English Department
The English department offers three majors, five minors, and ten talented faculty members. If you love language and storytelling, you will find a community of likeminded faculty and students here.
What distinguishes an NCC experience are the relationships between students and faculty. From your first day in an English class to the moment you walk across the stage at graduation, we guide you into and through the intellectual life of our discipline. Our curriculum embeds mentorship into how we teach classes from the introductory level to the senior capstone. Students select from classes we offer regularly including Latina/o/x Literature, Graphic Narratives, and Writing for Social Change, as well as seminars in literature, linguistics, and creative writing.
Beyond the classroom, our students run a Film Club, win national poetry prizes, publish in our own 30 North and other literary magazines, host radio shows, study abroad, and join Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honors society. Student-athletes regularly study with us. Good writers seek the feedback of other writers, and our students can visit and work in the Writing Center, located in the renovated and totally gorgeous Oesterle Library.
People often ask: what do you do with an English major? For English Education majors, the answer is often to teach, and we have 100% job placement for teachers in recent years. For literature and writing students, the answer is that they pursue careers in almost every imaginable field—a fact that is both liberating and terrifying. To help students navigate this, our department has curated a list of 140 alumni with whom faculty are in contact.
In every field, the ability to communicate effectively, problem solve, and work as a team means English majors advance faster and earn more. In fact, according to the 2023 Job Outlook, 96% of employers claim written and oral communication skills are the most important quality they seek in new hires. Think about it: in a culture beset by distraction, the ability to read—and write—literature makes one extraordinary.
Visit the English Department on social media on Instagram and Facebook.
The English Department offers three majors and five minors. Many students combine their love of English with other major or minors on campus; in fact, 76% of our current English students have a double major or a minor. Students interested in law school often pair English with political science. Students interested in psychology often pick up a writing or literature minor to prepare them for graduate school. A writing major or minor makes marketing students stand out to employers. Our interdisciplinary film and screen studies minor appeals to students from art and design and media studies.
These are just a few examples of how English can help you exceed your personal best!
English Majors
English Education, B.A.
Literature, B.A.
Writing, B.A.
English Minors
Film and Screen Studies
Language Arts and Linguistics
Literature
Professional and Technical Writing
Writing
A note from the Chair:
“As a first-generation college student myself—like 50% of our English faculty—I often had to learn the expectations and culture of higher education alone. Not only does North Central have a nationally recognized program in Cardinal First, we also have a department group specifically in place for first gen majors and minors. We also have dedicated transfer student mentorship, and transfer students make up half of our majors. All of our faculty are dedicated to helping you become stronger readers and more thoughtful writers, as you learn who you are and what you value.” –Dr. Jenny Smith
Faculty and Staff
Faculty Emeriti
Judith Brodhead
Associate Professor of English Emerita
jabrodhead@noctrl.edu
Richard Guzman
Professor of English Emeritus
rrguzman@noctrl.edu
Martha Bohrer
Professor of English Emerita
mlbohrer@noctrl.edu
John Shindler
Professor of English Emeritus
jhshindler@noctrl.edu
Francine G. Navakas
Svend and Elizabeth Bramsen Professor in the Humanities Emerita
fgnavakas@noctrl.edu
Nancy C. Chapman
Associate Professor of English Emerita
ncchapman@noctrl.edu
Priscilla N. Grundy
Professor of English Emerita
pngrundy@noctrl.edu
EXCEED your personal best in the North Central College English department.
Engaged Learning & Career Readiness
- 30 N., a fine arts undergraduate literary review
- The Kindling, a student-led humor magazine
- Community engaged learning & internship opportunities
eXploration through Research
- Senior capstone seminar
- National Council for Undergraduate Research
- North Central College Rall Symposium & Richter Fellowships
Close Faculty Mentorship
- Award-winning authors & scholars with over 100 years of full-time teaching experience at North Central
- Alumni networking & professional development opportunities
Education Abroad
- Semester-long or "May Term" trips around the globe:
- University of York, England & University of Limerick, Ireland
Excellence through Achievement
- Sigma Tau Delta, English Honor Society
- The Writing Center
- Ruth Cooley Poetry Prize
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
- Faculty committed to social justice and inclusion initiatives
- Course offerings include: Black Narrative, Intro. to Latinx Lit., Gender & Lit. Feminisms, Postcolonial Rewriting, & Writing for Social Change
Explore North Central's Writer's Series
North Central College's Writer's Series is proud to bring established and emerging writers to campus for a reading and a classroom visit, providing an opportunity for students to learn about process, craft, and best practices from working writers. Members of the student literary magazine, 30 North, also get to interview the authors. Past writers have been New York Times bestsellers, NEA fellows, prize winners and more, in a variety of genres and markets.
Upcoming events
Recent visiting writers
Rana graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science with minors in Mathematics and English. She served as the president of Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honors society; a senior editor for 30 North, the literary magazine; and a tutor in The Writing Center. Although she was not an English major, she cultivated leadership and communication skills from her time in the English department.
“I think coming from a different country, the way writing courses were structured back home in India were a lot different from the classes I took here at NCC. And although I was well equipped with tools that set me up for success in the classes I took here, I had never studied the subject so intensely before. These classes only improved my writing.”
Overall, Rana believes that one of the best parts about her time with the English department was “definitely the professors and mentors. I’ve received phenomenal support from the professors here. It’s an amazing community to be a part of, it’s definitely a family!”
Rana is starting graduate school at the University of Notre Dame in the Fall of 2024.
“I have met some of my greatest friends and colleagues through the English Department! I have learned so much from them and cherish all of the memories I have made with this great group of people.”
Books have always been a staple of Molly’s life; she finds magic in the words of the novels and stories she’s reading, so it only made sense for her to pursue a degree in English literature. After coming on campus, she found that North Central would be the perfect fit for her.
“I came to North Central because I liked the environment. Stepping onto campus for the first time felt like home--I felt the same kind of magic I found in books.”
Throughout her time on campus, Molly has become more and more involved, joining the College Scholars Honors Program and Untitled, the college’s experimental theater group. In the English department, she has taken on the role of a tutor in The Writing Center, and she has also developed meaningful relationships with her professors from whom she has learned a lot from.
“They have helped me develop skills such as effective close-readings of texts, critical thinking skills, and even, simply, the ability to voice my own analyses in class.”
With her passion for film, Molly also has a minor in Film & Screen Studies. She has found that it complements her Literature degree well and provides her with a new lens to analyze texts and information in her other courses.
“The wide variety of texts that I’m exposed to in the English department allow me to develop new skills and writing techniques to use going forward.”
James has always loved analyzing texts and writing about them, and he excells in these skills. Although he came to North Central primarily to be a member of the cross country and track teams, he enjoys the sense of intellectual community in the English department.
“I found the English department here to be full of wonderful and open-minded professors that each have their own writing expertise that I'd love to adopt and absorb into my own toolbox.”
In a very short time, he has learned about all that the department has to offer students, specifically, the relationships with others.
“I enjoy how small and coherent the English department is with each other, it's just big enough to where you're exposed to different people, but small enough to where you see comforting commonalities among them.”
Running and writing both require commitment and endurance, both of which James has developed in his time at North Central.
“As a child, I always saw myself growing up to become an educator.”
Justin dreamed of becoming a teacher for as long as he can remember, and he has done everything to make that dream become a reality.
As a first-generation student, Justin didn’t know much about the college admissions process, but he was interested in North Central.
“I really fell in love with the school but was worried about the financial aspect of college because my grades in high school were not all that great. I decided to bet on myself and took the financial risk of attending North Central and am ultimately so glad I did, as I have done very well academically.”
Justin has also become a part of the many extra-curricular activities that North Central has to offer. He served as a member of Orientation Staff, a tutor in The Writing Center, and a Resident Assistant in the Residence Hall/ Recreation Center.
Being such an important member of the campus community, Justin believes that his connections with others is one of the best things about his time here. Specifically, Justin says, “All of the English faculty are genuinely kind and want to do all they can to help their students succeed.”
