Introduction

From retellings of The Tempest to contemporary classics like Beloved and Ceremony,from issues of linguistic diversity to Students’ Rights to Their Own Language, the practice of English as a discipline is inherently intersectional and linked to complex literary and cultural histories and complicated presents. To reflect that complexity, our teaching, service, creative activity, and scholarship foster conversations about race and racism, ethnicity, immigration, ability, gender, sexuality, class, Indigeneity, and colonialisms. Our department has adopted core values that support such conversations and we seek to uphold those values throughout our work.

Curriculum

We value curricula that foreground diverse intellectual traditions. Our course offerings include classes in literature, film, creative writing, cultural studies, professional writing, and composition and rhetorical studies that reflect this investment. For example:

Regular Course Offerings

Identities, Power, and Cultural Text (185); Intro to American Ethnic Literatures (285); Multicultural Children’s Literatures (384); American Ethnic Literatures (385); African American Literatures (386); Native American Literatures (387); Asian American Literatures (388); Latino/a Literatures (389); Linguistics for Teachers (435); American English (476); Holocaust Literature (575); World Literatures (580); Selected Topics in American Ethnic Literatures (655).

Selected Recent Topics Courses

African American Cinema (420); Indigenous Film (420); Multicultural American Literature (655); What is African American Literature? (655); Louise Erdrich (660); Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison (660); Wilder, Erdrich, and Taylor: Family Sagas and U.S. History (660); 1001 Arabian Nights: Empires, Orientalism and the Origins of Disney’s Aladdin (670); Asian American Literature (680); Afrofuturism and African Diasporic Speculative Fiction (695); Hamilton in Context (695); Multiethnic Young Adult Literature (695); Hip Hop and/as Literature (710); Queer Theory (740); Language, Power, and the Politics of Exclusion in U.S. Higher Education (753); Sovereign Erotics: Queer Indigenous Literature and Theory (830); Post-9/11 Literature and Culture (730); African American Children’s Literature (725); Welcome to the Apocalypse (745); Avant-Garde Asian American Fiction (825); Global Comics (730); Postcolonial and Mythological Children’s Literature (825).

 

Student Learning Outcomes and Curriculum Overlay Requirements

• Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes for English majors
• Graduate Student Learning Outcomes for English
• Diversity Overlay (English Undergraduate Curriculum)
• Diversity Overlay (English Graduate Curriculum)
• Arts & Sciences U.S. Multicultural Overlay

 

Engagement and Programming

K-State’s English Department initiates and supports many projects to diversify the intellectual and creative experiences of our students and to foreground the intellectual traditions of queer, Indigenous, BIPOC, and other underrepresented communities.

• The Gordon Parks Project
• The Treaties Project
• Summer Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program
• Young Writers’ Workshop
• Visiting Writers Series Including Ira Sukrungruang, Lillian Li, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Molly McCully Brown, L.L. McKinney, Sean Hill, Joy Harjo, Kimiko Hahn
• Cultural Studies Seminars – K-State hosts the longest running Cultural Studies symposium in the country and has featured notable speakers including Aimee Bahng and Thea Tagle, Scott Herring, Lisa Lowe, Fred Moten. The symposium sparked the creation of the Kansas State Drag show.
• A & S Speakers Series
• McNair Scholars
• Check out the English Department blog for other programming

 

Research

Coming soon.

 

Campus Resources

General Resources

• Office of Institutional Equity: https://www.k-state.edu/oie/equal/
• Diversity and Multicultural Student Affairs: https://www.k-state.edu/diversity/
• Graduate Student Council: https://www.k-state.edu/grad/student-success/student-council
• Student Government Association: https://www.k-state.edu/sga/
• Student Ombudsperson Office: https://www.k-state.edu/diversity-inclusion/resources/student-ombudsperson/
• Office of Student Life: https://www.k-state.edu/studentlife/
• Student Complaints and Grievances: https://www.k-state.edu/studentlife/reportsandpolicies/studentcomplaintsandgrievances.html

Faculty/Staff Affinity Associations

• Black Faculty and Staff Association: https://www.k-state.edu/bfsa/
• Alianza: Faculty, Staff Alliance for Hispanic/Latinx Affairs: https://www.k-state.edu/alianza/
• Indigenous Faculty and Staff Alliance: https://www.k-state.edu/indigenous-alliance/about.html

Multicultural Student Organizations

• Links to individual organizations: https://www.k-state.edu/diversity/life/organizations/
• Morris Family Multicultural Student Center: https://www.k-state.edu/diversity/multicultural-center/

Awards and Scholarships

• Robinson Family Multicultural Leadership Award (students)
• GWSS Essay Award (students):
• GWSS Nichols Scholarship (students) (confirm)
• Gordon Parks Essay Award (students)
• A&S Diversity ___ (faculty)
• SGA Student Diversity Programming Support (students)
• Chapman Center for Rural Studies Interdisciplinary Research Award (faculty and students)
• Chapman Center for Rural Studies Student Internships (students)
• Arts and Sciences Student Scholarships and Awards

Immigration Resources

• International Student and Scholar Services: https://www.k-state.edu/isss/
• The Office of International Programs: https://www.k-state.edu/oip

Legal and Economic Resources

• Cat’s Cupboard: https://www.k-state.edu/cats-cupboard/
• Student legal services: https://www.k-state.edu/legal/
• Powercat financial: https://www.k-state.edu/powercatfinancial/
• K-State DreamZone (support for DACA students): https://www.k-state.edu/diversity/dreamers/
• K-State PROUD awards: https://www.ksufoundation.org/k-stateproud/awards.html
• Office of Student Financial Assistance: https://www.k-state.edu/sfa/

Disability Resources

• Student Access Center, dedicated to the ideals of equal access and services for all students: https://www.k-state.edu/accesscenter/

Gender and Sexuality Resources

• Office of Institutional Equity: https://www.k-state.edu/oie/titleix/
• Center for Advocacy, Response and Education: https://www.k-state.edu/care/
• LBGT Resource Center: https://www.k-state.edu/lgbt/

Teaching and Mentoring Resources

• DEI Curriculum Development: https://artsci.k-state.edu/about/diversity/faculty/curriculum.htmlFaculty
• Guide for Difficult Conversations: https://artsci.k-state.edu/about/diversity/faculty/Faculty%20Guide%20for%20Difficult%20Conversations%2001282019.pdf
• Arts & Sciences Anti-Racist Teaching Tool (coming soon):
• Teaching and Learning Center: https://www.k-state.edu/tlc/

Mental Health Resources

• YOU website, offering free and confidential tips and tools for topics from mental and physical health, to friendships and finding balance: https://you.k-state.edu/
• Kansas State University Counseling Services, offering free and confidential services to assist in meeting mental health challenges. https://www.k-state.edu/counseling
• Lafene Health Center, with specialized nurse practitioners to assist with mental health: https://www.k-state.edu/lafene
• The Office of Student Life: https://www.k-state.edu/studentlife
• K-State Family Center, offering individual, couple, and family counseling services on a sliding fee scale: https://www.hhs.k-state.edu/familycenter/
• Center for Advocacy, Response, and Education (CARE), providing free and confidential assistance for those in our K-State community who have been victimized by violence: https://www.k-state.edu/care

 

Reporting Violence

K-State encourages community members to promptly report threats, violence, and crimes, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, conduct code violations, access barriers, assault, and child abuse, through the Report It website: https://www.k-state.edu/report