Welcome to the Fall; And Courses Coming in the Spring

The fall 2024 semester begins on Wednesday, September 4. All of the faculty in Mercy English hope that our English major and minor students will find their fall semester full of interesting readings, writings, discussions, and experiences. No matter which of the campuses you’re at, or if you’re a fully online student, you’re a part of one united English major and minor program; we’re all in this together. Please know that in addition to your PACT mentor you can always ask the undergraduate English Program Director, currently Dr. Christopher Loots, any questions you might have about the program, the major or minor, your current courses, upcoming courses, etc. Just drop a note to cloots@mercy.edu and say hello, anytime.

One thing we want to share with our English majors this fall is the list of new English Program Learning Goals, which are the guiding principles that basically articulate what English is about, and what the English coursework seeks to develop in each student. Through your English studies, our goal is for you to:

1. Develop reading and viewing habits that cultivate your passion for story, lyric, drama, essay, film, digital texts, and other writings and media.
2. Develop skills of analysis and interpretation.
3. Develop a process-based practice of composing and creating.
4. Cultivate your capacity for ethics, empathy, imagination, and reason.
5. Consider how culture, history, and identity affect authorship and interpretation.
6. Broaden your awareness of what it means to be human, particularly in our changing digital/virtual world.
7. Understand the ways in which the skills, practices, and insights gained through all of the previous goals apply not only to English studies but to the larger world and various professions/disciplines.

So there they are. If you have any questions or thoughts about any of those Program Learning Goals, feel free to present them to any of your English professors.

Finally, although the fall semester is only just beginning, we want to share with you the planned courses for spring 2025. Check out the PDF linked below to see what’s in store for the spring, as well as to get a look at the recently-launched English major concentrations that any English or English Education major can pursue. Contact cloots@mercy.edu if you have any questions about anything you see in the PDF below. Here’s to the fall semester, and to each of you students of English!