Fall 2025 Course Descriptions

100-Level English Courses

ENG 100 Intro to College Writing 5 cr

CRN: 40038 DAY/TIME: MWF 02:30-03:50pm Instructor: Rachel Sarkar

A writing course that offers practice in reading complex texts, writing with fluency and using the conventions of standard written English. Regularly scheduled conferences with instructor required. S/U grading.

CRN: 40227 DAY/TIME: MWF 08:30-09:50am Instructor: Michael Bell

A writing course that offers practice in reading complex texts, writing with fluency and using the conventions of standard written English. Regularly scheduled conferences with instructor required. S/U grading.

ENG 101 Writing Your Way Through WWU 5cr

View CRNs and DAY/TIMEs on Browse Classes in Web4U. 

Prerequisites Notes: May not be taken concurrently with ENG 100. GUR: ACOM.

A writing course designed to prepare students for college-level creative, critical, and reflective writing. Because writing looks and works differently in different contexts, this course teaches the rhetorical competencies that students need to write across multiple disciplines. The course introduces students both to the processes of building and analyzing ideas, and to ways of communicating those ideas in context-specific genres for targeted audiences. This course has the immediate goal of preparing students to succeed in their writing at Western, but it will also serve them personally and professionally. Students needing to satisfy Block A of the communications section of the General University Requirements, which ENG 101 does, are required to do so prior to completion of 45 credits. Students with a 4 or 5 AP score are encouraged to take this class so they can learn to adapt their test-taking skills to college coursework.

OVERRIDES / CAPACITY OVERRIDES ARE NEVER GRANTED FOR ENGLISH 101.

200-Level English Courses

ENG 201 WritinHumanit: Christianities 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101 or 4/5 AP English Language Exam.  

CRN: 40585 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00am - 1:50pm Instructor: Jeremy Cushman

Christianities  

Your English 201 course is dedicated to providing you with opportunities to challenge yourself as a thinker, reader, and composer within the ever-expanding methodologies of the humanities. Welcome! Learning to better read and write (or compose and make!) effectively and powerfully in differing contexts and with differing (digital) tools will benefit you regardless of the life you’re chasing after. Simply put, good writing, in whatever form it takes, can make lots happen.  

To get at some of the work that can happen in the humanities, we’ll explore, wonder, and think about a few of the wildly different ways Christianity has moved and morphed within different contexts. Specifically, we’ll look at ‘ancient Christianity,’ or the texts that eventually became Christian Scripture; we’ll also look at some of the arguments and practices that framed the Reformation; and we’ll look at two or three Christian traditions that have come about within the US. What that means is that, together, we’ll build projects about the relationship among Christianities from the frameworks of long-standing disciplines like History, Philosophy, Rhetoric, Classical Languages, Art, and so on.

No purchase of books required. 

ENG 202 Writing About Literature 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101. 

CRN: 40117 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00am - 1:50pm Instructor: Dennin Ellis

This writing-intensive course takes an approach of narrative theory – the study of stories, what they are, and what they’re good for – to help students develop the skills necessary to better understand and talk about the stories they encounter in their daily lives (both real and fictional). In particular, we will be taking a look at texts that aspire to be literary (in terms of complexity, use of literary devices, etc.) regardless of what medium they are; over the course of the quarter, we will be looking at a film, a graphic novel, a short prose novel, and more. Students will be encouraged to think about these texts not merely as ‘works of art’ that we’re assessing for educational purposes, but as carefully-crafted messages from authors to audiences meant to educate, persuade, make judgements about, explore ethical issues with, and consider how we interpret and act within the world around us. A series of shorter writing assignments and group/class discussions will culminate in a final essay in which students will choose their own literary text to analyze, break down and rebuild – in other words, coming up with a thesis that answers the question of ‘what is this story good for?’ and then extrapolating that answer through carefully considering both what lies within the text, as well as what contexts we need to view it through, whether social, political, cultural, ethical, etc.  

CRN: 40229 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00am - 1:50pm Instructor: TBD

A writing course designed to help students develop the skills of close reading and careful analysis of literary texts, with particular attention to how language, style, and form contribute to a text’s social or political claims. Introduces students to the challenge of situating themselves in relation to a literary text and the critical conversation about that text, and crafting multi-draft critical essays with a focused, arguable thesis supported by thoughtful sequence of claims and carefully selected textual evidence.

CRN: 40335 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00am - 11:50am Instructor: Dennin Ellis

This writing-intensive course takes an approach of narrative theory – the study of stories, what they are, and what they’re good for – to help students develop the skills necessary to better understand and talk about the stories they encounter in their daily lives (both real and fictional). In particular, we will be taking a look at texts that aspire to be literary (in terms of complexity, use of literary devices, etc.) regardless of what medium they are; over the course of the quarter, we will be looking at a film, a graphic novel, a short prose novel, and more. Students will be encouraged to think about these texts not merely as ‘works of art’ that we’re assessing for educational purposes, but as carefully-crafted messages from authors to audiences meant to educate, persuade, make judgements about, explore ethical issues with, and consider how we interpret and act within the world around us. A series of shorter writing assignments and group/class discussions will culminate in a final essay in which students will choose their own literary text to analyze, break down and rebuild – in other words, coming up with a thesis that answers the question of ‘what is this story good for?’ and then extrapolating that answer through carefully considering both what lies within the text, as well as what contexts we need to view it through, whether social, political, cultural, ethical, etc.  

CRN: 40584 DAY/TIME: MWF 11:30am - 12:50pm Instructor: Jennifer Forsythe

A writing course designed to help students develop the skills of close reading and careful analysis of literary texts, with particular attention to how language, style, and form contribute to a text’s social or political claims. Introduces students to the challenge of situating themselves in relation to a literary text and the critical conversation about that text, and crafting multi-draft critical essays with a focused, arguable thesis supported by thoughtful sequence of claims and carefully selected textual evidence.

CRN: 41090 DAY/TIME: MWF 1:00pm - 2:20pm Instructor: Simon McGuire

A writing course designed to help students develop the skills of close reading and careful analysis of literary texts, with particular attention to how language, style, and form contribute to a text’s social or political claims. Introduces students to the challenge of situating themselves in relation to a literary text and the critical conversation about that text, and crafting multi-draft critical essays with a focused, arguable thesis supported by thoughtful sequence of claims and carefully selected textual evidence.

CRN: 41313 DAY/TIME: TR 2:00pm - 3:50pm Instructor: Michael Bell

A writing course designed to help students develop the skills of close reading and careful analysis of literary texts, with particular attention to how language, style, and form contribute to a text’s social or political claims. Introduces students to the challenge of situating themselves in relation to a literary text and the critical conversation about that text, and crafting multi-draft critical essays with a focused, arguable thesis supported by thoughtful sequence of claims and carefully selected textual evidence.

CRN: 41545 DAY/TIME: TR 4:00pm - 5:50pm Instructor: Eddy Troy

A writing course designed to help students develop the skills of close reading and careful analysis of literary texts, with particular attention to how language, style, and form contribute to a text’s social or political claims. Introduces students to the challenge of situating themselves in relation to a literary text and the critical conversation about that text, and crafting multi-draft critical essays with a focused, arguable thesis supported by thoughtful sequence of claims and carefully selected textual evidence.

ENG 203 Wrtg for Public&Prof Audiences 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101  

CRN: 42028 DAY/TIME: TR 8:00am - 9:50am Instructor: Nicole Brown

English 203 is designed to provide you with instruction and practice in writing rhetorical documents tailored to specific professional and public audiences and contexts. Through the course you will be introduced to inspiring and relevant (timely) readings in the field of rhetoric, which will help you to understand how writers and readers put texts to use for learning things, making decisions, choosing actions, and accomplishing tasks. Class projects will guide you through a process of determining what matters enough to you to write about it. In other words, what expert information do you have or want to have so that you can share it with audiences so that they can understand it and use it. Effective audience-centered writing in professional and public contexts requires rhetorical knowledge that the course projects will practice, such as inquiry and research strategies, information architecture and design, and the knowledge of different technologies and genres for communicating information. You will leave the course with a good start to a writing portfolio that will be multi modal and audience centered around your personal interests and values.

ENG 214 Shakespeare 5 cr

CRN: 44166 DAY/TIME: MWF 10:00-11:20am Instructor: TBD

This course offers an in-depth analysis, interpretation, and discussion of selected plays by Shakespeare—histories, comedies, tragedies, and romances. As a Humanities GUR, students will explore how Shakespeare's plays reflect and shape human experience, values, and creativity. Drawing on critical, historical, and aesthetic approaches, the course situates Shakespeare within the broader traditions of Western thought, examining the ways his plays resonate with ethical questions, cultural identity, and artistic expression.

ENG 215 British Literature 5 cr*

*ENG 215 was cancelled as of 05/27/2025 after notifying all students registered for the course via email. ENG 215: British Literature was replaced with ENG 214: Shakespeare. Please see ENG 214 course description for more information.  

ENG 234 African-American Literature: Black Horror 5 cr

CRN: 43692 DAY/TIME: MWF 8:30am - 9:50am Instructor: Tony Prichard

Black Horror
Using Toni Morrision’s 1987 novel Beloved as a point of departure this course will examine Black Horror and how it has developed in literature and culture over the past five decades.

Required Texts

• Compton, Johnny. The Spite House
• Due, Tananarive. The Between
• La Valle, Victor. Lone Women
• Morrison, Toni. Beloved
• Peele, Jordan Ed. Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror 

ENG 238 Society/Lit: (First Year Experience) 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: Restricted to incoming first-year students only. 

CRN: 40909 DAY/TIME: TR 8:00am - 9:50am Instructor: Elizabeth Colen

A thematic approach to literature, with different themes exploring the relationship between literary forms and society. Repeatable once as an elective with different topics. May be taken only once for GUR credit.

ENG 239 Latina/o Literatures 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites:  

CRN: 43693 DAY/TIME: TR 2:00pm - 3:50pm Instructor: Caitlin Roach-Orduña

This course satisfies the BCGM General University Requirement (GUR) at Western Washington University. The GURs provide students with foundational knowledge and opportunities to develop, integrate, and extend their core capacities in a range of skills:  

1. Communication and Interpretation
2. Social, Cultural, and Historical Awareness
3. Critical Thinking and Reflection  

In this class, you will practice these foundational skill sets by reading, interpreting, discussing, and writing about Latinx literature. The gender-neutral moniker “Latinx” (or Latine or Latin@) encompasses a wide range of Latinx national and cultural identities. This quarter, we will read works by Mexican, Mexican American, Argentine, Colombian, Cuban American, Ecuadorian, Puerto Rican, and Salvadoran authors, among others. We will discuss a range of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. In our discussions of the texts, we will explore matters of form, style, content, and historical, political, and social contexts. Writers we read may include: Daniel Chacón, Mariana Enriquez, Julio Cortázar, Carmen Maria Machado, Gabriel García Márquez, Javier Zamora, Wendy Trevino, Roque Salas Rivera, Paul Hlava Ceballos, and Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, among others.  

ENG 282 Global Literature: Art of Curiosity 5 cr

CRN: 41696 DAY/TIME: MWF 2:30pm - 3:50pm Instructor: Noam Dorr

Analysis, interpretation and discussion of a range of texts in global literatures with attention to cultural contexts. This course has been approved for study abroad.

300-Level English Courses

ENG 301 Wrtg&Public: Food & Culture 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101; ENG 203; or instructor permission. Restricted by major. Major restrictions will be lifted on Thursday, May 15 at 4:30pm. 

CRN: 40078 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00am - 11:50am Instructor: TBD

Focuses on the composition, delivery, and public circulation of texts, communication technologies, and practices in the personal, public, and/or academic spheres. Topics vary. 

Rhetoric of Pad Thai: Writing with Food and Culture
What can a plate of Pad Thai tell us about culture, identity, and the global appetite for meaning? In this course, food is more than something we eat—it’s something we read, write, and interpret. Using Pad Thai as our jumping-off point, we’ll dig into the stories behind recipes, unpack the politics of authenticity, and explore how dishes transform and speak across cultures. Blending food writing, cultural analysis, and rhetorical inquiry, students will explore how food shapes the way we see ourselves and others. Come hungry to write! This is a course where ideas simmer, meanings mix, and every bite matters.

ENG 302 Technical Writing 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101 or ENG 203; junior status or instructor permission. Restricted by major. Major restrictions will be lifted on Thursday, May 15 at 4:30pm. 

CRN: 40262 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00am - 1:50pm Instructor: Geri Forsberg

English 302, the English department’s introductory 300-level course in technical writing, is a 5-credit workshop that requires 15 hours of work per week. It strongly emphasizes the writer-reader relationship in various academic and non-academic writing scenarios. As a writing intensive course, it equips students with practical skills such as identifying an audience, developing objectives for their written documents, organizing the content of their documents, and revising documents for readability. Students will master the art of writing memos, resumes, letters, proposals, white papers, infographics, and visual presentations. They will also learn to work in small groups and collaborate on writing. The culmination of this course is a digital professional portfolio that showcases the writer’s technical writing skills, providing tangible evidence of their newly acquired abilities in technical writing, critical thinking, and collaboration.

CRN: 40315 DAY/TIME: TR 2:00pm - 3:50pm Instructor: Geri Forsberg

English 302, the English department’s introductory 300-level course in technical writing, is a 5-credit workshop that requires 15 hours of work per week. It strongly emphasizes the writer-reader relationship in various academic and non-academic writing scenarios. As a writing intensive course, it equips students with practical skills such as identifying an audience, developing objectives for their written documents, organizing the content of their documents, and revising documents for readability. Students will master the art of writing memos, resumes, letters, proposals, white papers, infographics, and visual presentations. They will also learn to work in small groups and collaborate on writing. The culmination of this course is a digital professional portfolio that showcases the writer’s technical writing skills, providing tangible evidence of their newly acquired abilities in technical writing, critical thinking, and collaboration.

CRN: 40326 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00am - 1:50pm Instructor: Melissa Guadrón

Solving Problems with Technical and Professional Communication

In this section of English 302, we will gain an understanding of technical writing as written, visual, and aural communication designed to solve problems. Along the way, we will examine how technical writing has the power to shape community knowledge and action—for better or worse—through its style, structure, and word choice. Additionally, we will take a hands-on approach to technical writing by immersing ourselves in processes of audience-centered design to identify and solve user experience (UX) issues with everyday tasks and technologies.  

Because, for many, this is an introductory course to technical and professional communication, my goal is for students to understand how to read and translate technical writing for themselves and others; how to write and design clear, concise, and accessible audience-centered content; how to engage with the rhetorical and ethical implications of the ways we use language to prompt specific actions and thoughts; and how to identify, diagnose, and propose creative solutions to technical problems. 

CRN: 40397 DAY/TIME: TR 8:00am - 950 Instructor: TBD

The course covers a variety of technical genres and focuses on the ethical and social implications of a technical writer’s choices. Students engage with rhetorical and technical practices to create meaningful communication that both advocates for change and helps others get things done.

CRN: 40426 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00am - 11:50am Instructor: Nicole Brown

This interdisciplinary course puts knowledge into action by communicating technical and disciplinary knowledge in accessible ways to a range of audiences. The course engages with an exciting rhetorical praxis that in addition to accessible design and writing strategies considers the influence of globalization and localization on information and information technologies. Paying attention to the behaviors of readers/users in relationship to cultural, social, economic, and ecological contexts, we reflect upon how we view authorship and our disciplinary responsibility towards the social construction of knowledge. A primary goal for the course is to construct a portfolio of rhetorically savvy and accessibly designed documents for use with public audiences [most likely] outside the class: resumes, cover letters, memos, interpretive materials, instructional documents, usability testing reports, proposals, and other verbo-visual representations of information. Similar to most professional and technical writing contexts, these projects require you to work individually (as well as collaboratively) to conduct out of class observations and research and to practice/learn new knowledge concepts and computer applications. This course should provide you with good professional writing samples related to your disciplinary and/or social interests. 

ENG 307 Seminar: Medieval 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202. Restricted to Literature and Teaching Endorsement majors. Opens to Creative Writing and Film Studies majors by May 19th at 10am. All major restrictions are lifted on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am. 

CRN: 41058 DAY/TIME: MWF 11:30am - 12:50pm Instructor: Amy Raduege

The Middle Ages spanned 1000 years of some of the most dynamic and fascinating growth in world history.  In this iteration of the class, we focus on the literature and culture of England, but this tiny island offers us a microcosm of the  medieval period at large.  We wrestle with ideas of kingship and heroism with Beowulf, watch the rise and fall of nations with Gildas and Bede,  struggle with the purpose of life with the Wanderer and the Seafarer, and laugh at the double meanings of riddles.  We’ll also experience tangible aspects of the period in the form of physical artifacts:  you’ll get to touch a real medieval manuscript and even make your own masterpiece.  The wonders of the medieval world await. 

ENG 308 Seminar: Early Modern 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202. Restricted to Literature and Teaching Endorsement majors. Opens to Creative Writing and Film Studies majors by May 19th at 10am. All major restrictions are lifted on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am. 

CRN: 43694 DAY/TIME: MWF 8:30am - 9:50am Instructor: Jennifer Forsythe

A research and writing intensive course in the context of the literary history of the Early Modern period. Students will develop the skills to research and write about literary texts and participate in the critical conversations about them. (Only one of ENG 308 and ENG 318 may be taken for credit in English majors and minors.)

ENG 309 Seminar: The Long 18th Century 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202. Restricted to Literature and Teaching Endorsement majors. Opens to Creative Writing and Film Studies majors by May 19th at 10am. All major restrictions are lifted on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am. 

CRN: 41059 DAY/TIME: TR 8:00am - 9:50am Instructor: Laura Laffrado

CONTENT: This courses focuses on the time period that scholars have recently named the long eighteenth century—that is, the era that extends from the late seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century. These are such dynamic years in the literature of what becomes the United States. We will read literary works by people of various races, ethnicities, religions, and economic positions that explore vital issues of the day such as liberty, literacy, revolution, and science. We will examine the various ways in which a dominant rich male Whiteness is challenged as America and American identities are formed and defined.  

ASSIGNMENTS: In this course you will write both extensively and intensively, producing multiple drafts of papers, revisions, and finished essays. We will devote class time for instruction and practice in disciplinary research methods and writing strategies. Students will write short responses to the reading, shorter essays, and one twelve-page critical research paper that engages with current scholarship on an eighteenth-century text or texts assigned for class. Much reading, writing, and thinking will be asked of you, along with steady attendance, a participation grade, group work, and various out-of-class assignments.

TEXT: The Broadview Anthology of American Literature, volume one.

ENG 310 Seminar: The Long 19th Century 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202. Restricted to Literature and Teaching Endorsement majors. Opens to Creative Writing and Film Studies majors by May 19th at 10am. All major restrictions are lifted on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am. 

CRN: 41060 DAY/TIME: MWF 10:00am - 11:20am Instructor: Jeanne Yeasting

MONSTROUS SUBLIME:  Bracketed by two political upheavals – the French Revolution and World War I – the long 19th century was a period of revolution and radical reform aesthetically, politically, sexually, and culturally.  This was an era of great anxiety, catalyzed in part by the rise of the British empire, and the onslaught of new technologies and scientific advancements.  These fears were often expressed in literature through a mixture of the Gothic and the Romantic sublime – what could be called the monstrous sublime.  

We'll interrogate the Gothic’s enduring popularity, and explore the ways our authors use and challenge the monstrous sublime.  We’ll delve into some of our texts’ varied and complex relationships to historical contexts and cultural constructs of domesticity, science, religion, gender, race, and labor.  

Heavy reading! This is a reading and writing intensive course. Through lots of reading, thinking, discussing, and writing, we’ll strive to gain a deeper appreciation of the literature of the long 19th century.

EVALUATION:  Based primarily on active and attentive class participation, and fulfillment of assignments, including a collaborative group presentation, quizzes, weekly reading engagement work, and a final project with multiple drafts.

REQUIRED TEXTS:  

• Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
• Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
• Bram Stoker, Dracula    
• Selected texts on Canvas 

ENG 311 Seminar: The 20-21st Century 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202. Restricted to Literature and Teaching Endorsement majors. Opens to Creative Writing and Film Studies majors by May 19th at 10am. All major restrictions are lifted on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am. 

CRN: 41061 DAY/TIME: TR 2:00pm - 3:50pm Instructor: Dawn Dietrich

Cybernetic Fiction: Narrative and Materiality in Post-Print Culture

This seminar will explore one of the most important developments in contemporary literary study: the convergence of 20th-21st century post-print materiality within a digital envrionment. Basically, we’ll be looking at the ways in which literary artifacts have enlarged and redefined their territory of representation and range of technique and play, while maintaining their viability within a digital ecology. Specifically, we’ll be analyzing the relationship between experimental print texts and digital media, including canonical novels of high modernism and postmodernism, artists’ books, electronic literature, word-image texts, and interactive games. We’ll also be engaging in a new form of literary discourse--media-specific analysis--which attends to the specificity of form as well as to citations and imitations of one medium in another. As defined by N. Katherine Hayles, “media-specific analysis moves from the language of text to a more precise vocabulary of screen and page, digital program and analogue interface, code and ink, mutable image and durable mark, computer and book. Media-specific analysis insists that texts must always be embodied to exist in the world. The materiality of those embodiments interacts dynamically with linguistic, rhetorical, and literary practices to create the effects we call literature.”

Assignments

This seminar is focused on close reading and critical analysis of both print and digital texts. Students will have the opportunity to respond to texts critically and creatively and to employ experimental or hybrid approaches to textuality, inscription processes, and book/media form and format. Course work will include reading/viewing/playing a wide range of literary texts, including experimental fiction, poetry, video, artists’ books, and new media; participating in class discussions and small group work; and producing three multimodal blogs and a technotext project. In addition to learning how to read closely and write about texts analytically in this seminar, you will learn how to do media-specific analysis, a type of analysis required by today’s multimodal environment and expanding forms of literacy. Though course content will focus primarily on literary and graphic production, the class will prepare you to write critically about many different kinds of textual/rhetorical situations and will translate well to writing assignments you may encounter in other college-level courses (and beyond.) Both creative writers and literature students should find this course useful to their work.

Required Print Texts

• Reading Matters: Narrative in the New Media Ecology, eds. Joseph Tabbi and Michael Wutz (print or Canvas PDFs)
• If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, Italo Calvino
• Sleeping with the Dictionary, Harryette Mullen
• House of Leaves: The Remastered Full-Color Edition, Mark Danielewski
• Writing Machines, N. Katherine Hayles (print or Canvas PDF)

Artists’ Books and New Media

• Full-Metal Indigiqueer, Joshua Whitehead
• The Xenotext, Book 1, Christian Bök
• Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry, Leanne Shapton
• A Void, Georges Perec
• Crystallography, Christian Bök
• Eunoia, Christian Bök
• Citizen, Claudia Rankine
• Electronic Literature Collection, vols. 1, 2, and 3, co-edited by N. Katherine Hayles, Stephanie Strickland, Nick Montfort, Scott Rettberg (online)
• My Body: A Wunderkammer, Shelley Jackson (online)
• Life is Strange, Square Enix (Feral Interactive)
• What Remains of Edith Finch, Giant Sparrow (Annapurna Interactive)

ENG 313 Critical Theories & Prac I 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40079 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00am - 11:50am Instructor: Christopher Wise

ENG 313 is an introduction to critical theory and practices from Antiquity to the Modern Era. Regular attendance is required. Students will also regularly perform in-class writing assignments, including in-class midterms and finals. Cellphone and laptop usage are not permitted. There will also be group work and formal writing assignments on the assigned material. All class writing will be hand-written except for the final paper, which will be typed and submitted as a hard copy. Philosophers and theorists studied will include Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Descartes, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Foucault, Derrida, Kristeva, Cixous, and others.  

ENG 314 Critical Theories & Prac II 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 41848 DAY/TIME: MWF 11:30am - 12:50pm Instructor: Greg Youmans

This course is an introduction to literary theory. Together we will explore many of the field-defining movements of the last century and a half, including semiotics and structuralism, psychoanalysis, Marxist critical theory, poststructuralism, and key interventions and alternative directions offered by feminist, queer, trans, critical-race, critical-disability, and postcolonial theory. While most of what we read will focus on literature, much of it will also apply to culture more broadly and to other artistic mediums such as film and video games.

Required Texts

The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (3rd edition), Leitch, Cain, Finke, et al. 

ENG 320 Survey: The Long 19th C. 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 41707 DAY/TIME: TR 2:00pm - 3:50pm Instructor: TBD

Analysis, interpretation and discussion of texts in English or in translation from the long nineteenth century with an attention to literary history. (Only one of ENG 310 and ENG 320 may be taken for credit in English majors and minors.)

ENG 334 Texts Across N. Am and Eur 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101 or equivalent.  

CRN: 41317 DAY/TIME: MWF 11:30am - 12:50pm Instructor: Simon McGuire

Analysis primarily of North American and European texts with engagement in issues of multiculturalism and cultural diversity. Repeatable once as an elective with different topics. May be taken only once for GUR credit.

ENG 338 Women's Lit N Am and Europe 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101  

CRN: 40316 DAY/TIME: MWF 1:00pm - 2:20pm Instructor: Jeanne Yeasting

CONTENT:  This English literature course will focus on a selection of coming-of-age texts by 19th-21st century women authors.  We’ll investigate some of the complex issues underlying their writing, such as romantic idealization, gender ideals, and class inequality.  We’ll consider some of the ways their texts challenge, resist, talk back to and/or support cultures.  And we’ll examine some of the ways women writers are inspired by, revise, and respond to other writers.  This is not a lecture-based course: class will be a mixture of discussion of assigned readings and short presentations.

ASSIGNMENTS: Heavy reading! Other requirements include quizzes, collaborative group presentation projects, close reading/literary analysis, literary research, and weekly reading engagement responses.  

EVALUATION: Based primarily on active, attentive class participation and fulfillment of assignments, including a multi-media Final Project.

TEXTS: Students are expected to buy the paperbacks listed below. Assignments will be based on page numbers in these editions.

1. Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey. Norton Critical edition, edited by Susan Fraiman.  W.W. Norton & Company.  2004 edition. ISBN: ‎ 978-0393978506
2. Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt, or Carol.  Authorized W. W. Norton (reprint edition 2004) paperback: ISBN 978-0393325997
3. Tanya Taraq, Split Tooth.  2019.  Penguin Canada.  2019. paperback ISBN 978-0143198055
4. Selected texts on Canvas; must be brought to class for discussion 

ENG 344 FilmN.Am&Europe: 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101  

CRN: 43248 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00am - 11:50am Instructor: Felicia Cosey

FILM VIEWING: T 4:00pm - 6:50pm 

Exploring Post-Apocalyptic Film

In this course, we will look at filmic depictions of humanity after the apocalypse.  We will explore why audiences are so fascinated with the end of the world—and what these stories say about us today.  

Through films like Children of Men, The Road, and 28 Days Later, we will tackle questions like: Why is the child often seen as humanity’s hope in these films? Why are post-apocalyptic stories surging in popularity right now? What do these narratives reveal about our fears around climate change, pandemics, and political instability?  We will also look at how these movies reflect issues of gender and power: Why are so many of these stories led by father figures? Could these films imagine a future that challenges patriarchal systems? Together, we will examine why these stories often depend on old structures and what alternative visions might look like.

Expect plenty of discussions, short assignments, quizzes, and no textbook—just readings provided on Canvas that will help you understand the deeper meaning behind the explosions and chaos. You don’t have to be a film expert to join in.  Just bring your curiosity about the stories we tell when the end is very freaking nigh.

Content Note: Some films screened may contain mature themes or graphic content.  

ENG 347 Studies in Young Adult Lit 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202 or instructor permission. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40432 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00am - 11:50am Instructor: Sean Golden

Studies in Young Adult Literature will be about journeys. The lives of young adults are often framed as journeys. They go through incredible pivotal moments at such young ages because childhood is a fleeting temporality that happens so quickly! Each week (or two) we will spend time examining how specific moments of a young person’s life are constructed through literature and media. We will look at each work in its cultural context, discussing how such issues as race, gender, sexuality, class, religion, science, technology, and popular culture influence the production of the text. These texts frequently address issues that are controversial. In taking this course, you do not have to adopt any particular way of thinking. However, you do need to listen and respond to others’ ideas with sensitivity and respect. 

ENG 350 Intro to Creative Writing 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40118 DAY/TIME: MWF 11:30am - 12:50pm Instructor: Kami Westhoff

This course is designed to introduce you to the elements of writing poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. We will read established authors from various backgrounds and cultures and study the ways in which they make their writing work through unique use of elements including setting, description, figurative language, character development, and experimentation. While reading and studying these authors, you will begin your own journey into exploring these genres with the help of various writing exercises and assignments, peer workshop, and revision. 

CRN: 40639 DAY/TIME: TR 8:00am - 9:50am Instructor: Caitlin Roach-Orduña

Examines the fundamentals of at least two genres, such as fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, or poetry. The course will include both lectures, focused on model texts, and workshop-style discussions, focused on student work. This course has been approved for study abroad.

CRN: 41850 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00am - 11:50am Instructor: Cori Winrock

The Observatory  

‘The task of the right eye is to peer into the telescope, while the left eye peers into the microscope.’ –Leonora Carrington  

This Introduction to Creative Writing course will be an observatory in which we attempt to understand what it means to be readers and writers in this strange moment in time. You will learn to peer through the microscope to look at the nitty gritty of how pieces in different genres are crafted. And peer through the telescope to look out at the wider skies of yourselves and the world around you in relation to writing. Can we imagine a different way of reading and writing the current world? Across the span of the quarter, you will study specimens of craft while witnessing and conversing with your classmates about your findings. You will consider what it means to read actively as writers, with intention toward discovery and curiosity and acceptable bewilderment—to admire the paintbrush hairs left in the painting, the traces of process. You will learn to read as thieves—to borrow and try out and try on different styles and elements. And lastly, to read with an eye toward the playful and what might be enjoyable precisely because it doesn’t make “sense.” You will, of course, also write and write and write—cataloging all this beauty and difficulty and constraint through notebooks & poems, essays & stories, & hybrid forms.  

CRN: 41851 DAY/TIME: MWF 1:00pm - 2:20pm Instructor: José Roach-Orduña

We've All Got Stories to Tell

In this course we will explore what it means to make art with language. To do this, we will read and discuss a wide range of poetry and prose. We will discuss the impetus behind writing creatively, look at its mechanics, and move through a sequence of creative writing exercises that will culminate in the creation of a portfolio of work. Evaluation in this course will be based on participation in discussion, a presentation of a published creative work, and the completion of our creative writing exercises. 

ENG 351 Intro to Fiction Writing 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 350. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40415 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00am - 11:50am Instructor: Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi

As a community of writers, we will strengthen our competencies through reading, writing, discussing and reflecting. You will be tasked with developing fictional worlds, characters and predicaments. We will have conversations about the fundamental elements of fiction (e.g. tense, pov, dialog, voice, conflict), as we examine a diverse body of published works and the early drafts (stories) written by you and your peers. Expect this to be an exciting and challenging course. We hope you will develop new ways of thinking, working, writing and communicating. We hope you will take risks. Count on being brave, respectful, and a hard worker.  

We will examine a diverse body of published work across genre boundaries. I attempt to keep course costs as low as possible, but I require access to a few critical materials:  

• Wonderbook ($14) by Jeff VanderMeer
• An electronic device (e.g. smartphone) that will allow you to access podcasts 

CRN: 40464 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00am - 1:50pm Instructor: Kathryn Trueblood

This class will be about creation and craft, about opening the floodgates of the subconscious as well as learning the tough task of self-editing. We will pay close to attention to both the process and the craft of writing. The course will include many exercises in automatic writing so that you can try your hand at techniques and take risks with subject matter in a low-stakes environment.  These in-class exercises will also serve as a reminder that a workshop at its best provides a safe forum in which all are entitled to experiment and receive thoughtful responses to their work. This course will build a set of skills sequentially that cover point of view and introduce students to the protocol of good workshop critique. We will also consider the vital role that writers play as observers of their times.  

Texts:

• 100 Years of the Best Short Stories, edited by Lorrie Moore
• Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, edited by Renni Brown and Dave King 

ENG 353 Introduction to Poetry Writing 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 350. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40080 DAY/TIME: TR 2:00pm - 3:50pm Instructor: Nancy Pagh

“Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought,” Audre Lorde teaches us; “it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change.”

In this class we immerse ourselves in reading and writing poems and in the practice of keeping an observational journal.  Exploring different measures of that “skeleton architecture,” we focus on honing our ability to notice, and we study and listen to poems from a diverse range of writers—including our peers—paying attention to how words and the poem-shapes they inhabit can matter and compel change.  We explore contexts for writing (how to practice, how to revise, how to understand craft, how to participate in or push against tradition and form, how to find community) as we generate material and shape it into poems.

This section of 353 primarily makes use of The Poetry Foundation and other sites for assigned reading materials. 

ENG 354 Intro to Creative Nonfict Writ 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 350. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40081 DAY/TIME: MWF 1:00pm - 2:20pm Instructor: Lee Gulyas

Required Materials

Miller & Paola, Tell It Slant, Third Edition (only this edition will work), all other readings provided Canvas & Internet access, and ability to print out hard copies of your work

Paper or notebook. and pen or pencil for in-class writing

Course Description

This is a beginning level creative writing class that combines a creative component and the study of literature. We will explore a broad spectrum of content and form, as we strive to translate personal experience, perspective, and research into effective work. Students will submit drafts, provide feedback, and practice discussions in critical exploration of readings. Coursework will include in-class writing exercises, reading responses, writing assignments, and extensive revision. Since this is a five-credit course, the university expects fifteen hours of work per week: five hours in class and ten hours on your own. 

ENG 364 Introduction to Film Studies 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101. 

CRN: 40258 DAY/TIME: MWF 10:00am - 11:20am Instructor: Eren Odabasi

FILM VIEWING: M 4:00pm - 6:50pm 

This course is designed to provide an introduction to the key components of film expression such as cinematography, sound, editing, and production design. We will closely analyze several canonical films from around the world, utilizing the fundamental concepts and definitions covered in the course units. Furthermore, we will explore cinema’s relationship to other arts and various media forms. There will also be a video production project that will further enrich our understanding of how films are put together.  

More specific course objectives:

• Enrich your ability to look and listen closely to motion pictures
• Understand and apply a range of critical and cultural theories to the study of cinema
• Explore a range of film genres, national cinemas, historical periods, and auteurs, with an emphasis on expanding the frame from Hollywood to a more diverse world cinema
• Engage with local film cultures and other communities rooted in cinephilia

Textbook:

David Bordwell, Kristin Thompson, Jeff Smith. Film Art: An Introduction, 13th edition. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education, 2024.

You are welcome to use an older edition, a used copy, or the e-book version. 

CRN: 41699 DAY/TIME: MWF 8:30am - 9:50am Instructor: Jamie Rogers

FILM VIEWING: W 5:00pm - 7:50pm

This course is an introduction to the rich world of the cinematic arts. We will begin with the presumption that film is both an art form and a commodity industry, and that in both cases, it functions to shape cultural and political worlds (whether deliberately or not). We will practice techniques of film analysis through the study of filmmaking strategies, including editing, sound, mise-en-scène, cinematography, color and lighting, etc. We will also consider the role of distribution, industry norms, and reception. We will place particular emphasis on considerations of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, ability, and national identity within film analysis and the film industry.  

Course work will include a variety of formal and informal writing assignments, exams, and the option of a creative project.  

The required textbook is The Film Experience: An Introduction by Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2021.  

ENG 371 Rhetorical Theory 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 101, ENG 201, or ENG 203; junior status or instructor permission. Restricted by major. Major restrictions will be lifted on Thursday, May 15 at 4:30pm. 

CRN: 42535 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00am - 11:50am Instructor: Jeremy Cushman

Together, we're going to practice and reflect on the rhetorical ideas, competencies, and practices that permeate 21st-century knowledge work and advocacy. We are going to engage in the long, long development of Western rhetorical theory, allowing us to better articulate the strange and complex ways persuasion emerges and functions, sometimes beyond our own intentions. Such engagement, I hope, will help you better approach the ways persuasion and advocacy emerge in the worlds in which you act. I also hope the class pushes you to invent powerful and personal responses to that rather tired question about what a degree, or even a single class, in the Humanities is good for.

No purchase of books required 

400-level English Courses

ENG 403 Film and Media Theory 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 364 or instructor permission.  

CRN: 43695 DAY/TIME: MWF 10:00am - 11:20am Instructor: Greg Youmans

FILM VIEWING: M 4:00pm - 6:50pm 

This seminar is designed to introduce the foundational texts and ideas of film and media theory as an introduction to more advanced work in the field. We will explore together how scholars have thought about medium specificity (for instance, the differences between celluloid and digital media); spectatorship; the psychic dimensions of film viewing; representations of race, gender, and sexuality; various film and TV genres; global cinema; fan cultures; animation; the internet and social media; video games; and digital convergence. During a weekly screening session, we will watch films and other media texts that illustrate or elucidate the theories. In addition to short written engagements with the readings, students will work toward a final paper that applies one or more of the theories to a film, TV show, video game, or other media text of their choosing. 

ENG 410 Lit History 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202; plus three from: ENG 307, ENG 308, ENG 309, ENG 310, ENG 311, ENG 313, ENG 314, ENG 317, ENG 318, ENG 319, ENG 320, ENG 321, ENG 331, ENG 333, ENG 334, ENG 335, ENG 336, ENG 338, ENG 339, ENG 341, ENG 342, ENG 343, ENG 347, ENG 364, ENG 371. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 42302 DAY/TIME: TR 4:00pm - 5:50pm Instructor: TBD

A wide variety of studies in literary history. Repeatable once as an elective with different topics.

ENG 418 Senior Seminar 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: Restricted to Literature and Teaching Endorsement majors. Senior status only; opens to juniors on Monday, May 19th at 10am. ENG 313 or ENG 314; and one course from: ENG 307, ENG 308, ENG 309, ENG 310 or ENG 311. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40359 DAY/TIME: MWF 1:00pm - 2:20pm Instructor: TBD

An advanced seminar offering an in-depth exploration of specialized topics. Requires students to develop scholarly projects integrating course material with their own literary, historical, and theoretical interests. This course is not repeatable.

CRN: 40360 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00am - 11:50am Instructor: Laura Laffrado

Ella Rhoads Higginson

Writing Proficiency  

CONTENT: This senior seminar looks at the writings of once celebrated but now long forgotten author Ella Rhoads Higginson, the first prominent literary writer from the Pacific Northwest and the first Poet Laureate of Washington State. Higginson was celebrated for her award-winning fiction, her lyric poetry which was set to music and performed internationally, and her prolific nonfiction. During the turn from the nineteenth century into the twentieth century, readers across the nation were introduced to the then-remote Pacific Northwest region by Higginson’s descriptions of majestic mountains, vast forests, and scenic waters, as well as the often difficult economic circumstances of those dwelling near Puget Sound. We will read her major works in the order she wrote them, pay attention to their interactions with the larger culture, watch her create characters who help define the Pacific Northwest, and ask why Higginson became so famous. We will consider issues of gender, race, region, and identity, among others.  

ASSIGNMENTS: This will be a small class devoted to reading and writing. Much reading and thinking will be asked of you, along with regular class participation, oral responses, and a fifteen-page seminar paper, due at the end of the term. As part of the seminar paper process, expect draft days and in-class writing. The class will meet a few times at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies which holds a large archive of Higginson’s papers.  

EVALUATION: Final grades will be based on the research paper, oral responses, class participation, and attendance.

TEXTS:  

• Selected Writings of Ella Higginson: Inventing Pacific Northwest Literature.
• Mariella, of Out-West (1902).
• Alaska, the Great Country (1908).  

We will also look at letters, essays, book reviews, and other fascinating Higginson material (original copies of magazines Higginson published in, postcards, sheet music, paper weights engraved with her poetry) to help us understand how to read Higginson and why it matters. 

ENG 423 Maj Authors 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 202; plus three from: ENG 307, ENG 308, ENG 309, ENG 310, ENG 311, ENG 313, ENG 314, ENG 317, ENG 318, ENG 319, ENG 320, ENG 321, ENG 331, ENG 333, ENG 334, ENG 335, ENG 336, ENG 338, ENG 339, ENG 341, ENG 342, ENG 343, ENG 347, ENG 364, ENG 371. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40361 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00am - 11:50am Instructor: Dawn Dietrich  

Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki

This course will introduce you to the radical creativity of the indie comix scene with the work of Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki. Focusing on the graphic narratives of these queer writers/artists, we will explore the intersectional young and new adult themes of identity, community, and agency. Through our four texts, we will attempt to articulate and understand the strange, the beautiful, the complex, and the interesting . . . in these graphic novels. The selected texts feature marginalized and under-represented characters and themes, including topics such as love and friendship (relationship building), gender identity, resiliency, depression, and loneliness/isolation. We will celebrate comix as a potentially queer space where openness, fluidity, and non-conformity represent textual strategies as well as characters’ identities. We will also study comix form, technique, and theory; and you will have the opportunity to write about comix as well as create your own comic panels. No artistic experience or illustrating talent is required for this assignment or this class! I also invite you to share your favorite comix or web comix throughout the quarter.

Assignments and Evaluation

You will have the opportunity to write three multimodal blogs analyzing the Tamakis’ graphic work. You will also have the chance to engage in Studio Comix workshops, where you will create your own panel experiments through drawing or using a comix generator. Students will receive full credit for doing the exercises, which are totally fun! No artistic experience or illustrating talent is required for this class.  

Required Texts

• Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud (PDF)
• Skim, Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki
• Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, Mariko Tamaki & Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
• Roaming, Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki
• Cold: A Novel, Mariko Tamaki
• This One Summer, Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki
• Making Comics, Lynda Barry (PDF)
• Selected comix criticism (PDFs) 

CRN: 41700 DAY/TIME: MWF 10:00am - 11:20am Instructor: Jamie Rogers

Dionne Brand

This course will focus on the revolutionary poet, novelist, filmmaker, essayist, and activist Dionne Brand. Born in Trinidad and Tabago in 1953, Brand came of age in Toronto where she wrote her first published poem: “Behold! The Revolutionary Dreamer.” Like her later work, this early poem evokes Black libratory thinking and encourages the inward-looking study of subject formation within a colonial regime. Always pushing at the boundaries of form, Brand’s work contends with what she calls a “tear in this world:” slavery and its afterlife, and their imbrication within histories of colonialism, capitalism, anti-Blackness, misogyny, and heteronormativity. In this class, we will read across the range of her work, from essays and films to novels and poetry, contextualizing it within the historical, political, and geographic spaces it addresses and putting it into dialogue with contemporary Black studies scholars such as Saidiya Hartman, Christina Sharpe, and Katherine McKittrick.  

Content Notification: The texts we will grapple with in this class often represent difficult material, ideas and histories, including slavery and incarceration; gender, sexual and racial violence; racism, misogyny and transphobia; suicide and self-harm. Please consider your well-being when choosing to enroll in this class.

CRN: 43696 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00am - 1:50pm Instructor: Christopher Wise

Hemingway

This course will focus on the writings of Ernest Hemingway and writers with whom he was associated, including Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Ezra Pound. Occasionally, students will work in small groups and give group oral reports. There will be significant assigned reading, in-class handwriting, a formal paper written in consultation with the professor, midterm and final in-class essay exams, also handwritten. Regular attendance and active participation are expected. Laptop, cell phones, or other electronic devices are not permitted.   

ENG 427 Queer Studies 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: One course from: ENG 227, ENG 313, ENG 314, ENG 351, ENG 353, ENG 354 or equivalent prerequisite coursework and instructor approval; and junior status. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 43697 DAY/TIME: TR 4:00pm - 5:50pm Instructor: Theresa Warburton

Analysis, interpretation and discussion of the representation of sexuality in a range of texts with an emphasis on same-sex desire and works by Queer writers.

ENG 441 Language and the Sec Classroom 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 301, ENG 302 or ENG 371; ENG 347; ENG 350, ENG 351, ENG 353 or ENG 354; two from: ENG 307, ENG 308, ENG 309, ENG 310, ENG 311, ENG 317, ENG 318, ENG 319, ENG 320 and ENG 321. Restricted by major. Major restrictions never lift. 

CRN: 41855 DAY/TIME: MWF 8:30am - 9:50am Instructor: Anthony Celaya

This course will explore language structure and use in the Secondary Language Arts classroom, including cultural and equity issues, dialect and discourse style bias, ESL learners, and the challenges of standard grammar and conventions. We’ll spend some time addressing linguistic fundamentals as a means of understanding language diversity. This methods course requires the same kind of individual initiative, dedication, and professionalism that you will apply to your future work as a teacher.

In this course, we will examine language in context. Therefore, students will be asked to write regularly practicing and applying what we learn in class within the context of writing. Additionally, students will be asked to critically engage with the language practices they experience and witness outside of class over the course of the quarter.  

ENG 443 Tch Eng Lang Arts in Sec Sch I 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 301, ENG 302 or ENG 371; ENG 347; ENG 350; ENG 441 or concurrent or MLE 444 or concurrent; and two courses from: ENG 307, ENG 308, ENG 309, ENG 310, ENG 311, ENG 317, ENG 318, ENG 319, ENG 320 and ENG 321. Restricted by major. Major restrictions never lift.

CRN: 40547 DAY/TIME: MWF 11:30am - 12:50pm Instructor: Anthony Celaya

In this course, we will engage with a variety of theory, research, methods, and resources for the teaching of writing within a secondary English language arts context. Together we will write in a variety of genres, including multimodal genres. We will collaborate and work together as we develop a teacher-writer practice to support our development as writers and skills as writing teachers. Additionally, throughout the course we will practice designing, delivering, and revising writing activities and assessments.

Students will:  

1. Write in a variety of genres.  
2. Read and discuss research, articles, and chapters on methods for teaching secondary composition.  
3. Access a variety of resources when planning and designing writing activities.
4. Design, deliver, and revise writing assignments and writing lessons.  
5. Develop an understanding of compositional strategies beyond scripted curricula and formalized modes.  
6. Discuss, collaborate, and interact with classmates and future colleagues.  

ENG 444 Tch Eng Lang Art in Sec Sch II 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 443.

CRN: 40259 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00am - 1:50pm Instructor: Sean Golden

This course is the second of a two-quarter sequence designed to help you become a thoughtful, knowledgeable, and effective teacher of English language arts at the secondary level. In 444 we emphasize the teaching of reading and literature with whole-class, small group, and individualized methods. This methods course requires the same kind of individual initiative, dedication, and professionalism that you will apply to your future work as a teacher.

ENG 451 Creative Wrtng Seminar:Fiction 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 351. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40319 DAY/TIME: TR 4:00pm - 5:50pm Instructor: Carol Guess

In this workshop, we will focus on writing flash fiction and fractured prose, with the aim of producing a chapbook by the end of the quarter.  

ENG 451 Creative Wrtng Seminar:Fiction 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 351. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40467 DAY/TIME: MWF 10:00am - 11:20am Instructor: Kami Westhoff

English 451 is designed to introduce you to the craft and culture of writing fiction as well as the complex world of critique and workshop. We will read established authors of various identities and study the ways they make their writing shine through unique use of voice, description, language, dialogue, character development, and experimentation. While reading and studying these authors, you will begin your own journey into short story fiction writing with the help of various writing exercises and assignments, revision, and most importantly, your imagination and individuality. 

ENG 453 Creative Wrtng Seminar: Poetry 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 353. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40284 DAY/TIME: TR 2:00pm - 3:50pm Instructor: Cori Winrock

Advanced Poetry: The Object

"Making a poem is making an object. I always thought of them more as drawings than as texts, but drawings that are also physically enterable through the fact of language. It was another way to think of a book, an object that is as visually real as it is textually real."  

—Anne Carson  

What does it mean to consider the poem as an object—something that is as visually real as it is textually real? As something you can hold or enter or encounter through language? How might we make a poem with the idea of its object-ness in mind? What happens when the material concerns of a poem create part of its process? For Emily Dickinson, the shape of an envelope shifted the poems she composed. For Nicole Sealey, the language of the Ferguson Report dictated possible word choice. Across the course of the quarter, we will explore the possibilities of the poem-as-object—considering material, form, and page-based constraints through writers such as Emily Dickinson, Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, Jenny Xie, Nicole Sealey, Alison Rollins, Erin Marie Lynch, and Alison Titus. We will frame this work through craft essays and the construction of your own poems.  

ENG 454 Creative Wrtg Sem: Nonfiction 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 354. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40320 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00am - 1:50pm Instructor: Nancy Pagh

Students in this advanced creative writing seminar and workshop explore the expressive power of memoir.  We begin the quarter by reviewing and sharing the expertise we bring—from the foundational 354 “introduction to creative nonfiction” course and from our own experiences as readers and writers of memoir—into the space of this workshop.  We move then toward discovering and writing four forms of personal essay: the epistolary essay, ekphrastic essay, object essay, and lyric memoir.  

Required Texts:

• Karl Ove Knausgaard, Autumn (978-0399563300)
• Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House: A Memoir (978-1644450383)
• Mary-Louise Parker, Dear Mr. You (978-1501107832)
• Lawrence Sutin, A Postcard Memoir (978-1555973049)
• Recommended:  Miller & Paola, Tell It Slant (3rd edition)

Paper, not digital, editions of books are required. 

ENG 456 Fiction Wrtg: 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 351. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 42304 DAY/TIME: MWF 1:00pm - 2:20pm Instructor: Elizabeth Colen

Intensive reading, writing and workshops in one or more specific modes of fiction, such as fantasy, flash fiction, or adapting fictional works to other media. Repeatable with different instructors to a maximum of 10 credits, including original course.

ENG 458 NonfictionWrtg: Visual Autobiography Essay 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 354. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40331 DAY/TIME: MWF 8:30am - 9:50am Instructor: José Roach-Orduña

Visual Autobiography/Essay

Autobiography and images can be friends or foes. In this class we will examine the ways autobiography and images stake claims in truth, life, and art. In many ways this is a hybrid course: it’s not a course in visual theory, but we’ll be reading some well-known theorists like Teju Cole, and Roland Barthes; it’s not a film class, but we’ll be watching and discussing films by Alan Berliner, Camille Billops and James Hatch, and Agnes Varda; it’s also not a graphic memoir class but we’ll be reading graphic memoirs by Alison Bechdel, and Marjane Satrapi. The goal of the class is to create a visual/verbal laboratory where theory and practice can come together to make art based on life. Our throughline will be how the visual can work in tandem with the written word to become an expression/examination of self and society.  

Most of all I want the class to be generative. We’ll be reading, viewing and discussing, but we’ll also be doing a lot of doing. We’ll use cameras, drawing, old postcards, photos, home movies, and other visual elements to say something about our lives. We will have many short exercises and one longer piece of visual autobiography due near the end of the term.   

ENG 459 Editing and Publishing 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 351, ENG 353 or ENG 354. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40465 DAY/TIME: MWF 11:30am - 12:50pm Instructor: Lee Gulyas

REQUIRED TEXT

The Business of Being a Writer, Jane Friedman, 2nd edition. The University of Chicago Press, 2025.

COURSE GOALS

This is a capstone course that offers an overview of publishing in the United States. Our explorations include: the history of publishing; the wide variety of publishing houses and presses; literary careers and the business of publishing; and the literary Northwest.

As upper-level writing students, you will:

• explore the world of publishing and its place in our culture.
• be introduced to skills including research, sources, copyediting, and proofreading, and be aware of the current literary conversation, discourses, and cultures of editing and publishing.
• consider writing from the perspective of writer, editor, and publisher within the context of the industry, and be familiar with the roles of each.
• understand how a book is made—from inception, to production, distribution, and promotion.
• be familiar with some of the ethical issues and current trends in publishing, the politics of book buying, and how to engage and flourish as a member of a larger literary community.
• actively work to increase your knowledge and skills and aim for professional standards.

ENG 460 Multi-Genre Writing 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 351, ENG 353 or ENG 354. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 40403 DAY/TIME: MWF 1:00pm - 2:20pm Instructor: Noam Dorr

Nothing is lost if one has the courage to proclaim that all is lost and we must begin anew. –Julio Cortázar

One challenge of taking ourselves seriously as writers is that we become so focused on perfecting our craft that we lose the wonder and risk-taking of being beginners. This course is all about beginning again—inviting playfulness and messiness back into our artistic practice. Through constraints offered by forms that live off the page, we will ask how our writing changes when we engage with physical movement, prioritize other sensory modes, and delve into material-making processes. Over the course of the quarter, we will borrow from the performing arts (music, dance, theater), visual arts, digital media and other practices to redraw our horizon and imagine our work into and out of unexpected containers. As we engage with open-ended play we will continuously ask how these experiments return us back to our writing and obsessions as altered artists.   

CRN: 41555 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00am - 11:50am Instructor: Caitlin Roach-Orduña

Intensive study of topics in creative writing that cross genre boundaries, or that critique those boundaries. Opportunities to compose experimental or hybrid works. This course has been approved for study abroad. Repeatable with different instructors to a maximum of 10 credits, including original course.

ENG 462 Professional Writing: Beyond White Collar 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: One course from ENG 301, ENG 302, ENG 371, or ENG 385; or equivalent experience and instructor approval. Restricted by major. Major restrictions will be lifted on Thursday, May 15 at 4:30pm. 

CRN: 43140 DAY/TIME: TR 8:00am - 950 Instructor: Melissa Guadrón

Professional Writing: Beyond White Collar 

“Professional writing” can feel like a really nebulous topic. This section of English 462 aims to give students a more concrete understanding of professional writing by focusing on the study and practice of workplace writing—that is, writing that happens on the job, for the job.  

Close your eyes and imagine where workplace writing occurs. If you imagined the standard white-collar office space, you’re not alone. Traditional notions of workplace writing center normative, class-based ideas of what it means to be “professional.” This course, by taking the stance that all work has dignity and all writing accomplishes work, troubles our tacit understanding of professionalism by examining writing within, and beyond, the typical white-collar office setting.  

Ultimately, students in this class will refine their professional writing skills by producing clear, concise, contextualized, and audience-centered writing while also investigating the question of: what is workplace writing to those who work beyond the cubicle—to those such as the mechanic, the cook, the environmentalist, and the emergency worker? 

ENG 464 Topics in Film: 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 364 or instructor permission.  

CRN: 40404 DAY/TIME: MWF 1:00pm - 2:20pm Instructor: Eren Odabasi

FILM VIEWING: W 5:00pm - 7:50pm

In an oversaturated media environment characterized by an endless flow of audiovisual content and instant dissemination through a great range of online platforms, film criticism can arguably play a bigger role than ever before. In recent years, digitization of the press, immediate social media reactions, and easily quantifiable forms of assessment have dramatically changed the practice of film criticism.  

This course offers both a historical/theoretical account of film criticism and an opportunity to practice criticism work in various formats. We will discuss social, cultural, and economic functions of film criticism through a series of applied case studies and writing assignments. From formative critical work in the 1950s (published in France, the UK, and the US) to the more recent trends of digital criticism and freelancing, we will trace the evolution of what being a film critic entails. We will focus on several types of film criticism (each written for a different target audience) including trade reviews, capsule reviews, analytical essays, festival coverage, and film journalism/reporting. Students will build a portfolio throughout the quarter by writing about many notable films and reflecting on their writing process.

Required book:

Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think About Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth By A. O. Scott, New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2016.

All other readings will be made available on Canvas. 

ENG 466 Screenwriting 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 364 or one from: ENG 350, ENG 351, ENG 353 or ENG 354. Restricted by major. Major restrictions lift on Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 42550 DAY/TIME: TR 2:00pm - 3:50pm Instructor: Felicia Cosey

FILM VIEWING: W 5:00pm - 7:50pm

In this course, students will learn the fundamentals of screenwriting, while developing their creative voice. The class provides an introduction to both feature-length and short film screenwriting techniques, equipping students with the skills to craft compelling visual narratives across different formats. Students will explore the essential elements of screenwriting, including character development, story structure, scene construction, and dialogue.

Through weekly readings, script analysis, and film screenings, students will examine how successful screenplays translate ideas into compelling visual narratives. We will study films ranging from classics like Chinatown to contemporary works such as Heretic and The Rider, analyzing how they effectively employ screenwriting principles.

Special attention will be given to the technical aspects of screenwriting, including proper formatting, visual language, and the creation of complex, multidimensional characters. Students will learn to craft stories with strong dramatic structure and compelling conflicts.

By the end of this course, students will develop a treatment and a polished three-scene sequence as their final project, demonstrating their understanding of screenwriting principles and their ability to construct a cohesive narrative segment. Workshop sessions throughout the quarter will provide opportunities for peer feedback and revision.

Required Text: Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field

Assignments: Course work will include character development exercises, structural analysis, scene writing, script outlining, and a final treatment and three-scene sequence project.

Content Note: Some films screened may contain mature themes or graphic content.  

Graduate-Level English Courses

ENG 501 Literary Theories & Practices 5 cr

CRN: 40002 DAY/TIME: TR 8:00am - 9:50am Instructor: Kathryn Vulić

Examination of theories as they affect the practice of literary criticism and scholarship. Some attention to methods of research and documentation in English studies. Practicum in critical writing.

ENG 506 Sem Creative Wrtg: Flash Fiction & Prose Poetry 5 cr

Restricted to MFAs only until Tuesday, May 20th at 10am.

CRN: 43698 DAY/TIME: TR 2:00pm - 3:50pm Instructor: Carol Guess

In this workshop, we will focus on writing flash fiction and prose poetry, with the aim of producing a chapbook by the end of the quarter.  

ENG 513 Seminar in Teaching College Comp 5 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: appointment as a teaching assistant or instructor permission  

CRN: 43249 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00am - 1:50pm Instructor: Andrew Lucchesi

ENG 513 is what some folks in my field have called the impossible: a practicum for grad students in the teaching of college composition. Why does is it get dubbed impossible? For lots of reasons, I suppose. I can’t list them all here, but a good way to start thinking about this impossibility is simply to try and define “composition” for yourself. What does in mean in a 21st century classroom? What’s the process underlying composing? What does a composition look like? In other words, how does one learn to teach relatively new college students a diverse activity that is also a kind of nebulous noun. It’s hard to say exactly how one does such a thing. Still, much of this class is to recognize that impossibility and proclaim “challenge accepted!”  

So we’ll look to historical definitions of composition, and we’ll put those up against more contemporary questions and concerns as we work to better understand what you will be doing in your own composition classrooms. What that means is that, together, we’ll try on all of the theory and the assignments that your own students take up in ENG 101; we’ll ask questions and write responses concerning how and why we might produce more useful theory and create better assignments; we’ll reflect on the place of our college composition course within the larger university.  

What’s more, we’ll spend a good deal of time together working through the relationship between rhetorical theory and composition pedagogy. The goal here is to ground both your thinking about composition and your developing pedagogical style in the imaginative and productive questions that, I think, grow out of an authentic engagement with rhetoric and composition (both ancient and contemporary approaches).  

Clearly, it’s a busy class. And while teaching composition may very well be impossible, we’ll still build a few practical paths through the strange project of teaching as a graduate student.  

ENG 520 Studies in Poetry: Research Poetics 5 cr

CRN: 43142 DAY/TIME: TR 10:00am - 11:50am Instructor: Stefania Heim

RESEARCH POETICS

What is the relationship between Emily Dickinson’s poems and the natural sciences? How do Robert Hayden’s and Kevin Young’s long poems about the Middle Passage do history in the face of archival silences? What insight does Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s DICTEE make possible at the intersections of Korean political history, religion, mythology, and film studies? This hybrid scholarly-creative course investigates questions like these by approaching poetry as a terrain for thinking across disciplinary boundaries. Together, we will ask what happens if we understand poetic strategies—lineation, metaphor, parataxis, uncertainty, repetition, white space, voice—not just as aesthetic tactics, but as modes of inquiry and analysis. If, as Muriel Rukeyser asserts in The Life of Poetry, poetry is “one kind of knowledge,” what kind of knowledge is it? What can it help us understand about the world, or allow us to do? To approach these questions, we will read and discuss a range of 20th-century and contemporary poems that make artistic use of contemporary issues like war, labor, environmental disaster, and quantum physics, even as they raise thorny issues of beauty, pleasure, and emotion. We will ground this reading in substantive exploration of the poets’ interdisciplinary source materials as well as literary historical accountings that try to locate these works and their significance in emergent, often overlapping fields like documentary poetry, investigative poetry, poetry of witness, archival poetry, social poetics, ecopoetics, reportorial poetics, and research-based poetry. Finally, students will be invited to take on their own poetic research projects, trespassing into any discipline(s) of their choice.   

ENG 525 Studies in Fiction 5 cr

CRN: 42038 DAY/TIME: TR 2:00pm - 3:50pm Instructor: Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi

As a participant in this course, you will learn through reading, writing, discussing, teaching, collaborating and reflecting. This will be a project-based course and a part-time workshop. Together, we will develop a resource (e.g. guide book, syllabus) that explores the interests, concerns and challenges of a fiction writer. Our resource will provide an environment for examining the foundational characteristics and uses of fiction. We will write fiction based on prompts and strategies you design, and we will workshop based on a process and guidelines you design. 

ENG 550 Studies in American Literature 5 cr

CRN: 44076 DAY/TIME: TR 12:00am - 1:50pm Instructor: Allison Giffen

Examines writers, periods and topics drawn from the full diversity of literature written in America. Repeatable with different topics.

ENG 594 Practicum in Teaching 2 cr

Notes & Prerequisites: ENG 501  

CRN: 40085 Instructor: TBD

ENG 690 Thesis Writing 2 cr

Notes & Prerequisites:  

CRN: 40121 Instructor: Stefania Heim

ENG 699 Continuous Enrollment 2 cr

Notes & Prerequisites:  

CRN: 40160