About
English at CSU
The English department at CSU is a vibrant and diverse community. We are home to poets and linguists, literacy researchers and teacher educators, novelists and literary scholars, composition specialists and writers of creative nonfiction.
Diverse and Dynamic
At CSU English, we share a passion for exploring the multiple and dynamic ways that the English language is used to meet the demands of life in the twenty-first century. Students, staff, and faculty are committed to inclusive excellence, intellectual growth, and the creation of a more just and sustainable world.
Cultivating Connections
Our English department is different from departments at some other universities in that we are a comprehensive English Studies department with programs in creative writing, English Education, language/linguistics, literature, and rhetoric and composition. “We have a big umbrella,” as one faculty member likes to say. And yet, students here also enjoy accessible faculty and relatively small classes.
Career experts explain that employees need both hard skills, which are specific to a field or job, and soft skills, which are harder to define and more broadly applicable. Soft skills include the ability to work with a team, flexibility, problem solving, creative thinking, and excellent communication skills, to name a few. Throughout your course work and experiences in the English department and beyond, you acquire and hone the skills and talents that many employers require.
Just the Beginning
Undergraduate Programs
Whether you are taking English or Composition courses to fulfill requirements, taking elective courses because of your interests, or deciding to become an English major or minor, you will find many opportunities in the courses, programs, and people of the English Department. We welcome your participation in our classes and look forward to teaching you.
Graduate Programs
Our M.A. and M.F.A. fields of study speak to our core values: academic excellence; innovative instruction; a collaborative, creative, and engaged learning environment; and commitment to the professional success of each student.
We offer four different two-year M.A. programs and a three-year M.F.A. within the English Department.
Composition
The Composition Program is a vital part of the English Department at Colorado State University. We offer more than 250 sections of writing courses to about 6000 students each year, as well as serving between 2500 and 3000 students a year in our Writing Center.
In addition to offering courses that fulfill the All-University Core Curriculum (AUCC) requirements, the English Department also offers undergraduate and graduate degrees focused on writing.
Looking for more information about the Composition Placement Program? On the composition website you can find out about Composition Program news and events, faculty, courses, and degrees, as well as access contact information and related resources.
gtPathways
gtPathways offers resources that address how and why writing can be effective catalysts for learning in any discipline.
Faculty, instructors, graduate teaching assistants, and anyone else involved in this initiative will find useful resources on this site related to assigning writing, grading and responding to student writing, the importance of critical thinking, the challenges associated with integrating writing into a course, and much more.
The faculty and staff of the Department of English stand in solidarity with marginalized communities at Colorado State University and beyond. We are committed to understanding systems of oppression and rooting out the injustices and biases within our Department and the broader community.
Take the Next Step
If you want to join a diverse and inclusive group, which values individual voice and the power of community, and if you’re curious about studying challenging ideas and texts, take the next step toward an education in the language arts.