Hanover English Department
The English department at Hanover College is a rare find. Faculty in the department are an amazing, cohesive group of people who will challenge and engage you in discussions about literature that pertain to everything that is important in life. Being an English major at Hanover or simply taking a number of courses in the department will do nothing short of changing your life and your perspectives of the world.
Megan Ruesch
Hanover College, Class of 2005
Why Study English?
Deciding upon a major can be an intimidating task, and you may be wondering if English would be a good fit for you. If any of the following is true for you, then the English department at Hanover College may be just what you have been searching for.
You enjoy:
• Literature
• Reading and writing
• Exploring ideas and concepts
• Etymology and grammar
You want to:
• Be published
• Teach others
• Express your thoughts and opinions
• Write or edit text for print and online publications
• Travel abroad
• Research your interests
• Have a meaningful and fun academic and social experience
What Hanover English Offers
The English department at Hanover College offers a fun and challenging learning environment, complemented by continual support from its skilled faculty. The program provides students with the tools necessary to develop their skills and the guidance needed to help them discover and pursue their own areas of interest.
The English program at Hanover offers a diverse set of courses that emphasize not only individual reading and study, but also experiences that enable students to integrate their studies with their own lives. Students begin by learning various critical approaches to literature and by taking historical survey courses that provide broad familiarity with the major works. From there, they move on to seminars that examine fewer works in greater depth, including specialized seminars rarely available at undergraduate institutions. Students can spend a semester in in-depth study of the works of such writers as mark Twain, Angela Carter, W.B. Yeats, Carol Shields, or J.R.R. Tolkien. Courses in creative writing are also woven into the program. The major culminates with the Independent Study, a self-designed, intensive, independent research or creative project advised by a single faculty member.
Highlights
Highly specialized and well-qualified faculty
Personal attention from faculty members hailing from some of the highest ranking graduate programs in the country is cited by many former majors as one of the department's outstanding features. A highly specialized faculty also allows students to explore under-represented literary voices, including those of women, African-Americans and other minorities.
Community
Throughout the year, Hanover's English department offers regular readings by students and published writers. The department produces the school's student-run literary magazine Kennings and offers a strong connection to the local literary community through the annual Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Writers' Roundtable. The English department also hosts frequent workshops and discussions from visiting scholars. Recent guests include:
• California poet Francisco Alarcon, author of From the Other Side of Night / Del otro lado de la noche: New Selected Poems, and De amor oscuro / Of Dark Love
• Teacher and essayist Sam Pickering, author of Let it Ride, Living to Prowl, and Trespassing, whose teaching inspired the movie Dead Poet's Society
• Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and Hanover alumna Carol Shields, author of The Stone Diaries, The Republic of Love, and Happenstance
• Kentucky poet Jeff Worley, author of A Simple Human Motion and Happy Hour at the Two Keys Tavern
• Professor Angel Mateos of the University of Castilla-la-Mancha in Ciudad Real, Spain, specialist in postmodern literature and speculative fiction
• Poet Tony Crunk, winner of the Yale Younger Poets Award for his book Living in the Resurrection
Spring Term Abroad
The English program offers several exciting opportunities to study works of literature abroad. Students can study "Shakespeare in England" in Stratford-upon-Avon, "The Age of Dante and Petrarch" in Florence, Italy, or "20th Century Irish Literature" on the Emerald Isle. These courses allow students to explore great literary works in three of Europe's most beautiful places.
Practical Experience
Many English majors work at the campus Writing center, helping students in other disciplines with Hanover's writing-intensive curriculum. This allows them to teach others in addition to improving their own writing. Students interested in journalism careers can gain useful experience by working on the school's student-run newspaper, The Triangle. Many students also obtain internships with such periodicals as Louisville Magazine, LEO Weekly, The Madison Courier, and Cincinnati Magazine.
Opportunities for Research
As an English student, you'll have the opportunity to work closely with a professor on an independent study of a subject of your choice. Independent studies give students the freedom to explore areas of interest to them while receiving continual support from the department's staff. Some recent independent studies include:
Career Opportunities
English within the context of a liberal arts education equips our graduates with the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary to continue on to a variety of careers and/or graduate school opportunities.
Career and professional placements have included:
• Editor, Wiley Publishing (Indianapolis)
• Executive Assistant, Arthur Andersen (Chicago)
• Marketing Specialist, Andersen Consulting (Houston)
• English Teacher, Oldham County High School (Buckner, KY)
• Lead Sales Associate, Barnes and Noble (Cincinnati)
• Journalist, Huffington Post (Mooresville, NC)
Graduate school placements have included:
• University of North Carolina
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• New York University
• University College (Dublin, Ireland)
• Iowa Writer's Workshop
• Vanderbilt University
• Notre Dame Law School
• University of Syracuse College of Law
• Indiana University School of Law