English

Franklin College of Arts and Sciences

A.B.
Minor

Overview

The study of English involves learning about language, history, usage, and the shifting cultural contexts within the English-speaking world.  The English Department at the University of Georgia is a diverse scholarly community of over 40 faculty and 600 undergraduates who are committed to preserving, transmitting, and extending the rich cultural legacy of the English language.  At the core of this mission lies the complex skills of reading and writing which help to develop critical and creative thinking, articulate self-expression, and a broad knowledge of literature. 

Majors take a wide variety of courses; participate in the verbal worlds of other times and places; draw on a full range of linguistic tools, historical knowledge, and interpretive experience; and enhance appreciation for expressive possibility through a sophisticated and practical grasp of the central role that language plays in the preservation of human institutions. 

English is an excellent pre-professional major, whether the goal is to study law, medicine, or literature.  Graduates find careers in public relations, management positions, technical writing, publishing, business, teaching, and others that demand writing, interpretation, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

Study Abroad Options: Study Tour in Xalapa, Mexico; UGA Writers' Institute at Oxford; year-round study at Oxford University

Spotlight

Account Manager
Isabella McDevitt

Isabella serves as an Account Manager for TransPerfect in Atlanta, GA. In this role, she consults both current and prospective clients about language solutions, coordinates project pricing and deadlines, and fosters client relationships. Her English major roots serve her daily, helping her craft clear, succinct emails and prepare and lead persuasive client presentations. She maintains her passion for reading by joining her work book club and posting on her book/coffeestagram (@a.well_brewed.literary.life).

Press Secretary
Meredith Brasher

The English department at the University of Georgia provided a place for me to develop a faculty for critical analysis. Courses in Park Hall with Maggie Zurawski, LeAnne Howe, Roxanne Eberle, Barbara McCaskill and more were always rich and eye-opening.

In my current position as Press Secretary for Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock, I help to manage day to day press operations, working with Georgia’s incredible press corps and helping to communicate the Senator’s efforts to expand access to health care, protect voting rights and secure long-awaited COVID relief for our state. It is a blessing to work for a Senator who has an undying commitment to public service and to serving all the people of this state. As a pastor, he also understands the weight of words: their power and their vital importance in our march towards what King calls the beloved community. My affinity for words and for poetry was nurtured as an honors student in the English Department at UGA. I learned that poets are indispensable for, if nothing else, their ability to show us what our world can be. My entrance into politics was spurred by that very active hope that pushes so many poets to create. Without the professors and the hundreds of novels, essays, and poems read during my time at UGA, I can say, without a doubt, I would not be where I am today. Despite doubts about “where a degree in English can really take you,” the skills I learned as an English major continue to carry me through.