Savannah Saunders is a senior English major (with Creative Writing emphasis) and field hockey player from San Diego, Calif. She writes about the changes she and her classmates have seen in the English Department during their four years as students.
Senior English majors have experienced many milestones over their four years at Hendrix. They have welcomed many new faculty members, have said a sad goodbye to Dr. Chuck Chappell at the end of his 40-year teaching career, and have seen the English major reorganized into three emphases.
This fall Hendrix introduced a Creative Writing emphasis and a Film Studies emphasis for all English majors. The traditional English major is now known as the Literary Studies emphasis.
Though each provides a different perspective, all three share the same goal: To ensure that students are passionate about their major. By providing a variety of classes across many genres of writing and theory, students can explore a little of everything and eventually discover what they are most enthusiastic about and wish to focus on further.
Abby Coleman, a senior English major from North Kingstown, R.I., chose the Creative Writing emphasis. Coleman said she welcomed the opportunity to pursue creative writing courses more deeply in her major and focus less on literary analysis.
“I wrote a long final paper for a seminar class, and I didn’t feel like I needed to do it again,” she said. “With the Creative Writing emphasis, I’m taking the same classes as Literary Studies students, while also being able to pursue what I love: poetry. I’m getting two for the price of one.”
Mason Boling, a senior from Jonesboro, Ark., agreed.
Boling said he would be “incredibly jealous” of those students who were writing manuscripts and their accompanying critical review second semester while he was focusing on his literary studies thesis. “But at this point,” he said, “I’m also adding a theory-based component to my creative thesis, allowing myself to practice both.”
Hannah Bakker-Arkema is a senior English major with a Literary Studies emphasis from Webster Groves, Mo. She believes that the name of her major will carry its own weight on her résumé. “The label of Literary Studies will be taken more seriously when applying for grad school or law school.”
“It shouldn’t be this way,” said Dr. Alex Vernon, Associate Professor and Chair of the English Department, “but in some cases the title of Literary Studies may carry more weight during the application process. But hopefully schools will see ‘English major’ and ‘Hendrix College’ and understand the type of education they have received.”
The three emphases are not completely separate from each other but rather support students while they try out potential career opportunities. Just as chemistry or politics have different types of disciplines, the English department now offers more opportunities for a clearer focus.
Taking classes in each emphasis can only help the Hendrix English major, believes Hendrix-Murphy Writer-In-Residence Tyrone Jaeger, who began teaching at Hendrix in 2008. “Students participating in the Creative Writing emphasis will naturally write [creatively] at a higher level with the literary classes under their belts,” he said.
Boling added, “The creation of primary texts [in creative writing] is such an important process that it is bound to benefit your understanding of secondary sources and literary theory.”
For Jaeger, it’s also a matter of how students will consider life in general after graduation.
“The skills achieved through the Creative Writing emphasis will affect how one looks at and takes on life,” he said. “Most likely, these students will be more open to taking artistic classes because they have concentrated on a different form of art. Dabbling in different mediums won’t be as intimidating for them.”
Film Studies is a fairly new opportunity for students to pursue. Hendrix began offering it as a minor in 2005-2006. In addition to being one of the new emphases within the English major, the Film Studies minor is still available for non-English majors.
“The Film Studies emphasis is the analysis of words, images, and sounds all coming together to create a piece of work. Film studies comes to be the art of studying change, to which I think all emphases can relate,” said Dr. Kristi McKim, Assistant Professor of Film, who joined the faculty in 2008.
“The new Film Studies emphasis helps film to have more of a home within the English department,” added McKim.
“I really appreciate the reciprocity. It’s satisfying to work in a discipline within a discipline—in this kind of hybrid curriculum.”
Whether it’s analyzing literature, film scenes, or creating a new, original work of fiction or poetry, each emphasis within the new English major spurs students to find what they are passionate about and make it their own.
For more information about the new emphases within the Hendrix English major, click here .