To inquire about this program:
Dr. Abigail Heiniger | 423.869.6627| abigail.heiniger@lmunet.edu
English majors graduate with the skills they need to succeed in a diverse range of fields. Our recent majors have graduated from some of the best ranked graduate programs in the nation and hold jobs in education, library and information sciences, public relations, publishing, creative writing, the legal field, and medical fields.
English majors at LMU get to study everything from Shakespeare to crime fiction, fairy tales, graphic novels, Appalachian literature, and avant garde poetry. Students learn to think critically through analyzing these works and creating their own literature in various writing classes. Some of the most celebrated writers of the Appalachian South have graduated from Lincoln Memorial University's English program, including James Still, Jesse Stuart, Don West and George Scarbrough. The English Program continues to celebrate this heritage at the annual Mountain Heritage Literary Festival where students have the opportunity to intern and take classes with notable authors.
Employers WANT English majors with the ability to think critically and communicate effectively! The demand for English majors in a wide range of fields across the United States is comparable with fields like nursing and engineering (see: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook).
And English majors love what they do! English major is just as high as career focused majors like Engineering and majors are more likely to have the skills to continue to grow with a rapidly changing professional landscape (see U.S. News and World Report).
Erin Whitaker (LMU class of 2014), MA, MS, holds the rank of Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where she is the Student Success Librarian for Information Literacy.
Scott Erland (LMU class of 2006) has served as the Knoxville Police Department Communications Manager since 2019.
English Major Four-Year Plan 2024-2025
English Education Four-Year Plan 2024-2025
English Early Entry Program Four-Year Plan 2024-2025
Students who Minor in English Literature take 15 hours of coursework including Literary Research, Criticism, Topics in British Literature, Topics in American Literature, and English electives of the student's choice at the 300 or 400 level.
Students who Minor in Writing take 15 hours of coursework that can include Creative Writing, Fiction Writing, Poetry Writing, Creative Non-fiction, and Workplace Writing.
The English program is active in the national English honor society, Sigma Tau Delta. Each spring, Sigma Tau Delta members network with other majors across the nation and deliver papers at the society's regional and national conferences.
Click here to learn about LMU summer literary programs for all ages: Mountain Heritage Literary Festival and Arts in the Gap.
Faculty in the Department have a wide range of scholarly interests covering the historical range of literature in English from Beowulf to recent fiction, poetry, and drama, and have published broadly in many national academic and literary journals.