Follow the department on social media!

Registration Advising

If you want help with registration and haven’t met with an advisor yet, please call the office (we are now scheduling for the week of December 2). We do not schedule via email.

To help you prepare, we have the SP25 “cheat sheet” available on the Planning Coursework page (you will need an Illinois Box account to view the document). This tells you which courses will fall into which categories within the various majors/concentrations (period categories, topical clusters, etc.) in the spring.

As a reminder, if you want to take an English honors seminar (ENGL 396) you must email Nancy Rahn at nrahn@illinois.edu to request permission. Please be sure to include your name and UIN, and the CRN and topic of the course you want to take. Once Nancy contacts you to let you know you have permission to take the course you will be able to add it to your spring schedule. Act now, before the classes fill up, particularly if you are getting close to graduation!

Social Issues Theater–Open to all!

CW 406 Poetry Reading

Reading Day Activity

Call for Presenters

Reminder! Submit to Montage

Montage publishes work by undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is now accepting submissions through (tentative date) February 14, 2025.

See this page for more details or email montagejournal@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

Courses of Interest in SP25

Check these out!

ENGL 221: Speculative Futures
This course introduces students to several important conversations arising from the expansive genre of speculative fiction. In this course students will explore some of the most profound, disturbing, and downright bizarre imaginings of the future that human beings have generated. Climate change, ageing, fascist regimes, reproductive rights, technological failures, scientific advancements, and apocalypse are just a few of the possible topics for this class. Course materials will be drawn from literary works, contemporary and historical scientific developments, and cultural theory to explore how and why speculative futures are linked to specific cultural contexts, technologies, and social schemes.

ENGL 247: The British Novel
Novels are experimental spaces for dramatizing the problem of freedom in a chaotic modern world. If we could act with complete freedom, would we like the results, or end up isolated and self-centered? Since the Magna Carta, Britain has defined itself as a free society—but it’s also a small set of islands where it’s not always easy for people to run away from their choices. The British novel of the last three centuries dramatizes the clash between individual desire and community responsibility by using wit and satire to create a limited space of social freedom, and the marriage plot to fetishize a single moment of free choice in a materially determined world. We will learn some historical background that explains the distinctiveness of British traditions from Regency romance to punk rock, but also respond to the novels’ characters as they explore their moral choices and unsettle the hierarchies that constrain them. Our texts will include Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders, Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss, E. M. Forster’s Howards End, Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, and Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia.

ENGL 253 (Topics in Lit & New Media)–Old and New Media: Gutenberg to Google
What does it mean to study literature at the start of the 21C? Are print and its major aesthetic forms archaic or simply mutating? What’s at stake in the shift from analog to digital forms of representation? What was “a reader”—and what will reading be in twenty or a hundred years? To get at these questions, we will work with a few conventional literary forms (like poems and novels) but we will also look at photographs, watch films, play (a few) video games, use apps, and navigate webpages. The medium will thus be the message for us throughout. Our focus will start and end with print, but in between we will survey a wide range of transitions between different kinds of old and new media. Some questions these objects might lead us to ask include: what aesthetic problems seem to have emerged when old media (like print, photography, cinema, and perhaps television) were still fairly new? What aesthetic forms and affects did this old media tend to generate and why? How are the debates that were once generated by old media reflected in our contemporary experience of “new” digital media? Does the newest new media (“our” new media)—websites, video games, apps—create the conditions for a new kind of art, and what aesthetic experiments have these new media produced (Twitter poetry? TikToks? Flarf?)? Our goal will be threefold: to identify, describe, and theorize a robust array of 15C-21C aesthetic experiences from within the material contexts that produce them.

Don’t Forget These!

University of Minnesota PhD Program Info

Greetings from the English Department of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities:

U of M offers six years of funding through a combination of teaching and fellowships for all PhD candidates. For the academic year 2025-2026, we look forward to admitting a cohort of five students, and would be especially delighted to admit an applicant interested in studying pre-1800 Anglophone literatures. For more information on our program, including faculty specialties, past course offerings, and how our professors contribute to the field, please visit our website and feel free to reach out to me if you or your students have any questions.

The University of Minnesota also offers many cross-disciplinary opportunities for students and faculty, such as the Institute for Advanced Study, Center for Premodern Studies, The Institute on the Environment, and The Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender, and Sexuality. Our libraries are home to archival holdings such as the Givens Collection, James Ford Bell Library, and the Upper Midwest Literary Archives. The Twin Cities is a vibrant, urban setting with rich literary and cultural scenes, including a variety of independent presses, world renown theaters, and music organizations.

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The URS is the signature event of Undergraduate Research Week (April 20 – 26), which brings together students, faculty, and staff from all disciplines on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, as well as the public, to learn more about undergraduate research and its potential to change the world. Throughout the day, students will present their oral and poster presentations, creative performances, and interactive exhibits to members of the campus and local community.

• When: Thursday, April 24, 2025
• Where: Illini Union (A, B, C, South Lounge, and the 2nd Floor)
• Application Deadline: Friday, March 7, 2025 at 11:59 pm

What Can Be Presented? 

• Undergraduate students can present any research project or experience they are a part of, including both in-progress and completed projects or creative works. 
• We welcome students to present their research posters, talks, performances, exhibits, and demonstrations. This includes, but is not limited to, art displays, musical and visual performances, architectural exhibits, inventions, and technology demonstrations).
• Students can present individually or in groups. Groups only need to submit one application to present.
• Students can give multiple presentations throughout the day.

Visit the URS webpage for more information, including answers to frequently asked questions.

Applications are currently being accepted. The deadline for applying to the URS is Friday, March 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm and no late submissions will be accepted. Please note, your presentation is not expected to be complete by the application deadline. On the application, you will only be asked to provide a tentative title that can be revised until March 19 and an abstract which will be used internally by OUR to create and organize thematic sessions. Your abstract will not be published or viewed by anyone other than OUR.

I-Connect

New First Gen Undergraduate Research Opportunity for Spring 2025

The First-Gen Scholars Research Program (FSRP) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign offers first-generation college students eligible for federal work-study the opportunity to participate in meaningful and high-impact research. The FSRP allows students to explore the culture and process of research and gain hands-on experience while building on their existing abilities within a supportive community of scholars. Accepted applicants will be matched with one of our experienced faculty mentors – many of whom were First Generation college students. Full details along with faculty profiles can be found online at: https://undergradresearch.illinois.edu/programs/first-gen-scholars-research.html

ATLAS Internships–Application portal for SP25 OPEN NOW!

Need Help With Research?

Peer Mentors are in the Hub!

With the return of the Peer Mentors in the Hub, here are a few reasons to head to the Hub in Lincoln Hall (Tues, Weds, Thurs from 10- 3):

• building a resume from scratch or a quick look before a career fair
• connecting to research around campus
• learning how to gain some other experience to gain insights about your skills and preferences for future jobs
• finding that RSO or other group that are around to join
• Career Services has special drop-in times on Tues, Weds (10-noon)

Confidential Advising Resources

The Women’s Resources Center (WRC) is the designated confidential campus resource related to sexual assault/rape, sexual harassment, stalking and abuse within a relationship (sometimes called dating or domestic violence). That means when we talk with students, staff, and faculty who have experienced harm, we make sure you get what you need and on your terms! There are several Confidential Advisors at the WRC who can provide you – or someone looking to support you – with support and advocacy services.

Follow the department on social media!

Important Dates and Deadlines

• Nov 15: Deadline to DROP a POTB course

Registration Advising

Time tickets are now visible in Self Service, and registration has begun (see your time ticket for individualized registration date). We encourage all students to check in with an advisor before signing up for classes (first-year students are required to meet with us). We do not schedule via email; please call the office at 217-333-4346 to make an appointment.

To help you prepare, we have the SP25 “cheat sheet” available on the Planning Coursework page. This tells you which courses will fall into which categories within the various majors/concentrations (period categories, topical clusters, etc.) in the spring.

As a reminder, if you want to take an English honors seminar (ENGL 396) you must email Nancy Rahn at nrahn@illinois.edu to request permission. Please be sure to include your name and UIN, and the CRN and topic of the course you want to take. Once Nancy contacts you to let you know you have permission to take the course you will be able to add it to your spring schedule. Act now, before the classes fill up, particularly if you are getting close to graduation!

TODAY: Wellness Check-in

Final Day of First-Gen Celebration TODAY, NOV 8

Undergraduate Research Workshops

Undergraduate Research Ambassador Program

The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) is looking for motivated and personable undergraduate students in all majors who are excited to introduce and support peers through the Illinois research experience. If you have participated in a research project, be it through coursework, assisting faculty, research staff, or graduate students, or conducting a project of your own, we invite you to apply to become an Illinois Undergraduate Research Ambassador (IURA) and help other students along their research journeys.  We are particularly interested in adding students in the humanities & arts to our team of ambassadors. 

This application is for ambassador positions beginning Spring 2025, with the intent that selected candidates can and will continue into the following Fall 2025/Spring 2026 academic year. Students will be expected to work 30 hours per semester and will be paid a stipend of $450 per semester.  

To learn more about the IURA program and how to apply, check out our call for applications. If you are unsure if your experience counts, reach out to us! We are happy to answer any questions. Contact us at ugresearch@illinois.edu.  

Deadline to apply is Monday, November 18, 2024, at 11:59pm. 

Participate in a Study–FINAL CALL

You are invited to participate in a study (IRB approved) that aims to learn how undergraduate students define the term “student success” and what factors can contribute to or hinder that success. Estimated time spent on study is up to 1 hour, which will be a one-on-one interview. Participants will receive a $40 Amazon gift card for their time. This study caps at 30 participants. If interested, please complete the pre-screening survey by November 12 to be considered for selection in the study: https://forms.illinois.edu/sec/106057268.

ESA Upcoming Events

Upcoming Event in LLS Speaker Series

Carr Visiting Author Series: Devon Walker-Figueroa

You’re invited to a poetry reading by Devon Walker-Figueroa, made possible by the Robert J. and Katherin Carr visiting author series, on Nov 14, 4:30, Author’s Corner, Illini Union Bookstore.

Devon Walker-Figueroa is the author of Philomath (Milkweed Editions, 2021). A winner of the National Poetry Series and the Levis Reading Prize, Philomath was the first poetry collection to be named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize. Her next collection, Lazarus Species, is forthcoming from Milkweed Editions in 2025.

Upcoming Event–Registration Required

Register for this event!

Also seeking volunteers . . .

The event above is organized by Ryan Ross, an alum of our department and curator of the Richmond Family Welcome Gallery in the Alice Campbell Alumni Center (he’s also senior editor of the Illinois Alumni Magazine).  Ryan is seeking a few volunteers to help out on November 14 (arrival time 6:20 or 6:40, depending on what tasks you’re assigned).  Specifically, he needs one or two people to help with registration and/or with the Q&A session. If you’re interested, please email Ryan at rross2@illinois.edu to let him know and to get more details.  Thanks!

Gillen Wood Lecture

The Animal Turn Research Cluster presents:

“Brooch Clams & Hairy Mussels”
A Public Talk on New Work
Professor Gillen D’Arcy Wood
Wednesday November 20, 4pm
Room TBA

Abstract:
This lecture recreates the visit of HMS Challenger, the pioneering oceanographic expedition, to Sydney Harbour in 1874. In colonial Australia, the Challenger naturalists encountered the molluscan legacies of recently displaced First Nation peoples, and an estuarine ecology already seriously damaged by oyster harvesting. Victorian-era Sydney offers a case study in early industrial marine exploitation and also “shifting baseline syndrome,” where lost species and their habitats are rapidly erased from cultural memory. Only recovered consciousness of these losses can open the possibility for real-world, biophysical restoration.

Student Internship Opportunity

Student Intern – Survey Data Analysis and Report Writing
Position Type: Part-time Internship (10-15 hours per week) $15 per hour

Job Description:
We are seeking a motivated and detail-oriented Student Intern to assist with analyzing and crafting summaries from survey data. This position requires a student who can effectively distill and communicate insights derived from qualitative data. The ideal candidate has strong written communication skills, an ability to synthesize information for a quick and accurate understanding of survey topics, and is comfortable working in an office environment.

Key Responsibilities:
-Review and analyze survey comments to extract key themes and insights.
-Craft concise, well-written summaries and reports that accurately reflect survey findings.
-Collaborate with the team to ensure accuracy and clarity in all written content.
-Work in qualitative analysis software (such as ATLAS.ti) to organize and code survey data as needed.
-Assist in compiling data and insights into clear, structured reports, incorporating visual elements where appropriate.

To apply, fill out an application. 

Please register in advance for this event.

Reminder! Submit to Montage

Montage publishes work by undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is now accepting submissions through (tentative date) February 14, 2025.

See this page for more details or email montagejournal@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

FLAS Fellowships

University of Minnesota PhD Program Info

Greetings from the English Department of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities:

U of M offers six years of funding through a combination of teaching and fellowships for all PhD candidates. For the academic year 2025-2026, we look forward to admitting a cohort of five students, and would be especially delighted to admit an applicant interested in studying pre-1800 Anglophone literatures. For more information on our program, including faculty specialties, past course offerings, and how our professors contribute to the field, please visit our website and feel free to reach out to me if you or your students have any questions.

The University of Minnesota also offers many cross-disciplinary opportunities for students and faculty, such as the Institute for Advanced Study, Center for Premodern Studies, The Institute on the Environment, and The Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender, and Sexuality. Our libraries are home to archival holdings such as the Givens Collection, James Ford Bell Library, and the Upper Midwest Literary Archives. The Twin Cities is a vibrant, urban setting with rich literary and cultural scenes, including a variety of independent presses, world renown theaters, and music organizations.

Courses of Interest in SP25

Don’t Forget These!

New First Gen Undergraduate Research Opportunity for Spring 2025

The First-Gen Scholars Research Program (FSRP) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign offers first-generation college students eligible for federal work-study the opportunity to participate in meaningful and high-impact research. The FSRP allows students to explore the culture and process of research and gain hands-on experience while building on their existing abilities within a supportive community of scholars. Accepted applicants will be matched with one of our experienced faculty mentors – many of whom were First Generation college students. Full details along with faculty profiles can be found online at: https://undergradresearch.illinois.edu/programs/first-gen-scholars-research.html

ATLAS Internships–Application portal for SP25 OPEN NOW!

Call for Submissions

Hello! My name is Miao Wang, and I am the Editor-in-Chief of Rainy Day, Cornell University’s longest-running undergraduate literary magazine, which has published outstanding works of poetry and fiction since 1969. We accept submissions from undergraduate students throughout the nation, including those at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We are pleased to share the opportunity for English and Creative Writing students to submit their poetry, short fiction, short plays, and any other literary works to Rainy Day this semester. The deadline for this round of submissions is November 10.

For more information or to view past issues of the magazine, please visit our website at https://www.rainydaymagazine.org/. In addition, please do not hesitate to contact us at rainydaycornell@gmail.com if you have further questions.

Critical Language Scholarships

The Critical Language Scholarship, provided by the U.S. Department of State, is a fully-funded, intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program for undergraduate and graduate students.  A list of eligible languages is available here. CLS institutes are 8 to 10 weeks in length, are held over the summer, and cover one academic year of university-level language coursework. CLS Institutes include cultural programming, local language partners, and in-country excursions. Participants receive academic credit at their U.S. institutions. The national deadline is November 19, 2024, at 7:00 pm (CST).

Upcoming Pre-Law Programs

All upcoming events can be found our PLAS Events calendar. 

Need Help With Research?

Peer Mentors are in the Hub!

With the return of the Peer Mentors in the Hub, here are a few reasons to head to the Hub in Lincoln Hall (Tues, Weds, Thurs from 10- 3):

• building a resume from scratch or a quick look before a career fair
• connecting to research around campus
• learning how to gain some other experience to gain insights about your skills and preferences for future jobs
• finding that RSO or other group that are around to join
• Career Services has special drop-in times on Tues, Weds (10-noon)

Confidential Advising Resources

The Women’s Resources Center (WRC) is the designated confidential campus resource related to sexual assault/rape, sexual harassment, stalking and abuse within a relationship (sometimes called dating or domestic violence). That means when we talk with students, staff, and faculty who have experienced harm, we make sure you get what you need and on your terms! There are several Confidential Advisors at the WRC who can provide you – or someone looking to support you – with support and advocacy services.

Undergraduate Research Workshops

Check out workshops offered by the Office of Undergraduate Research. You’ll find a list here with schedules and registration links (space is limited)!