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Departmental Information

Director of Undergraduate Studies
Prof. David Yerkes
615 Philosophy
854-5280
dmy1@columbia.edu

Departmental Office
602 Philosophy
854-3215

Departmental Web Site
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/english/

Departmental Advisers:
Prof. Julie Crawford
613C Philosophy
854-5779
jc830@columbia.edu

Prof. Wen Jin
306 Philosophy
wj2130@columbia.edu

Prof. Ezra Tawil
408I Philosophy
854-6439
eft2001@columbia.edu

The program in English fosters the ability to read critically and imaginatively, to appreciate the power of language to shape thought and represent the world, and to be sensitive to the ways in which literature is created and achieves its effects. It has several points of departure, grounding the teaching of critical reading in focused attention to the most significant works of English literature, in the study of the historical and social conditions surrounding literary production and reception, and in theoretical reflection on the process of writing and reading and the nature of the literary work.

The courses the department offers draw on a broad range of methodologies and theoretical approaches, from the formalist to the political to the psychoanalytical (to mention just a few). Ranging from the medieval period to the 21st century, we teach major authors alongside popular culture, traditional literary genres alongside verbal forms that cut across media, canonical British literature alongside postcolonial, global, and trans-Atlantic literatures.

At once recognizing traditional values in the discipline and reflecting its changing shape, the major points to three organizing principles for the study of literature—history, genre, and geography. Requiring students not only to take a wide variety of courses but also to arrange their thinking about literature on these very different grids, the major gives them broad exposure to the study of the past, an understanding of the range of forms that can shape literary meaning, and an encounter with the various geographical landscapes against which literature in English has been produced.

ADVISING

Students are not assigned specific advisers, but rather each year the faculty members serving on the department’s Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) are designated undergraduate advisers (see above, Departmental Advisers). Upon declaring a major or concentration in English, students should meet with the director of undergraduate studies or a delegated faculty adviser to discuss the program, especially to ensure that students understand the requirements.

Students must fill out a Major Requirements Worksheet early in the semester preceding graduation. The worksheet must be reviewed by an adviser and submitted to 602 Philosophy before the registration period for the final semester. The worksheet is available in the English Department (602 Philosophy) or online. It is this worksheet— NOT the Degree Audit Report (DAR)—that determines eligibility for graduation as an English major or concentrator.