English

The English department recruits support and retains faculty members who are active scholars and accomplished instructors to pursue a study and a discussion of humane ideas as they are found in the literature and culture of societies where English is the dominant or colonizing language. By association and membership in professional organizations, English faculty regularly participate in and contribute to the wider community of scholarship, research, and pedagogical theory in the disciplines of literature, writing, and cultural studies. We seek to serve the larger academic community and the local Brooklyn community through event programming and collaborative projects.

We provide our students with an education of the highest quality in American, British, and world literature and cultural studies. In writing, we integrate breadth with depth, recognizing tradition’s place in contemporary expression. We look to have our students become independent, self-motivated learners, confident in their research and synthesizing skills; we attract students from diverse geographical, professional, racial, and ethical backgrounds; and we encourage minority and foreign applicants as well as returning and adult learners.

The Writing Program

• Students will improve upon inadequate writing preparation and poor written expression by enrolling in courses designed to remediate writing problems while allowing students to demonstrate competence in written expression.
• Students will develop skills, confidence, and competence in written expression.
• In their writing, students will develop a sound organization of thought, clarity in the structure of sentences and paragraphs, forceful, energetic prose, and critical thinking.
• Students with a second language and dialect interference problems will be able to move into the mainstream of standard written edited English.