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Think and Do

Our faculty and students engage in wide-ranging research and scholarship that gives life a deeper, richer meaning. Our work enriches understanding, preserves cultures, fosters appreciation for that which forms us, shapes thought. 

Research and Engagement

In the Department of English, both research and scholarship help us process the past, make sense of our lives, and imagine other worlds. Our authors, poets and scholars help us better understand and appreciate our very humanity.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Hamlet, William Shakespeare

Our faculty and students augment their creativity and imagination with cutting-edge technologies. Whether through digital humanities, sociolinguistics, rhetoric, film studies or any of a range of explorations into the spoken or written word, we look for meaning, and in the process, we find purpose. 

Student Research

Students at all levels engage in meaningful research here. Undergraduates, master’s and doctoral students work alongside faculty mentors or pursue projects of their own. They participate – and win prizes – in the university’s research symposia for students. They travel to present their research at conferences across the state and nation. They contribute to books, and sometimes write their own. As a student of English, you will be challenged to hone your writing and communication skills, and encouraged to follow your passions through research and scholarship.

Publications

What the Dog Knows

Cat Warren, professor of journalism, teaches science writing, editing and reporting. In a completely different role, and working alongside the cadaver dog she trained, Warren also helps law enforcement officials search for missing and presumed-dead people.

In  What the Dog Knows (Touchstone Books, 2013), Warren combines science, history and memoir to explore the world of working dogs that sniff out bodies, bombs and drugs, even unmarked graves of Civil War soldiers.

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Fiction, nonfiction, memoir, poetry... our faculty are prolific writers. Here’s a short, short list of some of our faculty’s many, many books:


Hidden in the Text

English professor Tim Stinson is working with scientists to extract biological clues embedded in old books. Teaming up with bioarchaeologists, Stinson has collected structural proteins and DNA from the pages of medieval manuscripts. 

Community Engagement




Young and Teen Writers

Workshops for Young and Teen Writers

Sponsored by the English Department and held on NC State's campus, these summer workshops nurture the creative spirit and teach creative writing skills and techniques. 

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We share our love of the written and spoken word – of literature, film, poetry, of rhetoric and dialects – with the world around us.

Our annual statewide poetry and fiction contests are among the largest in the southeast. And there’s no cost to participate.

Each summer, we hold writing workshops for teens and for younger aspiring writers.

We organize film series and host an exciting list of public readings throughout the year.