At Elon University, the English Department lives by and for the excitement of language and texts through our commitment to first-year writing and the Elon Core Curriculum, our English and Professional Writing and Rhetoric majors, disciplinary minors, and interdisciplinary programs. Our mission is to impart the passion and skills necessary for our students to become effective critical, rhetorical, and creative communicators across a diverse and multicultural world. We engage our students in deep explorations of texts, ideas, writers, cultures, histories, and audiences. We provide extensive opportunities for writing, interpreting, designing, and teaching. We encourage engaged learning, extending classroom practice into professional, personal, community, and technological contexts.

The Department of English is committed to:

  • Providing all Elon students with a life-enriching appreciation of literature, language and writing;
  • Helping all Elon students develop the ability to write more effectively;
  • Providing English majors with a comprehensive education in their chosen field, encouraging careful specialization within an English concentration or Professional Writing and Rhetoric;
  • Providing a rich variety of courses for non-majors as fulfillment of the Core Curriculum requirements;
  • Enriching the aesthetic and cultural climate of the university and the local community by sponsoring events outside the classroom;
  • Playing a part in the development of interdisciplinary programs, including Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, American Studies, African and African-American Studies, Drama and Theatre Studies, and Classical Studies, by offering courses in these areas;
  • Providing scholarly and professional role models for our students;
  • Using technology in forms that enhance the teaching, learning and practicing of language, literature and writing.