English Department
Go English!
Here at the ECU Department of English, we are a vibrant and energetic collection of teachers, scholars, researchers, and writers. Our department offers four degrees: a B.A. in English; a B.S. in Professional Writing and Information Design; an M.A. in English; a Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication as well as various minors and certificates. The diversity of this department is one of its strengths: you can take coursework in literature, creative writing, technical and professional communication, rhetoric and composition, multicultural and transnational literatures, linguistics, theory and criticism, folklore, children’s literature, teaching English to speakers of other languages, and film studies. In addition, you can expect to benefit from a breadth of faculty expertise across many areas of study. Above all, your success as a student is our first priority.
English News
ECU English MA alumni Jamie Gorczyca was interviewed about her Taylor Swift class taught at Vol State Community College. In the article, Gorczyca, “contests that the skills used in analyzing Swift’s lyrics are the same as those used in deconstructing poetry. To the misinformed critics,” I hope they’re open to understanding that this class is about more than Taylor Swift. It’s about cultural analysis through a subject that captures students’ interest.”
Dr. Helena Feder’s interview article “Wild Culture: A Conversation with Hal Whitehead” has been published on Terrain.org.
Whitehead studies the behavior, ecology, and conservation of deep-diving whales, mainly sperm and northern bottlenose whales. His research involves collecting various data types (acoustic, visual, genetic, etc.) in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, including areas off Nova Scotia.
On April 3-4, Dr. Kirstin Squint and English M.A. (Multicultural and Transnational Literature concentration) alumnus, Aries Farrington, presented at the online Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures conference. Squint’s paper, “‘The Walking Dead Already’: LeAnne Howe’s The Lady of Cofitachequi,” continues her exploration of work by the contemporary Choctaw author. Aries, now a doctoral student in the English literature program at the University of New Hampshire, gave a presentation entitled, “Monstrous Manifestations: Exploring Generational Trauma and Healing in Jessica Johns’ Bad Cree.”
ASAIL is a professional organization created to promote the study, criticism, and research of American Indian written and oral literary traditions. This year’s conference was themed “Indigenous Gothic, Ghosts, and Speculative Fiction.”
Marame Gueye’s Fulbright updates highlight her recent activities. Gueye supported her African literature students in creating “Women in Higher Ed,” an organization addressing gender disparities in academia by providing sanitary pads, childcare, and advocating for female faculty. She participated in a discussion with Senegalese writer Ken Bugul and inmates at a Dakar penitentiary. She spoke on a panel at Howard University about “Misogynoir, Black Women’s Leadership, and the Legacy of Black Women’s Studies.” Gueye led a discussion on the film “One Thousand and One” at the West African Research Center for Black History Month.
John Hoppenthaler ‘s “Glendale Mill, 1837-2004” is published in the Spring 2025 issue of Ploughshares. Dubbed “the Triton among minnows” by the New York Times, Ploughshares is an award-winning journal of new writing. Since 1971, Ploughshares has discovered and cultivated the freshest voices in contemporary American literature and now provides readers with thoughtful and entertaining literature in various formats.
The Spring 2025 issue, edited by Peggy Shumaker, features poetry and prose by Naomi Shihab Nye, Felicia Zamora, Tim Seibles, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Lia Purpura, Sonja Livingston, Marjorie Sandor, Rick Barot, Jane Hirschfield, Alberto Rios, Oliver de la Paz, Robert Wrigley, and more.
Amber Flora Thomas has three new poems in The Georgia Review and another in The Alaska Quarterly Review.
The Georgia Review is a literary-cultural journal published by the University of Georgia since 1947. While it began with a regional commitment, its scope has grown to include readers and writers throughout the U.S. and the world. Readers and writers are brought together through the print journal and live programming.
Alaska Quarterly Review is one of America’s premier literary magazines and a source of powerful, new voices. It is published twice yearly in print and digital editions and maintains partnerships with the Center for the Narrative and Lyric Arts and the Anchorage Museum.
Senior Emmie Brooks (English BA, Professional Writing and Information Design minor) and junior Abby Trzepacz (Professional Writing and Information Design BS) joined Grace Horne, Gera Miles, and Randall Martoccia in meeting admitted students at the Pirates Aboard event. Brooks and Trzepacz have taken courses in many department areas, so they can speak with authority on what the programs offer. Trzepacz has had internships with the NCLR and volunteers in the journal, while Brooks has had internships with WALTER Magazine and Our State.