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Stabler Hall, Room 501 | (501) 916-3161 | (501) 569-8185 (fax), ualr.edu/english

Majors, Tracks, & Special Offerings

The Department of English offers three major tracks: English (for the study of literature and culture); English with an emphasis in Creative Writing; and English with an emphasis in Secondary Education. The department also offers minors in English, Creative Writing, and Linguistics. The latter offers interdisciplinary coursework in Anthropology, Applied Communications, Speech Pathology, Second Language Instruction, and World Languages—as well as foundational courses in the History of English; Grammar, Morphology, Syntax; and Literary Linguistics.  

The department’s literature track includes coursework in Mythology, Southern Literature, Visual Literacy, Film as Literature, Young Adult Literature, and Podcasting as well as traditional surveys in American and British Literature and upper-level coursework in individual authors (Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, etc.) as well as literary movements, periods, and collectives (American Modernism, Black Protest Literature, Environmental Literature, etc.).

Across all three tracks, the department supports its diversity requirement with coursework in African-American Literature, Postcolonial Literature, Women in Literature, and special topics. The department’s creative writing track develops sophisticated writing skills across a variety of genres. Coursework in creative writing includes formal, theoretical, and applied study of the craft of fiction and poetry, coursework in screenwriting, and special topics such as Writing Detective Fiction, Open Genre Writing, Novel Writing, the Poetry of Fiction, etc.

The department’s secondary education track prepares students as English Language Arts teachers in grades 7-12. The program’s strong connections with High Schools throughout Central Arkansas and its dedicated hands-on training with class observations and teaching internships prepare students for careers in teaching, administration, and educational policy—and our placement rates in schools are highly successful.

In addition to general coursework, the Department of English supports professional development through a wide range of service-learning projects, internships with the department’s literary journal Equinox, the Sequoyah National Research Center, and the independent press Braddock Books, as well as through collaborations with the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, the CALS Literary Festival, the Cooper Visiting Writers Series, and the English Advisory Board.   

Transfer Students

Students transferring from other institutions into the English Department—either at the major or minor level—must take at least 6 hours in residence in the UA Little Rock English Department. Students can share up to 6 hours between the English Major and the Creative Writing Minor or between the English Major and the Linguistics Minor.

William G. Cooper, Jr., Honors Program in English

The William G. Cooper, Jr., Honors Program in English is sustained by an endowment created by the family of Dr. William G. Cooper, Jr., in honor of his distinguished service on the Little Rock University Board of Trustees and UA Little Rock Board of Visitors.

The William G. Cooper, Jr., Honors Program in English offers students a high-impact learning experience in which they work one-on-one with a faculty mentor to develop a research or creative project over the course of two semesters. The honors option in English parallels the requirements for the three English tracks with the addition of the Cooper Honors Seminar, the Honors Tutorial, and the Honors Project. This seven-hour block counts towards the upper-level English electives. Students in the honors program must maintain a 3.25 GPA overall and a 3.5 in their English courses to remain in good standing. Students selected into the Cooper Honors Program are eligible to apply for generous honors stipends that may be applied to educational expenses.   

Scholarships & Awards 

In addition to the Cooper Honors stipends, the department offers the following annual set of scholarships and awards:

• Cooper Promise Award
• Cooper Success Scholarship
• Ruth Lovett Booker Scholarship
• Eleanor Orts Francis Scholarship
• Marilynn Keys Scholarship
• Martha Sawrie Stephenson Scholarship
• Gladys K. Brown Award
• The Richard Stanley Cooper Award
• The Alma K. Dougherty Award
• The Roslyn L. Knutson Award
• Kathryn Ramsey Award

Programs

• English, B.A.
• English, Creative Writing Emphasis, B.A.
• English, English Education Track, B.A.

• Creative Writing Minor
• English Minor
• Film Minor (English)
• Linguistics Minor

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