PENELOPE SMITH, Ph.D., Chairperson
FACULTY: Professors: Philip H. Kelly, Sally LeVan. Associate Professors: Berwyn Moore, Patrick
O'Connell, John Young. Assistant Professors: Douglas King, Laura Rutland, Penelope Smith.
Instructor: Frank Garland, Carol Hayes. Lecturers: Dennis Fletcher, Emmett Lombard, Sr. James
Francis Mulligan, S.S.J., Mary Wagner. Retired Professors: Edward B. Babowicz, Paul J. DeSante,
Walter Minot, John S. Rouch, Dolores Sarafinski, Michael Tkach, Robert L. Vales.
Mission Statement:
The Gannon University English Department inspires students to be informed readers and
seasoned writers. Guided by the belief that the study of language and literature enriches the
imagination, promotes lifelong learning, and enhances appreciation of diversity, it engages
students in ongoing critical and cultural debates whose implications extend beyond the
classroom.
Program Description:
The Department offers four different emphases for its majors: literature, writing, applied
communications, and English secondary education. All emphases cultivate the student's
ability to write in a variety of genres for different audiences and purposes. The Department
also offers students a variety of internships, and a 3-3 program in legal studies with Duquesne
University, and features student-run publications such as the Gannon Knight (the University
newspaper) and Totem (a literary magazine). Whether they seek careers in education,
publishing, journalism, media, public relations, government, business, industry or law,
Gannon English Majors acquire the scholarly focus, broad preparation and intellectual
awareness that form the basis of an intensive liberal arts education.
A major in this program requires 16 upper level courses including the Senior Research Project
and Oral Exam (ENGL 400); this totals 48 credits.
The English Department also offers the Journalism Communications major, an interdisciplinary
program in print and electronic journalism. (See Journalism Communications section of the
catalog.)
LENG 111 and LENG 112, are normally prerequisites for upper level literature and writing courses.
*These courses meet Department diversity outcomes.
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS:
LENG 111, 112, 241, 243, 245, 247, 249, LFIN 252 and 254 are courses taught by the English
Department. See the section on Core of Discovery for course descriptions of these courses.
ENGL 206: Pursuits of English
3 credits
Pursuits of English introduces students to the dynamic, evolving field of English and prepares
them for advanced course work. Students will explore ways to approach and understand
literature, linguistics, composition, and career and graduate studies opportunities for English
majors. LENG 112 should be taken either before or concurrently with Pursuits of English.
Prerequisite: LENG 111
ENGL 210: Creative Writing
3 credits
An introductory course providing instruction and practice in the techniques and principles of
writing poetry and short fiction.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 211: Advanced Composition
3 credits
A rhetorical approach to problems of written communication. Although primary stress will be
on developing the student's writing ability, knowledge of rhetorical theory and of critical
norms for prose will be required.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 212: Business and Professional Communications
3 credits
A detailed study of the various methods of communication used in the professions, business,
and industry, for audiences both within and outside the organization. Numerous written
exercises. (This course is also listed as BCOR 231).
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 213: Technical Writing
3 credits
The communication of technical information in business, the sciences, and the social sciences
to specialist or non-specialist audiences. Emphasizes basic principles and most commonly
used report formats.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 214: Writing for Print Media
3 credits
This workshop course introduces new students to the basics of journalistic reporting and
writing. Students receive practice in how to identify, gather, and write news; and make ethical
judgments about news. The course should help students who want to work for newspapers
and magazines as well as for broadcast and online media. This course is a prerequisite for
ENGL 216 and ENGL 252.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, 112
ENGL 215: Editing/Production of Print Media
3 credits
The course introduces students to the production of printed material, whether for newspaper,
magazines, advertising, in-house publications, brochures, books, or anything else on paper.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 216: Advanced and Specialized Reporting
3 credits
This workshop course focuses on specialized news beats including police, courts, government,
education and the environment and introduces students to computer-assisted reporting and
research techniques.
Prerequisites: ENGL 214
ENGL 217: Introduction to Linguistics *
3 credits
An introduction to the basic concepts of linguistics with an emphasis on both theory and
application of linguistic principles. Topics include origin, structure, morphology, syntax,
dialects, oral, and written language.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 218: Feature Writing
3 credits
This workshop course introduces students to various genres of feature writing for
newspapers, magazines and on-line publications, including profile, entertainment pieces and
trend stories.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 225: Special Topics
1 credit
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 250: Introduction to Photography
3 credits
Taking effective and well-composed photographs; using the 35mm camera, its lenses, filters,
and flash; developing black and white film; printing artistic enlargements.
Corequisite: ENGL 251
ENGL 251: Photography Lab
0 credit
Corequisite: ENGL 250
ENGL 252: Photojournalism
3 credits
This course introduces students to the principles of photojournalism. Students study and
practice photojournalism techniques, with consideration of the ethical issues involved with
creating and using visual images.
Prerequisite: ENGL 214
ENGL 301: Workshop: Special Topics in Writing
3 credits
Specialized forms of writing in a workshop format for advanced writing.
Prerequisite: ENGL 210 or 211
ENGL 311: Advanced Prose Style
3 credits
An advanced writing course with emphasis on style: sentences, words, metaphors, and other
fine points.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112 and ENGL 210, 211, 212, 213, 214 or 216
ENGL 312: Poetry Writing Workshop
3 credits
An advanced seminar and workshop focusing on student's original poetic composition.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112, ENGL 210 or permission of instructor.
ENGL 313: Fiction Writing Workshop
3 credits
An advanced seminar and workshop focusing on student's original composition of short fiction.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112, ENGL 210 or permission of instructor.
ENGL 321: Literature For Young Adults
3 credits
A study of distinguished literature for young adults and of the historical development and
current trends in adolescent literature.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 322-326: Author Seminars
1 credit
These seminars are opportunities for students to study and enjoy the work of a particular
author, whose work is not usually studied in depth in other departmental courses.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 331: American Literature to 1865
3 credits
American prose and poetry to 1865. Major figures include Taylor, Edwards, Franklin,
Hawthorne, Melville, Emerson, and Thoreau.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 332: American Literature, 1865 to 1914
3 credits
American prose and poetry from the Civil War to World War I. Major figures include
Whitman, Twain, James, Dickinson, Crane, Dreiser.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 333: American Literature, 1915 to 1945 *
3 credits
American prose, poetry and drama between the World Wars. Major figures include Frost,
Hemingway, O'Neill, Faulkner.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 334: American Literature after 1945 *
3 credits
American prose and poetry from WW II to the present. Major figures include Arthur Miller,
Ralph Ellison, Sylvia Plath, Flannery O'Connor, Toni Morrison, and Thomas Pynchon.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 341: British Literature: Medieval and Renaissance
3 credits
The dramatic and non-dramatic literature of the Medieval Period and non-dramatic literature
of the Renaissance, with emphasis on the works of Chaucer, More, Sidney, Spenser, Milton,
Donne, and Jonson.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 342: British Literature: Classic and Romantic *
3 credits
The major writers involved in the shift from classicism to romanticism, with emphasis on
Dryden, Pope, Johnson, Swift, Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Keats.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 343: British Literature: Victorian and Modern *
3 credits
Major writers of the Victorian and Modern periods, with emphasis on Dickens, Tennyson,
Browning, Yeats, Joyce, Woolf, and Rhys.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 350: Drama of Shakespeare *
3 credits
An historical-critical approach to selected plays in terms of the intellectual assumptions,
native traditions, and theatrical conventions of the Elizabethan-Jacobean periods.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 352: Modern/Contemporary Drama *
3 credits
A critical approach to significant drama from Ibsen to the present and to the intellectual forces
and assumptions that contribute to their development.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 354: African American Literature *
3 credits
This course examines literature written by African-Americans. Emphasis is on literary and
cultural analyses, including issues of race, ethnicity, gender and social class.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 362: History of the English Language *
3 credits
Phonological and morphological development of Modern English from the Indo-European
period. Methodology of historical linguistics.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 363: The Structure of English
Rationale and application of transformational grammar to linguistic and stylistic analysis.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 371: Mass Media and Popular Culture
3 credits
This course covers the history, organization and management of mass media. It also covers
the concepts and theories of popular culture and mass media, including advertising and
public relations as well as news organizations. It examines critical approaches to newspapers,
magazines and broadcast and online media as sources of information and entertainment.
Among its focuses are the ethical and legal issues faced by news organizations.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 372: Public Relations
3 credits
Strategies and communication tools of public relations as a link between an institution and its
external and internal public. Cross-listed with ADVC 372.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 375: English Practicum
1-6 credits
A semester-long internship providing field experience in areas related to the student's
concentration. Students may use no more than 6 practicum credits toward graduation
requirement.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 381: Literary Criticism *
3 credits
Historical and analytical study of critical theory isolating the central critical problems and
evaluating some answers that theorists and critics have provided.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 386: Contemporary Poetry *
3 credits
An aesthetic and historical survey of poetry from the 1960s to the present, including
multicultural selections.
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 389: Methods of Teaching English
3 credits
Cross listed as EDCR 325, methods of teaching literature, writing, critical reading, and
grammar in the classroom. Replaces EDCR 324 for English secondary education students only.
Prerequisites: EDCR 101, 103, LENG 111, 112
ENGL 390-394: Special Topics
1-3 credits
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 395-398: Independent Study
1-3 credits
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
ENGL 400: Senior Research Project and Oral Exam
3 credits
Prerequisites: LENG 111, LENG 112
English Curriculum
(Numerals in front of courses indicate credits)
FRESHMAN
Fall Semester
3 College Composition/LENG 111
3 Modern Language
3 Sacred Scriptures/LTHE 121
3 Psychology/PSYC 111
3 Introduction to Philosophy/LPHI 131
15
Spring Semester
3 Crit Analysis & Comp/LENG 112
3 Modern Language
3 Hist of West & World/LHST 111
3 Pursuits of English/ENGL 206
3 LS Science
15
SOPHOMORE
Fall Semester
3 Linguistics/ENGL 217
3 Theology II Series/LTHE
3 Elective
3 Math
3 US History/HIST 221 or
English Hist/HIST 241 or
US Government/POLI 111 or
Public Policy/POLI 122 or
___ Minority Groups/SOCI 230
15
Spring Semester
3 Upper Level Literature/ENGL
3 Philosophy II Series/LPHI
3 Speech/SPCH 111
3 Fine Art Series/LFIN
3 Linguistics/ENGL 217
3 US History/HIST 222 or
English Hist/HIST 242 or
US Government/POLI 111 or
Public Policy/POLI 122 or
___ Minority Groups/SOCI 230
18
JUNIOR
Fall Semester
3 Theology or Phil III Series/LTHE or LPHI 3
3 Drama of Shakespeare/ENGL 350
3 Lit Crit/ENGL 381 or Mass Media/ENGL 371
3 Linguistics Course/ENGL
6 Electives
18
Spring Semester
3 Lit Before the 19th Century/ENGL
3 Writing Course/ENGL
3 English Elective/ENGL*
3 Upper Level Literature Course/ ENGL
6 Electives
18
SENIOR
Fall Semester
3 Literature Before the 20th Century/ENGL
3 Writing Course
3 English Elective/ENGL
6 Electives
15
Spring Semester
3 English Elective/ENGL
3 Research Project and Oral Report/ENGL 400
8 Electives
14
*At least 9 hours of English credits must have been approved by the department as meeting the
diversity requirement.
English Curriculum with Secondary Education
Students majoring in English qualify for Teacher Certification in English/Secondary
Education.
Aims and Objectives
The objectives of the program are: (1) to give the students an opportunity to become broadly
educated in the areas of language, literature and writing, and (2) to provide a program of
teacher education which promotes growth, development, professionalism and expertise for
successful teaching.
Students who wish to prepare themselves as secondary English teachers must make formal
application to the teacher education program through the School of Education. For a detailed
explanation of all requirements refer to the catalog portion under Education.
(Numerals in front of courses indicate credits)
FRESHMAN
Fall Semester
3 College Composition/LENG 111
3 Modern Language
3 Sacred Scriptures/LTHE 121
3 Introduction to Philosophy/LPHI 131
3 Psychology of Learning Teaching/EDCR 101
3 LS Science
18
Spring Semester
3 Crit Analysis and comp/LENG 112
3 Modern Language
3 Hist of West and World/LHST 111
3 Pursuit s of English/ENGL 206
3 Foundations of Teaching/EDCR 103
1 Practicum I/EDFL 101
16
SOPHOMORE
Fall Semester
3 Advanced Composition/ENGL 211
3 Linguistics/ENGL 217
3 Theology II Series/LTHE
3 Speech/SPCH 111
3 MATH (105 or higher)
3 U.S.History/HIST 221 or 222; or
English History/HIST 241 or 242; or
US Government/POLI 111, or
Public Policy/POLI 122, or
___ Minority Groups/SOCI 230
18
Spring Semester
3 Literature for Young Adults/ENGL 321
3 Sociology/SOCI 110
3 Philosophy II Series/LPHI
3 Fine Art Series/LFIN
3 MATH (106 or higher)
3 Students with Exceptionalities/SPED 340
18
JUNIOR
Fall Semester
3 Theology or Phil III Series/LTHE or LPHI
3 Drama of Shakespeare/ENGL 350
3 Literary Criticism/ENGL 381
3 Writing Course/ENGL
3 Instructional Technology/EDCR 102
1 Practicum II/EDFL 102
16
Spring Semester
3 Lit Before the 19th Century/ENGL
3 Structure of English/ENGL 363
3 English Elective/ENGL
3 Mass Media and Pop Culture/ENGL371
3 Reading and Literacy across the Secondary Curriculum/EDCR 326
3 Research Project and Oral Report/ENGL 400
18
SENIOR
Fall Semester
3 Literature before the 20th Century/ENGL
3 Writing Course/ENGL
3 Methods of Teaching Engl/ENGL 389
3 Methods/Materials of Instruction/Practicum/EDCR 320
3 Assessment/Evaluation/EDCR 330
1 Practicum III/EDFL 103
16
Spring Semester
12 Student Teaching/EDFL 410
3 Professional Seminar in Education/EDCR 401
15
*At least 9 hours of English credits must have been approved by the department as meeting the
diversity requirement.
A minor in English will consist of 18 hours beyond the Core of Discovery required courses. At
least 3 of the credits will be in literature, 3 credits in linguistics and 3 credits in writing. The
remaining hours will be in any ENGL designated credits.
JOURNALISM MINOR
A minor in Journalism will consist of 18 credits.
Required:
ENGL 214 Writing for Print Media
ENGL 215 Editing/Production of Print Media
ENGL 371 Mass Media and Popular Culture
ENGL 216 Advanced/Specialized Reporting or ENGL 218 Feature Writing
Plus six credits of electives with advisor's approval.
The Gannon University - Duquesne School of Law, 3+3 Early Admissions Program has been
designed for qualified students to earn an undergraduate and a law degree in six years rather
than seven. Under the early admissions program students may receive a Bachelors Degree in
English after three years of undergraduate work and the successful completion of the first year of full
time study at the Duquesne School of Law. Students would then receive their Law Degree after
successful completion of the second year at Duquesne School of Law. Qualified students may
wish to pursue this option.
THE NEXT STEP
Baccalaureate Degree Program for Graduates of Two Year Colleges
Prerequisite:
Six credits of composition equivalent to LENG 111 and LENG 112.
English
(Numerals in front of courses indicate credits)
PRE-SENIOR YEAR
Fall Semester
3 Introduction to Philosophy/LPHI 131
6 US History/HIST 221 or 222 or
English History/HIST 241 or 242 or
US Government/POLI 111 or Public
Policy/POLI 122 or
Minority Groups/SOCI 230
3 Intro to Linguistics/ENGL 217
3 Foreign Language
15
Spring Semester
3 Pursuits of English/ENGL 206
3 ENGL 200 or ENGL 300 level writing course
3 ENGL 362, ENGL 363, ENGL 300 level linguistics course
3 Foreign Language
3 Sacred Scriptures/LTHE 121
15
SENIOR YEAR
Fall Semester
3 Shakespeare/ENGL 350
3 Literacy Criticism/ENGL 381 or
Mass Media/ENGL 371
3 Fine Arts Series/LFIN
3 Theology or Philosophy Series III/LTHE or LPHI
3 ENGL 300 level literature of the 19th Century
1 Elective
16
Spring Semester
3 ENGL 300 level literature before the 19th Century
12 ENGL 200 or 300 level electives
3 ENGL 400 Senior Project
18
Students will be permitted to take other courses in substitution for any of the courses listed
above which they have satisfactorily completed prior to admission to this program. Students
will be required to complete 18 credits in the Core of Discovery Program at Gannon.
All students graduating from the College of Humanities must have completed six credits of a
Modern Foreign Language.
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