Courses & Advising

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

Authors from a range of international, cross-national, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds focusing on themes of immigration, exile, or education.

Section 001 | 10:00 – 10:50 AM | MWF | Taught by Karen Montgomery-Moore

This course section focuses on literature regarding immigrant and refugee experiences. Texts range from short stories, novels, poetry, essays, and graphic memoirs and include: An Unrestored Woman (Shobha Rao); There There (Tommy Orange); Exit West (Mohsin Hamid); Tell Me How It Ends (Valeria Luiselli); and The Best We Could Do (Thi Bui), among others.

11:00 AM – 12:15 PM | TR | Taught by Sandra Saco

How can learning spaces be intentionally designed with inquiry and equity in mind? In this course, you will conduct research on real-world educational issues that you care deeply about. By harnessing communication practices, such as dialogue, deliberation, and collaboration, you will learn how to advocate for transformative educational experiences for all students that lead to justice-oriented changes in schools and the wider world. All majors welcome.

11:00 – 11:50 AM | MWF | Taught by Kiley Dickerson

Welcome to the world of sociolinguistics, the study of the relationship between language and society and how language use varies across communities. Examine how English use differs by region, culture, age, class, gender, and other social factors. The course introduces key theories, research methods, and social issues, providing tools to understand how English shapes and is shaped by society.

9:30 – 10:45 AM | TR | Taught by Tobi Jacobi

How do we imagine more just futures? What role do rhetoric and language play in sustaining social movements? In this class we will explore how activists use language and rhetoric to ignite and support social change. We will examine, critique, and practice rhetorical concepts and strategies as we read, watch, and listen to an array of activist communications including both historical and contemporary texts. Our classroom space will be a site of discussion, play, and production as we collectively build and engage with texts that seek to change the world.

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

In this course, you will be introduced to the basic techniques of writing fiction and poetry, including writer workshops. May also include some elements of drama and/or creative nonfiction.

Sections may be offered online.

10:00 – 10:30 AM | MWF | Mitch Macrae

What are the humanities?

The humanities can be described as the study of how people express, process, and document the human experience. Since humans have been able, we have used philosophy, literature, religion, art, music, history and language to comprehend and communicate our “being-in-the-world.” These modes of expression have become some of the subjects that traditionally fall under the humanities disciplines for both creation and contemplation. Engaging with these records of human experience give us the opportunity to feel a sense of connection to those who have come before us, while also enhancing our understanding of contemporary forms of expression that are essential to human understanding.

In this course, we will investigate some of the history of the Western expression of human experience with authors who have left a lasting imprint on the Western mind.

This course fulfills Category 3B: Arts & Humanities for the AUCC requirements.

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

Examines form, technique and interpretation in short fiction.

This course fulfills Category 3B: Arts & Humanities for the AUCC requirements.

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

What exactly is science fiction? And why should we study it? This introductory course will attempt to answer those questions by surveying a range of short fiction alongside a few selected novels by major figures in the development of the field. The course provides an overview of the history of the genre from before it had a name, through the pulp era of the early 20th century, and on into the present. We’ll discuss how the genre transforms as a result of both the development of new technologies (like the large language models (LLMs), we’re calling AI) and areas of scientific inquiry and the contributions of creators of color, women writers, and LGBT+ artists to the genre.

9:00 – 9:50 AM | MWF | Taught by Elizabeth Steinway

Contemporary fiction chosen for its relevance to global and cultural awareness.

Sections may be offered online.

Class Meeting Time TBA | Taught by Sarah Pieplow

What is poetry? What is poetry for? What makes it enjoyable for individuals and communities, what makes it important, what makes it controversial? Whether to your delight or frustration, those are very large questions without single answers. We will spend a semester investigating both questions from a variety of viewpoints, from experimental one-word poems to slam to poetry in translation to poems in traditional forms with meter and rhyme, and beyond, informed by a touch of poetics and critical theory. This course focuses first on English-language American poetry from the 20th century, with a secondary focus on global contexts and important historical and contemporary authors, to explore what makes poetry work.

Sections may be offered online.

12:30 – 1:45 PM | TR | Taught by Nina McConigley

Drama combines the literary arts of storytelling and poetry with the world of live performance. As a form of ritual as well as entertainment, drama has served to unite communities and challenge social norms, to vitalize and disturb its audiences. To better understand this rich art form, we will study a selection of plays that exemplify different dramatic structures; class members will also attend and review dramatic performances. This course will examine drama from Greek theater to contemporary plays.

Class Meeting Time and Instructor TBA

History and development of American writings from 16th-century travel narratives through early 20th-century modernism.

This course fulfills Category 3B: Arts & Humanities for the AUCC requirements.

12:00 – 12:50 PM | MWF | Taught by William Marvin

British literature from Beowulf through the 18th century in relation to its historical contexts.

This course fulfills Category 3B: Arts & Humanities for the AUCC requirements.

2:00 – 3:15 PM | TR | Taught by Philip Tsang

British literature from the Romantics to the present in relation to its historical contexts.

This course fulfills Category 3B: Arts & Humanities for the AUCC requirements.

9:30 – 10:45 AM | TR | Taught by Todd Mitchell

E311A is designed to provide the intermediate creative writing student with the skills needed to effectively write, discuss, and explore fiction. In addition to developing stories and receiving feedback on your work, we’ll focus on practicing elements of craft, engaging the writing process, exploring a diverse selection of fiction from a writer’s perspective, giving helpful responses to peer writing, being an active part of a writing community, and developing revision skills.

Must register for lecture and recitation.

11:00 AM – 12:15 PM | TR | Taught by Dan Beachy-Quick

We’ll spend our semester deepening our reading of poems, and so deepening our practice of writing them. We’ll work our way through classics of American Modernism, as well as build a working practice with prosody and literary terms.

Must register for lecture and recitation.

2:00 – 3:15 PM | TR | Taught by Harrison Candelaria Fletcher

Group discussion of student writing, literary models, and theory; emphasis on developing individual style.

Must register for lecture and recitation.

10:00 – 10:50 AM | MWF | Taught by Joe Schicke

Through hands-on practice, this course gives students the knowledge and skills to write effectively and ethically within public and professional organizations (business, non-profit, community, civic, etc.). The course offers strategies for navigating situations in which clear, persuasive communication is necessary for encouraging stakeholders to take practical action.

Students will cultivate the digital literacy and rhetorical knowledge necessary for using the genres, platforms, and tools (including but not limited to AI) that are central to audience-centered communication in today’s organizations. Students will also learn to apply visual rhetoric principles to the design of texts that convey information persuasively.

Gaining experience identifying problems, analyzing stakeholders’ values and expectations, using collaborative digital workflows, and proposing solutions, students will build a portfolio of common professional documents such as email communications, internal and external memos, reports, resumes, and cover letters. The course offers students across all university programs and majors the opportunity to build confidence in their writing as they prepare for future professions and public endeavors.

Class Meeting Time TBA | Taught by Tobi Jacobi

This course explores theories and practices of contemporary editing and publishing with a focus on rhetorical approaches to textual production, circulation, and consumption. Students in this course will theorize professional editing and publishing practices and landscapes, considering issues such as intercultural concerns, linguistic justice and inclusion, and useability for varied audiences. We will consider the ethics of editing, copyediting and publication practices as we examine common strategies for addressing some of the legal and social justice quandaries faced by those in the industry. The class will also host a wide range of guest speakers including regional editors and publishers who work with public humanities and literary writing in a variety of genres and venues.

3:30 – 4:45 PM | TR | Taught by Cindy O’Donnell-Allen

What counts as “correct” English, and who says so? What are the most important issues related to language in education, and why do they matter for students both inside and outside of secondary schools? In this course, you will explore these very questions and learn how to design English language instruction that is centered on equity, linguistic justice, and social action. E322 is required for students in English Education, but students in all programs are welcome.

1:00 – 1:50 PM | MWF | Taught by Luciana Marques

English is unique and has gone through many changes throughout its history, from early Anglo-Saxon to Modern varieties. In this course, you will study the four historical stages of the English language (Old, Middle, Early Modern, Modern) with emphasis on grammar, vocabulary, and phonology, and how these stages reflect the several socio-economic-cultural aspects in the history of the peoples who speak it.

11:00 – 11:50 AM | MWF | Taught by Luciana Marques

Languages are highly organized systems of communication and expression. This course introduces you to the linguistic study of sentence structure and meaning in natural – and constructed – languages. Focusing on English, you will study the terminology, concepts, and develop analytical skills relevant to examining how words and phrases are organized to form sentences, and how word and sentence meanings are expressed.

2:00 – 2:50 PM | MWF | Taught by Catherine Ratliff

Beyond Borders: LGBTQ+ Literature Across Cultures

Explore LGBTQ+ literature from around the world and examine how writers explore identity, love, belonging, family, and community. We’ll read works from a variety of global cultures and time periods while considering how ideas about gender and sexuality are shaped by culture, history, politics, and place. Along the way, you’ll encounter a wide range of voices and perspectives, and have opportunities to connect LGBTQ+ narratives to diverse cultures and experiences.

Class Meeting Time TBA | Taught by Camille Dungy

In this class we will read essays, short stories, and poems that consider what it means to live on Earth. How do contemporary American writers write about the land? What does it mean to engage with diverse communities of people as we write and read about the Greater than Human World? Climate change, resource extraction, environmental justice, environmental stewardship, connections between human and nonhuman animals, the history of our place on the Earth, and the pleasure we take from the wild world: all these and more are topics we will consider. You’ll be both reading and writing this semester as we interrogate assumptions about who can write about the Earth and how and why. Look forward to opportunities to speak directly with practitioners of contemporary environmental writing as you learn more about what it means to construct literature of the Earth.

11:00 – 11:50 AM | MWF | Taught by Jenny Albright

This course will introduce you to several major schools of contemporary literary theory and provide an overview of the history of theory as an academic field. The primary goal of the course is to make students critically aware of the way that acts of reading, writing, and making art are connected to a range of political, social, cultural, and nonhuman forces at work in the world around us.

9:00 – 9:50 AM | MWF | Taught by William Marvin

Shakespeare’s dramatic and poetic works.

9:30 – 10:45 AM | TR | Taught by Aparna Gollapudi

Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe and Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen have been endlessly adapted across the world since their publication. Robinson Crusoe, the story of a man marooned on an island for decades who slowly tames his environs and prospers is the quintessential Western narrative of male adventure. Pride and Prejudice, on the other hand, popularized the evergreen romance plot of ‘enemies into lovers’ that we continue to see even today in love stories marketed as ‘Women’s Fiction,’ chick-flicks, and rom-coms. Between them, these two novels offer a fascinating overview of the afterlives of Western imperialist masculinity and genteel femininity in the Romance genre from the long eighteenth century to the present.

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

Supervised assistance in instruction.

Written consent of department chair. A maximum of 10 combined credits for all 384 and 484 courses are counted towards graduation requirements.

2:00 – 2:50 PM | MWF | Taught by Naitnaphit Limlamai

Writing is a powerful and dangerous act, and teaching students how to write affords them the opportunity to learn this skill. In this class, we develop our writerly identities, unpack our ideologies about language, learn how to design effective writing assessments, provide humanizing feedback to writers, and design and teach lessons. Ultimately this course builds confident writers who go on to teach confident writers.

12:30 – 1:45 PM | TR | Taught by Ricki Ginsberg

This course focuses on the study of adolescence through the reading, analysis, and understanding of young adult literature. Some of the text themes we will explore include: the body and mind, culture, (dis)ability, gender, intersectionality, race, sexuality, and social class. Although this course was designed primarily for future English teachers, all are welcome and invited to enroll! Course assignments can be tailored to any major and are intentionally flexible to incorporate student interest.

3:30 – 4:15 PM | TR | Taught by Ramona Ausubel

Individual projects with group discussion and analysis on the practice of fiction. This is a workshop-heavy class in which students will critique others and write their own fiction.

Must register for lecture and recitation. Maximum of 6 credits allowed in course.

9:00 – 9:50 AM | MWF | Taught by Bryce O’Tierney

We will explore the poem as an embodied form, correspondences between landscape and language, and ecologies of belonging. In the creation and discussion of your own works, alongside the close study of selected poetry collections, you will engage your observational, experimental, and ethical senses.

3:00 – 4:15 PM | MW | Taught by Sarah Perry

Individual projects with group discussion and analysis on the practice of creative nonfiction. This is a workshop-heavy class in which students will critique others and write their own creative nonfiction.

Must register for lecture and recitation. Maximum of 6 credits allowed in course.

Class Meeting Time TBA | Taught by Andrew Altschul

Reading and discussion of exemplary works of prose fiction by prominent American authors. Through close reading, frequent writing assignments, and class discussions, we will consider how constructions of “America” and “Americans” evolved over the course of the 20th century. Reading will be heavy and active participation is required. Authors may include Willa Cather, Kate Chopin, William Faulkner, Gabriel García Márquez, Ernest Hemingway, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Flannery O’Connor, Thomas Pynchon, David Foster Wallace, and/or Nathanael West.

10:00 – 10:50 AM | MWF | Taught by Lynn Shutters

Should we continue to study Geoffrey Chaucer, a fourteenth-century English poet, today? If so, why? These genuine questions will guide our study of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. We’ll assess artistic, literary-historical, and ethical claims for studying Chaucer; we’ll also ponder whether and how a single course devoted to Chaucer should continue in CSU’s English curriculum. To help us with these questions, we’ll read the Canterbury Tales alongside poetry by Patience Agbabi and Caroline Bergvall, two present-day poets who engage with Chaucer.

12:00 – 12:50 PM | MWF | Taught by Naitnaphit Limlamai

The Persistence of Memory explores how our memory works; what we remember; how we remember; what is excluded from our memories, how, why; and implications of memory. Students will develop nuanced and critical lenses to examine individual and collective cultural memories, specifically in their concentration/s, in an effort to surface concealed and occluded memories to create more just worlds.

12:30 – 1:45 PM | TR | Taught by Tatiana Nekrasova-Beker

This course will introduce students to the process of communication between and among individuals from different cultures and/or subcultures. We will engage in a series of discussions and exercises to increase our awareness of our own cultural backgrounds and contexts as well as to enhance our sensitivity to other cultures. Students will be able to consider ways in which culture and cultural variables impact the types of knowledge created and valued in their respective areas of study.

7:00 – 10:00 PM | W | Stephanie G’Schwind

Students receive credit (one free elective credit per semester for up to four semesters) for an internship with Greyrock Review, CSU’s annual, student-run, undergraduate literary magazine.

During this year-long internship, students learn the intricacies of publishing, printing, and promoting a literary journal. As staff interns, students must attend weekly sessions to discuss promoting the call for submissions, reading submissions, copyediting, layout, proofreading, design, and publicity.

Students must be junior or senior English majors or minors with a minimum GPA of 3.0 and should have taken E210 with a grade of B or better. Students must register for both Fall 2026 and Spring 2027—this is a one-year commitment.

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

Critical analysis of the meaning and development of American culture, 1600-1877, through themes of self and community in art, politics, society, and religion.

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

Critical analysis of the meaning and development of American culture since 1877, through themes of self and community in art, politics, society, and religion.

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

In CO130: Academic Writing, you will develop and practice how to read and write for academic audiences. In order to effectively communicate in academic contexts, you will learn how to identify rhetorical situations, learn how to identify and revise purposes for writing, practice writing in a variety of genres, and read and research various topics and texts. Since the process of reading and writing is just as important as the final written product, you will practice drafting, outlining, writing, revising, summarizing, analyzing, close reading, and research. These are skills that you will use throughout your time at CSU as well as in the workplace. CO130 will support your learning and work with other classes, audiences, and writing situations.

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

In CO150: College Composition, you will be introduced to many of the key writing, reading, research, and communicating practices you need for success as a university student, professional, and citizen. In this course, you will learn to critically read and respond to a variety of texts, to write for a variety of rhetorical situations and audiences, to dialogue about different experiences and perspectives, and to develop and apply effective writing practices. You will have opportunities to practice the drafting, revising, peer editing, and polishing stages of writing and will produce several polished academic texts as well as lots of informal written reflections in this course.

Must have taken CO 130 or Composition Challenge Essay (score of 3, 4, or 5) or SAT Verbal/Critical reading score of minimum 570 or SAT Evidence Based Reading/Writing score of minimum 620 or ACT COMPOSITE score of minimum 26 or Directed Self-Placement Survey code of 15.

Sections may be offered online.

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

In CO300: Writing Arguments, you will expand your argumentative skills in your specific academic, professional, public, and personal contexts. We use contemporary rhetorical theory to develop sophisticated understandings of effective communication as we write various persuasive texts. We explore the nuances of the rhetorical situation, audience analysis, and Rogerian argument. To help prepare you to write in increasingly digital environments, we may also practice visual, aural, and multimodal arguments. In order to practice advanced reading, note-taking, researching, writing, and revising arguments, you will write to annotate, reflect, inquire, respond, inform, and persuade. You will write as scholars, aspiring professionals, citizens, and consumers/co-creators of culture. CO300 is a writing- and reading-intensive course, and you can expect to have lots of opportunities to read critically, engage in conversations about writing, and produce arguments for a variety of audiences over the course of the semester.

Prerequisite: CO 150 or HONR 193. Sections may be offered online.

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

In CO301A: Writing in the Disciplines–Arts and Humanities, you will focus (primarily) on writing for a range of public audiences interested in issues and content of the arts and humanities. Thus, the specialized discourse emphasized in this course is characterized by strategies that frame for, and appeal to readers outside academe (focused narrative, description, definition and elaboration of key critical terms, illustration as well as critical analysis, evaluation, and argument). CO301A provides you with multiple opportunities to extend your writing skills. In particular, you will begin the course analyzing selected texts in terms of rhetorical context, framing, target audiences, kinds and arrangements of evidence, uses of source material, genre conventions, stylistic options, format, etc. You will extend your rhetorical knowledge by practicing oral and written analysis and critique of issues important to audiences within the arts and humanities. In addition to a focus on deepening your understanding of composition as rhetorical practice and ability to produce effective discourse about/in the humanities for varied public contexts, you will have opportunities to transform content knowledge about the arts and humanities into discourse that educates, enlightens, provokes, influences, and connects with audiences beyond the classroom. You will also have opportunities to explore stylistic elements such as the virtues of the writing (clarity, correctness, appropriateness, and distinction), diction, figures of speech, schemes, rhythm, or types of styles as we produce writing for specific audiences.

Prerequisite: CO 150 or HONR 193. Sections may be offered online.

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

In CO301B: Writing in the Disciplines–Sciences, you will write about complex scientific topics for diverse audiences, especially non-specialists. Audiences beyond scientific disciplines are often interested in scientific research for a variety of reasons, from entertainment to seeking information to inform making decisions in their daily lives. In CO301B you will write about science (including medicine and technology) for publications such as The New York Times and Scientific American, with particular attention to making choices about focus, structure, detail, and word choice with respect to what non-specialist audiences know and don’t know, want to know and need to know. In addition to learning practical strategies, you will think critically and strategically about how we consume science writing and their goals and purposes as science writers. You will also learn about rhetorical approaches to the function and structure of science writing, reading and analyzing articles from rhetoric and from the scholarship of science communication alongside many real-world examples.

Prerequisite: CO 150 or HONR 193. Sections may be offered online.

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

In CO301C: Writing in the Disciplines–Social Sciences, you will focus on 1) developing a nuanced rhetorical understanding of disciplinary writing within various fields of the social sciences, 2) studying contexts for professional and non-expert social science writing, and 3) practicing similar kinds of writing for non-academic audiences and purposes. This course offers you multiple opportunities to both read and analyze varieties of social science writing and to research, write, and revise their own compositions on social science topics relevant to their majors and their emerging areas of expertise. You will have opportunities to develop an advanced understanding of rhetorical analysis, non-agonistic argumentation, and other rhetorical and writing strategies. In CO301C you will be introduced to and practice writing a series of texts that represent the ways that social sciences writing circulates within popular, workplace, and/or academic contexts.

Prerequisite: CO 150 or HONR 193. Sections may be offered online.

1:00 – 1:50 PM | MWF | Taught by Ted Fabiano

How can we educate ourselves and others through writing? Students in CO301D will learn and practice writing strategies for addressing general audiences on issues of teaching and learning. Using examples of professional writing in print and multimodal forms, students will explore current issues in literacy and English education, engage in generative conversations, and develop greater awareness of and control over their writing voice. This course is designed for students interested in education across a variety of contexts, including schools, social services, professional training, and community engagement.

This course meets the All-University Core Curriculum (AUCC) requirements for Advanced Writing (Category 2) and is approved under gtPathways in the content area of Advanced Writing (GT-CO3).

Multiple Meeting Times | Multiple Instructors

In CO302: Writing in Digital Environments, you will expand your skills in writing in digital environments relevant to your specific academic, professional, public, and personal contexts. Over the semester, you will create content for a chosen discourse community while also developing techniques for peer-review, collaboration, and revision in media-rich digital contexts.

Prerequisite: CO 150 or HONR 193.

1:00 – 1:50 PM | MWF | Taught by Doug Cloud

This course helps students go beyond writing academic essays to become better public writers. We’ll master a set of advanced techniques: from big rhetorical stuff like “imagining” your audience, down to the nitty gritty aspects like how to rebuild the same sentence in three different ways. We’ll put our new skills into practice throughout the semester with three public-facing essays—all on topics you choose.

2:00 – 2:50 PM | MWF | Taught by Aly Welker

In this class, we’ll explore how digital text shape the ways we communicate and connect online. We’ll play with design tools, AI, and user experience strategies while thinking critically about accessibility, ownership, and remix culture. By the end, you’ll have built your own website and gained practical, creative skills for designing meaningful digital projects.

2:00 – 3:15 PM | TR | Taught by Dan Beachy-Quick

The Sightless Seer: so Homer lives on in our imagination now, a potent echo from ancient days, where the primary paradox fascinated thinkers then as much as it does us today—how can it be that the one with no vision sees most clearly? Over the course of the semester we’ll immerse ourselves in a single book: Homer’s Iliad. Composed of extant oral tales by the poet Homer (whose myth and history are wholly intertwined) some 800 years after the events it portrays, we’ll patiently listen in on the ancient song that lives on as one of the primary roots of the Western imagination. Collection of myths, of heroes, of bronze-age socio-political order, we’ll supplement our patience by a wide-ranging reading—verging from ancient miscellanea related to Homer’s biography, to the 5th century tragedians widening and altering the mythology around central heroes, to modern returns in poetry and philosophy considering the Iliad anew—to create (as best we can manage) a nuanced and complex 15-week approach to a depthless book. My hope sounds a simple one, and is itself an echo of the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides: To think about what is there to think about. That little riddle is to say that the work of the class is pointed toward what the epic poem is, has always been, and continues to be—and to speak honestly and ambitiously into that conversation that has been ongoing for nearly 3000 years, to be humbled and triggered by the realization that for a semester, we’re participants in the symposium that hasn’t ever yet ceased.

2:30 – 3:45 PM | MW | Taught by Luciana Marques

Teachers of English as a second or foreign language need a strong understanding of how English grammar works and how learners acquire it. This includes familiarity with the major syntactic patterns of English, the meanings and functions associated with those patterns, and the inflectional and derivational morphology involved in forming different types of words and grammatical forms. Developing this knowledge will prepare you to select, explain, and teach grammatical structures effectively in a variety of classroom contexts. It will also help you understand and use grammatical descriptions of English and other languages as resources for language teaching and analysis.

3:30 – 4:45 PM | TR | Taught by Tatiana Nekrasova-Beker

This course provides an introduction to the field of second language acquisition (SLA) focusing specifically on how humans learn a second (or third, etc.) language in addition to their native language(s) and the factors that affect variability in their language development. Areas covered in this course include background on the historical development of the field, characteristic features of the learner, interlanguage development and variability, individual differences, and social factors affecting language development.

5:00 – 7:30 PM | T | Taught by Tony Becker

The course offers individuals interested in teaching English as a second/foreign language a guided opportunity to learn about and apply principles for planning, designing, and carrying out effective classroom instruction and assessment. The main goal of the course is to engage students in non-threatening interaction about language teaching experiences with colleagues and learners of English from the community.