Our department explores how readers and writers of all kinds interpret texts and express their understanding of human experience. All our courses emphasize intensive study of literature and writing as well as the links between literary studies and other arts and interdisciplinary programs. Our goal is to help students develop their powers of imagination and a creatively critical intelligence.

The department's award-winning faculty is known for its excellent teaching and published work, and professors often work together with students on projects and articles. They offer exciting and innovative courses that cover a broad variety of writers, genres, and texts—from Shakespeare's plays to television programs—and that range from practical considerations of craft to theoretical inquiries about interpretation.

Students can choose from four majors: English (literature), Writing, English-Secondary Education, and Writing-Secondary Education. Our graduates are successful writers, scholars, and teachers, and many have gone on to challenging careers in publishing, law, education, library science, business, and graphic design.

We also offer our students rich opportunities for travel and practical experience. The Department is home to five student-produced journals featuring student writing and two national journals, Modern Language Studies, the scholarly journal affiliated with the Northeast Modern Language Association, and The Susquehanna Review, a journal of undergraduate creative writing. Susquehanna University Press, which publishes scholarly books in the humanities and social sciences, is also located here. And every year the Writers Institute brings nationally known authors to campus in order to speak with our majors and work with student writers.