English
With nearly 50 full-time faculty members, the Department of English offers students a broad foundation in traditional British, American, and Anglophone literary studies, as well as intensive course work in interdisciplinary studies, emerging media, and current critical methodologies. Its lower-division courses provide training in writing and introduce the student to literature as a humanistic discipline. Its upper-division courses emphasize the humanistic values that emerge from studying literature and allied disciplines analytically and in depth.
We teach exciting courses in argumentative writing, critical thinking, and ethical dialogue—all skills employers and professional schools desire from new graduates. Our major, minors, and graduate programs include distinctive offerings in environmental humanities, comics and cartoon studies, medical humanities, disability studies, digital humanities, and the study of race and ethnicity.
The study of English opens doors to many careers. All fields of endeavor place high value on the ability to read intelligently and to write clearly. A major in English, with judiciously selected electives, prepares students not only to find that essential first job but also to possess the breadth of outlook and depth of perspective that become increasingly important in subsequent phases of their careers. A student preparing for graduate study in English should construct an appropriate course of undergraduate study in consultation with a faculty advisor.
Expository Writing
The English department offers required and elective courses in expository writing for all university students to help them improve their ability to write clearly and effectively. Students must fulfill the university writing requirement of two composition courses or be cleared according to established waiver and exemption policies. The requirement is Composition I (WR 121Z) and either Composition II (WR 122Z) or College Composition III (WR 123), or their approved equivalents. Students should complete the writing requirement—with course work, by exemption, or by waiver examination—early in their studies.
Exemptions
Scores of 37 or better on the new College Board SAT Reading and Writing tests waive the need to take Composition I (WR 121Z). No credit is given for this waiver. A score of 710 or better on the old SAT Critical Reading test (650 prior to 1995) or 32 or better on the ACT English test will also waive WR 121Z (without credit). A score of 3, 4, or 5 on the Advanced Placement (AP) Language and Composition Examination produces credit for WR 121Z.
Waiver Examinations
Waiver examinations for Composition I (WR 121Z) and Composition II (WR 122Z) are offered during the first week of classes, fall through spring terms, at the UO Testing Office, Knight Library, room 31; call 541-346-3230. Visit the Testing Office website to sign up for an examination. No credit is awarded for waiver examinations, and students may not take waiver examinations for both courses in the same term. The essay exams are graded pass/no pass by three members of the Department of English composition committee. Students who do not pass may not retake the examination and should register for the appropriate writing course as soon as possible. Students who pass the exam have an "exemption by exam" notation for either Composition I (WR 121Z) or Composition II (WR 122Z) placed on their degree audit. Waiver exams are not returned to students, nor are they used as a teaching device. Additional help and special tutoring are available to students through the University Teaching and Learning Center.
Placement
Students for whom English is the native language are placed in their first writing course based on their SAT or ACT verbal scores. Students whose scores fall below 26 on the new SAT Reading and Writing tests, below 480 on the old SAT Verbal, or below 19 on the ACT are eligible for concurrent enrollment in Writing Tutorial (WR 195) with Composition I (WR 121Z).
Nonnative Speakers
Students for whom English is not the native or primary language are placed in their first writing course on the basis of a placement test. These may include Introductory Academic Writing (AEIS 110), Intermediate Academic Writing (AEIS 111), and Advanced Academic Writing (AEIS 112) (taught in the Department of Linguistics). Placement tests are administered before registration. Nonnative speakers should inquire at the American English Institute, 107 Pacific Hall, for placement test dates.
Transfer Students
Transfer students in doubt about the equivalency of courses taken elsewhere should bring transcripts and catalog descriptions to the composition office, Department of English, for evaluation.
Faculty
Stacy Alaimo, professor (Environmental Humanities, Posthumanities/New Materialism, American Studies, Cultural Studies). BA, 1985, Gustavus Adolphus College; MA, 1986, University of Wisconsin, Madison; PhD, 1994, University of Illinois (2019)
Jasmine An, assistant professor (Asian American Literature, Southeast Asian Diasporic Literature, Contemporary Poetry & Poetics, Thai Studies, Queer of Color Critique, Gender & Sexuality Studies). BA 2015, Michigan, Kalamazoo; PhD, 2023, University of Michigan. (2025)
Faith Barter, associate professor (19th-century African American literature). AB, 2001, Dartmouth College; JD, 2007, American; MA, 2012, PhD, 2016, Vanderbilt. (2018)
Martha J. Bayless, professor (medieval literature). BA, 1980, Bryn Mawr; MA, 1984, PhD, 1990, Cambridge. (1989)
Carolyn Bergquist, teaching professor (Renaissance literature; rhetoric and composition). BA, 1994, California State, Stanislaus; MA, 1996, PhD, 2003, Oregon. (2003)
Elizabeth A. Bohls, professor (18th-century literature), associate department head. BA, 1979, Mount Holyoke College; PhD, 1989, Stanford. (1998)
Lara Bovilsky, associate professor (Renaissance literature and culture; graduate professionalism). BA, 1995, Brown; MA, 1998, PhD, 2001, Duke. (2008)
Kirby Brown, associate professor (Native and ethnic American literatures). BA, 1997, Texas, Austin; MA, 2005, Texas, San Antonio. (2011)
Kristy Bryant-Berg, associate teaching professor (composition); associate director, composition. BA, 2002, Colorado, Boulder; MA, 2004, Oregon; PhD, 2009, Oregon. (2014)
Mattie Burkert, associate professor (digital humanities). BA 2009, New York, NY; MA 2011, Wisconsin, Madison; PhD, 2016, Wisconsin, Madison. (2020)
Anna Carroll, associate teaching professor (composition). BA, 2007, MA, 2010, West Florida; PhD, 2015, Oregon. (2018)
Mai-lin Cheng, associate professor (19th-century literary studies). BA, 1993, Brown; PhD, 2006, University of California, Berkeley (2008)
Ulrick Casimir, instructor (composition). BA, 1995, North Carolina State; MFA, 2000, North Carolina; MA, 2005, PhD, 2008, Oregon. (2018)
Stephanie Clark, associate professor (medieval literature). BA, 2002, Texas, Dallas; MA, 2004, PhD, 2011, Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. (2011)
José Cortez, assistant professor (rhetoric and composition). BA, 2009, MA, 2011, Eastern Washington; PhD, 2017, Arizona. (2018)
Brent Dawson, associate professor (Renaissance/Early Modern Literary Studies). BA, 2007, Washington University. St. Louis; PhD, 2014, Emory (2017)
Rachel Eccleston, associate teaching professor (composition). BA, 2007, Texas, Austin; PhD, 2017, Oregon. (2018)
Sophie Ell, assistant teaching professor (composition). BA, 2004, California, Berkeley; MA, 2007
Cassandra Galentine, assistant teaching professor (composition). BA, 2013, San Diego; MA 2016, Northern Arizona; PhD, 2023, Oregon. (2023)
Miriam Gershow, teaching professor (composition); associate director, composition. BS, 1992, Michigan, Ann Arbor; MFA, 2002, Oregon. (2004)
Molly Hatay, assistant teaching professor (composition). BA, 2010, San Diego State; MA, 2014; PhD, 2023, Oregon. (2023)
Salome Herrera, assistant professor (English, Performance, Latinx). BA, 2018, Cornell; PhD, 2024, California, Los Angeles. (2024)
Helen Huang, associate teaching professor (composition). BA, 2002, National Chengchi; MA, 2007, National Taiwan; PhD, 2018, Oregon. (2018)
Stephanie Jones, assistant professor (Afrofuturist Feminisms, Black Feminist Rhetorical Studies, Digital Humanities). PhD, 2022, Syracuse. (2024)
Junha Jung, assistant teaching professor (composition). BA, 2014, Sogang; MA, 2017, Sogang; PhD 2024, Oregon. (2024)
Heidi N. Kaufman, Sherl K. Coleman and Margaret E. Guitteau Teaching Professor in the Humanities; associate professor (19th-century British literature). BA, 1991, Drew; MA, 1994, Boston; PhD, 2011, New Hampshire. (2013)
Katherine Kelp-Stebbins, associate professor (comic studies). BA, 2003, Wesleyan; MA, 2009, PhD, 2014, California, Santa Barbara. (2018)
Anna Kovalchuk, associate teaching professor (composition). BA, 2007, California, San Diego; PhD, 2017, Oregon. (2017)
Samuel Lasman, assistant professor. (Medieval Literature, Celtic Studies, Iranian Studies, Animal & Nonhuman Studies, Monster Studies, Ecocriticism, Folklore & Mythology, Epic & Romance, Modern Medievalism, Contemporary Fantasy) BA, 2012, New Haven, CT; PhD, 2020 Universtiy of Chicago. (2025)
Stephanie LeMenager, (environmental literature). BA, 1991, Stanford; MA, 1994, PhD, 1999, Harvard. (2013)
Addison Koneval, assistant teaching professor (composition). BA, 2016, Whitworth; MA, 2018, Oregon State; PhD, 2023, Ohio State. (2023)
Quinn Miller, associate professor (film and media studies). BA, 2003, Chicago; MA, 2005, PhD, 2010, Northwestern. (2012)
Sarah Preston, assistant teaching professor (composition). BA, 2005, Las Vegas; MA, San Diego State, 2014; PhD, 2023, Oregon. (2023)
Forest Pyle, professor (romanticism, literary theory). BA, 1980, MA, 1983, PhD, 1988, Texas, Austin. (1988)
Mark Quigley, associate professor (Irish literature, 20th-century literature). BA, 1992, Stanford; MA, 1997, PhD, 2003, California, Los Angeles. (2006)
Indigo Recker, assistant teaching professor (composition). BA, 2013, Concordia; MA Carnegie Mellon, 2017; PhD, 2023, Duquesne University. (2023)
Stephen Rust, teaching professor (composition), interim WSCR director. BS, 1999, Idaho State; MA, 2006, Oregon State; PhD, 2011, Oregon. (2015)
Benjamin D. Saunders, professor (Renaissance literature, comics studies). BA, 1991, East Anglia; MPhil, 1992, Cambridge; PhD, 2000, Duke. (2000)
Gordon M. Sayre, professor (early American literature, 18th-century literature, folklore), director of undergraduate studies. BA, 1988, Brown; PhD, 1993, State University of New York, Buffalo. (1993)
Rebecca Schuman, assistant teaching professor (composition). BA, 1998, Vassar; MFA, 2002, The New School; MA, 2005, New York University; PhD 2010, California, Irvine (2024)
Emily Simnitt, teaching professor (composition). BA, 1995, Brigham Young; MA, 2005, Idaho State. (2015)
Bjorn Smars, associate teaching professor (composition), assistant department head. BA, 2012. Walla Walla University; MA, 2014, Oregon. (2014)
Bennet Smith, assistant teaching professor (composition). BA, 2002, George Fox; MA, Boston, 2004; PhD, 2010, Oregon. (2022)
Helen Southworth, professor (modernism, digital humanities). BA, 1989 London; PhD, 1999, California, Los Angeles. (2001)
Thomas Tasker, teaching professor (academic reading and writing, curriculum development). MA, 1992, Illinois, Chicago. (2013)
Courtney Thorsson, professor (African American literature, 19th- and 20th-century American literature, food studies). BA, 2000, Virginia; MA, 2004, MPhil, 2006, PhD, 2009, Columbia. (2009)
Avinnash Tiwari, associate teaching professor (composition). BA, 2010, Pennsylvania; MA, 2013, Oregon. (2016)
Corbett Upton, associate teaching professor (Central American poetry); associate director, undergraduate studies. BA, 2001, Arizona State; MA, 2006, PhD, 2010, Oregon. (2010)
Angela Waddell, assistant teaching professor (composition). BA,1996, Cedarville University; MA, 2022, Oregon (2023)
Eleanor Wakefield, associate teaching professor (composition). BA, 2007, Gonzaga; MA, 2011, PhD, 2017, Oregon, 2017. (2018)
Mark Whalan, professor (modern and 20th-century literature); Robert D. and Eve D. Horn Chair in English and American Literature. BA, 1995, Warwick; MA, 1996, Durham; PhD, 2002, Exeter. (2011)
Jenée Wilde, associate teaching professor (composition). BA, 1994, Boise State; MFA, 2003, Goddard College; PhD, 2015, Oregon (2016)
Henry B. Wonham, professor (19th- and 20th-century American literature). BA, 1983, Princeton; PhD, 1991, Virginia. (1995)
Emeriti
William Cadbury, professor emeritus. BA, 1956, Harvard; MS, 1957, PhD, 1961, Wisconsin, Madison. (1961)
Suzanne Clark, professor emerita. BA, 1961, MA, 1965, Oregon; PhD, 1980, California, Irvine. (1990)
James R. Crosswhite, professor emeritus. BA, 1975, California, Santa Cruz; MA, 1979, PhD, 1987, California, San Diego. (1989)
Dianne M. Dugaw, professor emerita. BA, 1971, Portland; MA, 1976, PhD, 1982, California, Los Angeles. (1990)
James W. Earl, professor emeritus. BA, 1967, Bucknell; PhD, 1971, Cornell. (1987)
Marilyn Farwell, professor emerita. BA, 1963, MacMurray; MA, 1966, PhD, 1971, Illinois. (1971)
Karen J. Ford, professor emerita. BA, 1978, California State, Sacramento; MA, 1981, California, Davis; PhD, 1989, Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. (1992)
John T. Gage, professor emeritus. BA, 1969, MA, 1971, PhD, 1976, California, Berkeley. (1980)
Warren Ginsberg, professor emeritus, Philip H. Knight Professor. MA, 1971, State University of New York, Stony Brook; PhD, 1975, Yale. (2000)
Robert Grudin, professor emeritus. BA, 1960, Harvard; MA, 1963, PhD, 1969, California, Berkeley. (1971)
Ruth F. Jackson, senior instructor emerita. BA, 1929, MA, 1933, Oregon. (1955)
Kathleen Rowe Karlyn, professor emerita. BA, 1969, Connecticut; MLA, 1973, Johns Hopkins; PhD, 1992, Oregon. (1994)
Linda Kintz, professor emerita. BA, 1967, Texas Tech; MA, 1969, Southern Methodist; PhD, 1982, Oregon. (1988)
C.Anne Laskaya, associate professor. BA, 1976, Lawrence; BMus, Lawrence Conservatory of Music; MA, 1978, PhD, 1989, Rochester. (1983)
William Rockett, associate professor emeritus. BA, 1961, MA, 1963, Oklahoma; PhD, 1969, Wisconsin, Madison. (1966)
William Rossi, professor emeritus. BA, 1972, MA, 1979, Missouri; PhD, 1986, Minnesota. (1989)
George Rowe, professor emeritus; editor, Comparative Literature. BA, 1969, Brandeis; MA, 1971, PhD, 1973, Johns Hopkins. (1985)
Steven Shankman, professor emeritus. BA, 1969, Texas, Austin; BA, 1971, MA, 1976, Cambridge; PhD, 1977, Stanford. (1984)
Sharon R. Sherman, professor emerita. PhB, 1965, Wayne State; MA, 1971, California, Los Angeles; PhD, 1978, Indiana. (1976)
Richard L. Stein, professor emeritus. BA, 1965, Amherst; AM, 1966, PhD, 1970, California, Berkeley. (1976)
Richard C. Stevenson, professor emeritus. AB, 1961, AM, 1963, PhD, 1969, Harvard. (1968)
Nathaniel Teich, professor emeritus. BS, 1960, Carnegie-Mellon; MA, 1962, Columbia; PhD, 1970, California, Riverside. (1969)
Louise Westling, professor emerita. BA, 1964, Randolph-Macon Woman’s; MA, 1965, Iowa; PhD, 1974, Oregon. (1985)
Daniel N. Wojcik, professor. BA, 1978, California, Santa Barbara; MA, 1986, PhD, 1992, California, Los Angeles. (1991)
Mary E. Wood, professor. BA, 1978, Yale; MA, MFA, 1996, Vermont College. (2018)
The date in parentheses at the end of each entry is the first year on the University of Oregon faculty.
Participating
David A. Frank, honors college
Mat Johnson, creative writing
Sarah Wald, environmental studies
Undergraduate Programs
Major - Bachelor's Degree
Minors
- Comics and Cartoon Studies
- English
- Digital Humanities
- Disability Studies
- Writing, Public Speaking, and Critical Reasoning