English

There is nothing outdated or elitist about promoting excellence in reading and writing, so that is where we focus our energies.

Excellence in reading and writing are deeply intertwined. The Writing program at Holy Cross is based in large measure on the program’s responsibility to teach English 101 Writing & Rhetoric to all incoming first-year students. Those courses focus on fundamentals, strategies, and standards of college composition. We also Journalism and Digital Media as well as Writing for the Public Sphere. Our Writing Center, located in the McKenna Library, is an opportunity for our best students to train and work as peer tutors. As faculty, we work each semester to connect all our students to writing professionals and publishing opportunities in the local and regional area.

Our approach to Reading is informed by the neurobiology of ‘deep reading’ and the Catholic intellectual tradition. We want our students first to have a solid cognitive map of the history of anglophone literatures, so we offer broad and inclusive historical surveys. Then we want our students to become much better and more careful readers. We ask them to read longer texts and deepen their imaginative encounters. We want our students to read and discuss serious Christian literature. Our partnerships with Shakespeare at Notre Dame and its Actors from the London Stage program make our Shakespeare seminars exciting. All of our upper-level seminars are multi-disciplinary, meaning that students can learn how to interpret complex texts by reading them alongside materials from history, theology, psychology, philosophy, business, and science.

As we move forward, our program will feature upper-level courses with built-in trips abroad — to Oxford (UK) for example — so that students can work alongside faculty in archives and other scholarly environments. As a program, we are building on our existing faculty strengths and connections.

A last word about our contemporary environment. We are aware that reading and writing are changing during the world’s ongoing digital revolution. We do not want our students to participate in this new environment uncritically. We teach them how to see it for what it is and to work with it is as a tool for building up and strengthening communities around them. That is why our senior English majors are all required to work together in a Senior Project Studio to produce substantial written projects.

Being able to read carefully, form sound arguments, tell compelling stories, understand people and cultures, and write with clarity and skill is what English is all about. There’s no better way to develop these skills than to be immersed in a coherent culture dedicated to developing them in you.

As an English major at Holy Cross, you’ll benefit from:

• small classes with accomplished and seasoned faculty
• coursework in close reading and interpretation, Christian literature, Shakespeare, creative and professional writing, and literary seminars across a range of periods and cultural traditions
• internship and service-learning opportunities (100 percent of our students do both).

Above all, we believe that reading and talking about serious literature with your professors and fellow students will expand your mind and heart and lead you to be a better scholar, citizen, leader, and disciple.