English, Teaching of English, and Creative Writing Undergraduate Semester Newsletter

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1 English, Teaching of English, and Creative Writing Undergraduate Semester Newsletter MARCH 2014 UNDERGRADUATE ADVISING OFFICE If you have questions about which courses to take next semester, or if you would like to figure out a rough plan for the completion of your English or Creative Writing degree, departmental advisors Anna Ivy and Jovaughn Barnard are here to help. We are prepared to answer major-related questions. If your questions pertain to major or minor programs outside our department, we will redirect you to the appropriate advisor or program director. For other questions, we may direct you to the appropriate offices, e.g. the Study Abroad Office, Student Financial Services, Admissions and Records, or the LAS Student Academic Affairs office (which is in Lincoln Hall, Suite 2002, conveniently located just next door to the English Building). If you are experiencing personal challenges that are negatively affecting your academic performance, we can direct you to various campus resources depending on the nature of the problems you are dealing with, e.g. Emergency Dean Services, McKinley Mental Health, the Counseling Center, or the Disabilities Resources and Education Services (DRES) division. Academic advisors will work with you on major course planning based on the recommendations you receive so that you can successfully complete the major. Academic Advisor responsibilities: Communicate curriculum and graduation requirements to advisees Encourage students to identify and aim for realistic goals Provide students with resources and information about strategies for academic and personal success Advisee responsibilities: Show up for appointments prepared to ask questions of the advisor Remain open to input and suggestions, and consider revising plans Keep a personal record of progress toward degree completion Please bear in mind that the plans we help you devise are non-binding unless otherwise specified. Also, advisors make suggestions to, but do not make decisions for, advisees. Decision-making rests with you alone. Office Hours Monday-Friday Scheduled ½-hour appointments 9:00-11:00 and 1:00-3:00 15-minute walk-in appointments ( express advising ): 11:00-noon and 3:00-4:00 To schedule an appointment, please call the office at We do not schedule appointments via .

2 REGISTRATION PROCEDURES FOR SUMMER AND FALL 2014 Registration begins on Monday, April 7, 2014; however, your actual time ticket can vary and can be found in Enterprise. Please consider coming in during that week or before to discuss Summer and/or Fall 2014 courses. Also, if you are in town or want to schedule a phone appointment please consider utilizing Spring Break to meet with an advisor. The advising office will be open during Spring Break; however, we will not have walk-in hours. To help you as you plan for Summer and/or Fall 2014 courses please review your DARS Report. A DARS Report is an unofficial audit of progress towards graduation requirements for both major(s) and minor(s) that is generated for students by the university. Below you will find the instructions on how to run a DARS Report. If you have any questions please consult Jovaughn or Anna and as always please feel free to come in to meet with us. If you are a Teaching of English major going into your final year you will be required to meet with an English department advisor before registering for fall classes; you should bring the 402 form (provided in CI 402) with you to the appointment. DARS Report Instructions 1) Visit the DARS for Students website: to Generate an audit online. 2) Read the Important Note to Students section of this page. 3) Click the Login to Generate an Audit button and enter your Enterprise ID and password. 4) You will be taken to the Audit Request Page. 5) Select "Run Default Programs Listed" (your major should be shown in this area) If you want to view graduation requirements for another major "Run Selected Program." In the drop-down menu next to the College field, click to find the college of your potential major. 6) In the Degree Program field, select the major you are considering. In the Catalog Year field, be sure you select Fall 2014 if it is not already selected. 7) Click the Submit a New Audit at the bottom of the page. 8) After the report is requested, the Audits page will be displayed. It will take several seconds for the audit to appear. Once it appears, click the Open Audit button to view the report. 9) At the top of your degree audit, click on the Expand All hyperlink. This will open details for each section of the audit. Registration for fall semester begins Monday, April 7, 2014 Reminder for all students graduating in August or December 2014 Be sure to click the Graduation tab, and click APPLY TO GRADUATE when you register for Summer and/or Fall 2014 courses. If you do not do this by the tenth day of classes in the semester in which you plan to graduate you will have to inform your Admissions and Records Officer, or ARO (see below). A-Cr: Billy Vermillion (bbv@illinois.edu) Cs-He: Joe Murphy (jemurphv@illinois.edu) Hf-Lik: Joyce Elam (jelam2@illinois.edu) Lil-Pat: Beth Strogoff (estrogoff@illinois.edu) Pau-St: Marsha Nix (mnix@illinois.edu) Su-Z Mary Davis (mdavis@illinois.edu)

3 ENGLISH HONORS PROGRAM If you are at least a junior and would like to pursue the study of English with special dedication, you may want to join the English Honors Program. The Honors Program offers seminar courses and the senior thesis option for majors who have a minimum combined GPA of 3.33 both overall and in the English major. The program brings together some of the most able and committed students in small classes that encourage more challenging study and provide more opportunities for active class discussion. For more information, please see Anna or Jovaughn in the advising office. Please keep in mind that if you re an English major going into your junior year and you have at least a 3.33 GPA (in the major and overall) and have completed either 300 or 301, you are eligible to begin work in the English Honors Program. To complete the program you must take three honors seminars (courses numbered ENGL 396, 397, or 398) and write a senior thesis (ENGL 391); your successful completion of the entire program can earn you distinction in the major. Honors seminars can be used to satisfy major requirements. It's also worth remembering that eligible students can take honors seminars even if they do not plan to complete the program. Even as a oneoff, an honors seminar will be an enriching experience and may act as a springboard to more independent study. An English honors seminar can count for James Scholar credit. Procedure to Sign up for an Honors Seminar Come to the English advising office (EB 200) between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on Monday, March 31 or Tuesday, April 1 to pick up a lottery number from Angela. This number will determine your place in line on Friday, April 4 when the actual sign-up will take place starting at 9:00 a.m. **PLEASE NOTE If you are graduating in December 2014 and MUST have a certain Fall 2014 honors seminar to fulfill requirements, please see an advisor.** Honors Thesis (ENGL 391) Students are required to submit four copies of the honors thesis altogether: one to the director, one to each reader, and one to Angela Smith in Room 200 EB. The deadline for submission of Spring 2014 theses is Wednesday, April 30. Honors Thesis Proposals for Fall 2014 If you are planning to write a thesis in Fall 2014, you will need to submit a proposal and signed registration form to Angela in 200 EB by Wednesday, April 23. For more information on how to write a thesis proposal, and to see some examples, please consult the honors website at Campus Honors Program (CHP) Please note that CHP courses and English department honors courses DO count towards the James Scholar requirements. However, James Scholar courses or other honors seminars Honors Credit Learning Agreements (HCLA) do NOT fulfill the CHP course requirement. Also, a CHP Course Request Form for non-chp Students is available in the Honors House (1205 West Oregon, Urbana, IL) and on the CHP website ( which will allow excellent undergraduate students who are not in the Campus Honors Program to take a CHP course if space is available and with the approval of both the course instructor and the CHP. They will accommodate such requests from qualified students who have a 3.3 cumulative GPA or higher as long as (1) the instructor consents (2) enrollment limitations are not exceeded, and (3) the course requests of Chancellor s Scholars have been given priority. Printed copies of the CHP Course Descriptions can be requested from Susan Schmall-Ross (schmallr@illinois.edu) in the Campus Honors Program office.

4 CREATIVE WRITING vs RHETORIC Major name change: As you know, the Rhetoric major has been officially renamed the Creative Writing major. There are no additional requirements for the BALAS-Creative Writing major; only the name has changed. If you are currently listed as a Rhetoric major and would like to change the name of your major to Creative Writing (in other words, if this is what you want listed on your transcript), then you will need to fill out a change of major form. NEW ENGLISH MAJOR REQUIREMENTS As you know, we have a new set of English major requirements, which went into effect in Fall If you matriculated before then and you want to switch but haven t yet done so you will need to send an to your ARO (see list above), including your full name and UIN in the body of the message, asking to be moved into the new English major requirements. Your ARO will know what you mean. N.B. In the new major ENGL 300 (Writing About Literature, Text, and Culture) CANNOT be used to satisfy a distribution requirement (such as pre-1800, for example). This is a difference between the new requirements and the old, in which ENGL 300 *could* be used to satisfy one of the group requirements. ENGLISH MINORS ENGL 301 policy for English minors: ENGL 301 is restricted to English and Teaching of English majors. All minors must have satisfied three specific requirements BEFORE they can get a major override to take 301 (no concurrent classes will be allowed): the introductory course ENGL 200; a 200-level course in British Literature before 1800 and a 200-level course in British or American Literature after If you meet these basic criteria and wish to take ENGL 301 in the spring, please call the advising office for an override. CURRENT AND PROSPECTIVE TEACHING OF ENGLISH (ToE) MAJORS If you think you d like to teach English at the middle or high school level, you should be aware that the ToE major is open only by application. Students apply to the Secondary Ed program in February of their sophomore year; applications are available in 2002 Lincoln Hall beginning in November. If you re thinking about applying, you should begin taking the correct courses during your freshman year. The teaching major is arduous and requires careful planning. You ll need to complete or have in progress CMN 101, EPS 201, and EPSY 201 (pre-req is PSYC 100) before you apply to the program. In addition, you should aim to have most of your Gen Eds plus at least five or six courses in the major completed or in progress by the time you apply (including ENGL 200, 209, 255, and 301). To be eligible for the program, you must also have passed all sections of the state s Test of Academic Proficiency (if your composite ACT score was 22 or higher, with writing portion, then you do not have to take the TAP) and completed 50 hours of middle- and/or high-school tutoring. If you re interested in learning more about the program requirements, stop by 200 EB to talk to an academic advisor and to pick up our ToE advising sheet. ADVISING WEBSITE and ENGLISH STUDENT COUNCIL Be sure to check out our website for news, curriculum information, and course planning assistance: Please like the Facebook page English Student Council (UIUC) to find out about and get involved with English, Creative Writing, and Teaching of English major activities, or stop by the advising office for more information about ESC (a registered student organization).

5 COURSES SATISFYING DISTRIBUTION REQUIREMENTS - SUMMER AND FALL 2014 This is the current list of courses but it is subject to change. We will do our best to keep you updated if and when such changes occur, and we thank you in advance for your flexibility. You should always check to make sure that the courses you have selected are in fact satisfying the correct requirements; if you need help finding an appropriate course, please see Anna or Jovaughn. SUMMER 2014 Pre-1800 (Medieval) ENGL 202: Medieval Literature and Culture R.E.P.C.I.S. (Race/Ethnicity/Post-Coloniality/Indigeneity/Sexuality) ENGL 275: American Indian and Indigenous Film FALL 2014 Pre-1800 (to fulfill major requirement you must take two courses from two different pre-1800 categories) Medieval ENGL 202: Medieval Lit and Culture ENGL 461: Topics in Literature Old Irish Renaissance ENGL 204: Renaissance Literature and Culture ENGL 421: Later Renaissance Poetry & Prose ENGL 423: Milton Long 18 th Century ENGL 206: Enlightenment Literature and Culture ENGL 427: Later 18th Century Literature ENGL 429: 18th Century Fiction Shakespeare ENGL 117: Shakespeare on Film ENGL 218: Intro to Shakespeare ENGL 418: Shakespeare ENGL 207: Romantic Literature and Culture ENGL 210: British Lit 1800 to Present ENGL 250: The American Novel to 1914 ENGL 397, T: Honors Seminar II Soul Talk and the British Body-Politic ( ) ENGL 435: 19th Century British Fiction ENGL 455, Section 1U: Major Authors--Jane Austen ENGL 455, Section 2U: Major Authors--Poe and Hawthorne ENGL 455, Section A: Major Authors--Tolstoy R.E.P.C.I.S. (Race/Ethnicity/Post-Coloniality/Indigeneity/Sexuality) ENGL 211: Intro to Modern African Lit ENGL 225: Intro to Latina/o Literature ENGL 259: Afro-American Literature I ENGL 459: Topics in American Indian Lit ENGL 460: Literature of American Minorities