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  • Department of English
Department of English
Lifelong learning.

»About the Department

Student reading a bookThe Department of English at Chapman University encourages students to read widely and deeply, to write boldly and thoughtfully, and to engage in interdisciplinary scholarship and creative activity. Coursework ranges across literature, rhetoric, and cultural studies; creative writing; journalism; digital humanities; and creative and cultural industries. Our English students and faculty explore and create the stories that shape our worlds.

Undergraduate students may pursue a BFA in Creative Writing or a BA in English with a concentration in either literature, rhetoric, cultural studies or journalism. Minors in English, journalism and special studies are also available to students majoring in fields across the university.

Our graduate students pursue an MA in English, an MFA in Creative Writing, or a unique "Dual-Degree" program that combines the two. Students in the MFA can focus on fiction, poetry, nonfiction, or even screenwriting and are encouraged to work in more than one genre. All our graduate students take courses in and across specialized areas that include literature, theory, rhetoric and composition and digital humanities.


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Our Department Mission

Throughout their time at Chapman, students are offered exciting opportunities to apply their ideas and critical thinking skills in real-world situations. Our Mission is to foster creative and intellectually rigorous thinking, clear and original written expression of ideas, in-depth knowledge of cultural and literary traditions, and exploration of a variety of subject matter through both reading and writing. The English Department offers students innovative and personalized instruction as the basis for lifelong learning and literary citizenship.

Statement of Solidarity with Black Lives Matter: June 2020

The English Department of Wilkinson College, along with the Interdisciplinary Minors, stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and Black communities across the country. We deplore the horrific murders of unarmed Black people by the police and the systemic racism in police forces, in educational and legal institutions, and throughout society. We support the protestors calling on us to say the names of victims of a compromised system of criminal justice: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Sean Read, Tony McDade, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, and many more. We mourn the unnamed and unnumbered victim. These tragedies are laid on top of the longstanding systemic poverty and other social injustices experienced in marginalized communities for an unbearably long time. 
 
We are all called upon to seek solutions--of every kind, whoever we are, and however we can contribute best--to redress these wounds and injustices endemic to the country and world. Martin Luther King said, "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance or conscientious stupidity.” As educators in Wilkinson College, we call upon Chapman University to instead conscientiously support programs throughout the university committed to teaching the knowledge, texts, and creative expression born of struggle against racist violence, anti-Blackness, and other social injustice. We have learned the hard way that “those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” We must teach and learn this history and the dynamics of this present moment with an investment in education for a future of less shame, less suffering, less fear, less hate, and more justice, more hope, more peace.
 
We encourage everyone, including those of us who belong to marginalized communities, to hold honest conversations about anti-Blackness and discrimination with our own families, friends, and communities. Covid-19 continues to expose what we have already known to be the racial and social inequalities that our communities live through daily. We witnessed the rise of anti-Asian rhetoric and violence, disregard for “essential” immigrant workers, and staggering infection rates among Native Americans. We need to reimagine what it means to stand in solidarity with each other.
 
The Faculty of the Department of English
 
This is an adaptation and endorsement of the Black Lives Matter statement composed by the Directors of Wilkinson College’s Interdisciplinary Minors:
 
Africana Studies Program, Quaylan Allen and Stephanie Takaragawa, Directors
Disability Studies Program, Art Blaser, Director
Latinx and Latin American Studies Program, Ruben Espinoza, Director
LGBTQ Studies Program, Ian Barnard, Director
Women’s Studies Program, CK Magliola, Director
 
The Faculty of the Department of English endorses the March 2020 statement by the Association for Asian American Studies:
 
"The Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) wants to also acknowledge the rise of anti-Asian (especially anti-Chinese) harassment that many Asian Americans (particularly those who look East Asian) are experiencing. As an organization dedicated to the study of Asian Americans, we want to be very clear that xenophobia has no place in our communities or workplaces, and that harassment of Asians due to fears of the coronavirus are not only unwarranted but sadly part of a longer history of stereotypes associating Asians, especially Chinese, with disease. We stand firm in rejecting anti-Asian bigotry in the guise of people expressing fear of Novel Coronavirus/COVID-19. We also urge people to find resources that will educate them about how to manage their healthas well as why their prejudices/biases in assuming all Asians have the virus are rooted in a history of Yellow Peril rhetoric, xenophobia, ableism, and anti-Asian racism. Please encourage your colleagues and friends to explore this open-source syllabus that addresses anti-Asian bias associated with the coronavirus. And please remember: frequent handwashing, not anti-Asian stereotypes/harassment, is your best means of preventing the spread of coronavirus.” 

Department Statement on Diversity and Inclusion : Dec. 2016

For at least half a century now, English as an academic discipline has been at the forefront of scholarly work and pedagogy in feminist theory, critical race studies, ecocriticism, queer theory, disability studies, working-class studies, postcolonial theory, multiculturalism, linguistic diversity, and student agency. The English Department at Chapman University works in all these areas and endorses Chapman’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. We pledge to vigorously support all our students; to welcome all students into our classrooms irrespective of immigration status; to contest racism, sexism, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia, imperialism, anti-Semitism, and anti-environmentalism; and to resist deportations.
Courtland Jeffries
Courtland Jeffries
('26 English)
"Don't be afraid to get to know your professors! They aren't there to judge you- they're there to support and encourage you.”
Francis Medina
Francis Medina
('27 Creative Writing)
“Our English Department consists of the most welcoming, creative, and authentic people on campus! Here, I am constantly driven to expand my knowledge, empathy, and love for literature and the humanities.”

Contact Us

Chapman University
Department of English
1 University Drive
Orange, CA 92866

Department Office:
Main Campus, Smith Hall 204

Samantha De La O, Senior Administrative Assistant
sadelao@chapman.edu

Lucy Rust
Administrative Assistant
lrust@chapman.edu

Department Chair:
Dr. Lynda Hall
lhall@chapman.edu

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