The Department of English at Trevecca Nazarene University teaches students to view literature from all eras through a biblical framework, to put forth and defend complex arguments, and to write and speak gracefully and with authority. Classes are challenging and energetic, and students leave the program equipped not only to teach but to pursue graduate study (our students have recently accepted significant fellowships at Baylor University, University of Arkansas, University of Texas El Paso, and Oklahoma State University), to take up careers as journalists and writers, to enter the nonprofit sector, and to join the world of business. Most important, students leave the English department able to elucidate and defend a biblical worldview, their faith strengthened rather than weakened.
A course of study in the English department combines a wide range of course offerings with a good deal of curricular flexibility. Students read both canonical and contemporary writers--Shakespeare and C. S. Lewis, Spenser and John Gardner, Faulkner and Ian McEwan--and study with an active, friendly faculty awake to the newest trends in the discipline. In addition to the English major, students may choose minors in English and creative writing, and interested undergraduates may serve on the staff of The Cumberland River Review, Trevecca’s national literary journal.
Two Concentrations: Literature and Creative Writing
Each Trevecca English student takes a core curriculum of nine literature courses, then selects one of two concentrations to complete his or her major course of study. For students choosing the literature concentration, additional classes include such offerings as Gothic Literature, Religion in American Literature, Multi-Ethnic American Literature, and Genre Studies in Film and Literature. Students who choose the creative writing concentration enjoy writing workshops in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, as well as staff positions on the Cumberland River Review, Trevecca's national literary journal. Both English-major concentrations can be paired with any minor on campus. For literature-concentration students, that can include a creative writing minor.
The Cumberland River Review
The Cumberland River Review is a quarterly online journal publishing new poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by writers around the world. Students interested in working on the editorial staff of The Cumberland River Review should contact Professor Graham Hillard at ghillard@trevecca.edu or extension 1369.
The journal may be viewed here.
Visiting Writers/Scholars Series
Each spring, the Department of English hosts Trevecca's annual Visiting Writers/Scholars Series, an event featuring creative writers and scholars of national reputation. Visiting writers present a campus-wide reading and question-and-answer session, meet privately with English and creative writing students, lead writing workshops, deliver craft talks, and inspire our students. Previous guests have included Bobby C. Rogers, winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, Mark Jarman, winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and Louis Markos, a nationally recognized C. S. Lewis scholar.