English at Algoma University

English at Algoma University

Overview

Language is fundamental to our living and being, which is why the Department of English promotes a critical understanding of literature to broaden appreciation of diverse perspectives and values, to enrich understanding of continuities and changes in culture over time, and to pursue new methods of examining significance in words, ideas, and genres. Our passionate and experienced faculty encourages students to examine the historical and contemporary relevance of literature in classes that emphasize the importance of dialogue.

In our classes, we invite and expect students to participate in seminar discussions and lectures by asking questions and sharing ideas. We ask students to become actively aware of historical and contemporary critical readings of the authors and texts we study and to synthesize ways of knowing. Our assignments require students to expand their knowledge by analyzing the readings, using ideas raised in discussions, writing effectively, and discovering their own thoughts and arguments.

Our program educates students in modes of thought and methods of investigation that not only enrich the reading and understanding of language and literature, but are applicable to various disciplines outside the study of English. We teach students to be critical in their reading and thinking and clear in their writing and speaking. We encourage students to have a passion for reading, writing, and critically reflecting on the use of language wherever it is written or spoken.

Our department offers literature courses in all genres - drama, fiction, poetry, and prose - including writers and thinkers from around the world and from the medieval world to the present period. We also offer courses in creative writing and film. Our faculty has expertise across a range of Canadian, British, American, and postcolonial literatures, and a long-standing commitment to the study of the writers who reflect and shape the cultural histories of the people of the English-speaking world.

Our department has created a space for projects by faculty and students that include the publication of Algoma Ink, poet’s pub and jazz events, the Hayes Jenkinson lecture series, cultural field trips to Chicago, Montreal, and Stratford, and film festivals, among others. These events enrich the life of students and faculty in innumerable ways.

A great Scottish writer, Thomas Carlyle, conceived of learning as “thought kindling itself at the fire of living thought.” Our students are illuminated and enriched by studying English in our program. Kindle your own fire by joining us here.