Delaware home to many corporations. Major employers include banks and credit card companies (Bank of America, BankOne), chemical and specialty materials (Gore, Dupont, Hercules), and pharmaceuticals (AstraZeneca, Incyte, Dade Behring).