We are a community of teachers and students, readers and writers, learners and scholars. United by an interest in language and literature and convinced that our discipline is the lynchpin of a quality university, we look forward to seeing you in our classes and offices.
The English Department offers courses for every student at Coastal. Almost all students take two writing classes as part of the University Core Curriculum, and the Core allows for a number of other English options, including literature surveys and creative writing seminars. Many students also take advantage of our extensive offerings in business, scientific and professional writing.
If you choose a major or minor in English, you can expect to enjoy a broad range of classes in linguistics, literature, writing and theory all designed to make you more able to apprehend and then wield the power of words. Our major is growing, and our program can help open the worlds of possibility for which the English major is justly renowned: Education, professional school, graduate study, and jobs in the private sector . . . the English degree brings many futures within reach.
Our department is also engaged in campus life. We sponsor the "Words to Say It" reading series, sponsor an active honorary society, and organize special events that highlight literature and language.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Daniel J. Ennis
Chair, Department of English dennis@coastal.edu or 843-349-2746
Upcoming Events
Coastal@Oxford Summer 2009
Starting this summer, Coastal students will have the opportunity to spend three weeks in Great Britain, studying with CCU faculty while in residence at the University of Oxford, one of the oldest and most respected institutions of higher learning in the world. An educational center for over 900 years, Oxford is renowned for its rich traditions, its extraordinary architecture, and its vibrant community of students and scholars. Amid the spires, towers, gardens, and markets of this ancient city, centuries of British literature, history, and culture will come to life. Students will explore Oxford’s many colleges and historical sites, attend theater performances and concerts, and take advantage of excursions to destinations such as Stratford, Blenheim Palace, and Winchester Cathedral. Two weeks in residence at Oxford will be followed by four days sampling London’s cultural, historical, and political treasures, including Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, and the Tower of London. Participants in this study-abroad experience will come away with a new understanding of how the English language and its literature has been inspired by Britain’s many centuries as a center of culture, commerce, and exploration.
Students will enjoy accommodations at Oxford’s historic Queen’s College (founded in 1341) and stay at Hughes Parry Hall while in London. Trip dates are July 3-22, 2009.
Students may take one or both of the following English courses:
English 288 Major Writers of British Literature (3 credits), (Writing Intensive), (Prereq: Satisfactory completion of English 101 and 102).
Selected readings in the works of major authors of Great Britain and Ireland. The works represent a variety of eras. Students write primarily analytical essays. Some research is required. F, S, Su.
This special version of ENGL 288 will take advantage of our location in the British Isles to explore some central texts in the rich tradition of British literature. From ancient works like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to recent fiction by Jeanette Winterson and Salman Rushdie, the literature we study will help us reflect on the idea of “Britishness” and on the links between literary creation and national identity. We will trace the implications of Britain’s growth as a powerful empire alongside its evolving forms of literary expression. Other themes will include the quest for knowledge and discovery and the attempts to articulate it through language. Shakespeare, Milton, Donne, Pope, Keats, Tennyson, and Woolf will be among the authors whose work we explore.
ENGL 288 may be used to fulfill either the "Humanistic Concepts" Core Curriculum requirement or the "Global Studies Awareness" Core Curriculum requirement.
English 497 Literature, Language, Location (3 credits), (Prereq: Grade of C or above in English 101 and ENGL 102, One literature class at the 200 level or above or permission of instructor).
Students will undertake the study of literature and/or the English language in the context of significant national or international travel. Under the guidance of faculty experienced in study abroad, and taking advantage of site-specific resources, students will explore how direct knowledge of place can lead to insight into the literary and cultural productions of a civilization. Most often, students will study primary texts before travel, and the most common itineraries will include visits to libraries, museums, historic landmarks and locations of cultural significance.
This particular section of ENGL 497 centers on a survey of British literature from the late medieval to early romantic periods with the texts set against the background of important literary sites. In order to take advantage of the Oxford and London locations, texts will be arranged not chronologically, but based on Coastal@Oxford excursions. For example, students will read a sampling of Shakespeare texts in conjunction with a visit to Stratford, selections from Malory’s Morte D’Arthur in preparation for a visit to Winchester Cathedral, and a Jane Austen novel in conjunction with a visit to the author’s home at Chawton Village. Filling out the survey will be texts written by notable Oxfordians such as John Donne, William Wycherley and Joseph Addison, all studied within the context of the University itself.
ENGL 497 fulfills the “Global Studies Awareness” Core Curriculum requirement.
Program Faculty
Daniel J. Ennis, Ph.D. is a Professor of English and a specialist in eighteenth-century British literature. He has served as a faculty member for CCU study abroad programs in London, Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam, and is currently the Chair of the Department of English.
Cynthia Port, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of English and specializes in modern and contemporary British and Anglophone literatures. She participated in a study abroad program in Oxford as an undergraduate and, as a graduate student, helped coordinate the University of Pennsylvania's program at King's College in London.
For additional information and application materials, please contact the Office of International Programs and Services by email at internationalprograms@coastal.edu or by phone at 843-349-2684 or 843-349-2054.
Spotlight
Associate Professor of English Receives Fulbright for Study in China
Carol Osborne, Associate Professor of English, has been selected to participate in the Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad program in China in June and July 2009. She will improve her understanding and knowledge of Chinese culture in order to enhance the curriculum of her world literature course and to develop a new upper level course on Chinese literature and culture.
The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR) has administered the Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program to China since 1981 as part of memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Ministry of Education. The program is designed to give American educators an introduction to China’s history, culture and society.
Dr. Osborne is one of 16 professors who will travel abroad through the Fulbright program. The group will meet in the San Francisco Bay area for a pre-departure orientation program, providing an opportunity for participants to attend briefings on topics such as Chinese culture, society and language.
Dr. Osborne’s travels in China will include stops in Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai and Hong Kong. She will visit cultural and historic sites, government offices and educational institutions, and she will attend lectures on Chinese history, economics, education and politics.
Assistant Professor of English and Students Receive ASIANetwork Fellows Program Award
Dr. Maggie Ivanova, assistant professor of English and students Yelena Ninichuk, an English major, Victoria Poston, a History major and Mikkenna Woods, a Political Science major, have been awarded a fellowship of $20,892 by the ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows Review Committee to conduct a three-week collaborative research project in Japan this summer. In preparation for the overseas project, Ninichuk, Poston and Woods will present their preliminary research at the Big SURS conference in Asheville, NC this March.
Professor of English Honored in Coastal Carolina University Distinguised Teacher-Scholar Lecturer Series
On Thursday, November 20, 2008, Steve Hamelman, professor of English, will present Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Ten Iconic Scenes in the Wilderness of Classic American Fiction as part of the Coastal Carolina University Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Lecture Series. The lecture will begin at 7:30pm in Wall Auditorium and is free and open to the public.
Steve Hamelman teaches undergraduate courses in American literature, literary theory, and composition in the English Department at Coastal Carolina University. His scholarly work is reflected in many publications and conference papers on the early American novel, theory, and popular music. Dr. Hamelman earned degrees at Colgate University (BA), the University of Maine at Orono (MA), and Brandeis University (MA, PhD). He has been a full professor at Coastal since 2001.
The Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Lecturer award is given annually to a Coastal Carolina University faculty member who has outstanding abilities as a teacher, scholar and communicator. The recepient of the award delivers a public lecture in the fall semester on an original topic. For additional information, please call 843-349-2086.
The Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Lecturer Series is made possible through the generous support of Horry Telephone, Inc.
Sara Sanders named to South Carolina Humanities Council Board
Sara L. Sanders, Kearns Palmetto Professor of English at Coastal Carolina University, has been elected to a thee-year term to the board of directors of the Humanities Council of South Carolina, effective November 1, 2008.
Sanders joined the Coastal Carolina University faculty in 1987. She is a graduate of Baptist College of Charleston (now Charleston Southern University) and earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of South Carolina in 1978 and 1981, respectively.
She was director of Coastal’s Honors Program from 1992 to 1996 and received the Student Affairs Division Award for the 1995-1996 academic year. Sanders chaired the Department of English, Communication and Journalism from 2004 to 2007 and was named Kearns Palmetto Professor for 2007 to 2012.
She is a consultant to the Conway Medical Center Palliative Care Team. She and her husband Steve Nagle are co-editors of English in the Southern United States (Cambridge University Press 2003) and co-recipients of the 2003 South Carolina Governor’s Award in the Humanities.
Her areas of expertise include teaching composition, English as a second/foreign language, illness narratives, cognitive metaphors and development of learning communities.
The Humanities Council awards nearly $250,000 annually in grants for statewide public programs and sponsors two initiatives - the South Carolina Humanities Festival and the South Carolina Book Festival held in Columbia.
Dan Albergotti Receives South Carolina Arts Commission Fellowship
Coastal Carolina University professor/poet Dan Albergotti is the recipient of a 2008-2009 Individual Artist Fellowship Award from the South Carolina Arts Commission. He is one of six South Carolina artists - four writers and two musicians - to be selected for this annual fellowship recognizing superior artistic merit. The six artist fellows receive $5,000 each.
Albergotti, assistant professor of English and the Department of English's coordinator of creative writing, joined the Coastal Carolina University faculty in 2005. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in English from Clemson University in 1986 and 1988, respectively, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of South Carolina in 1995.
He is the 2007 A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize winner for his first collection of poems, The Boatloads. His poems have appeared in The Cincinnati Review, Mid-American Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review and other journals. His chapbook, "Charon's Manifest," won the 2005 Randall Jarrell/Harperprints Chapbook Competition.
Albergotti has been a scholar at the Sewanee and Bread Loaf writers' conferences and a fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. A graduate of the MFA program at UNC Greensboro and former poetry editor of The Greensboro Review, he currently serves as poetry editor of storySouth (www.storysouth.com).
The board grants fellowships based on recommendations made by out-of-state review panelists who select fellows based solely on their work.
Daniel J. Ennis, Ph.D. is a Professor of English and a specialist in eighteenth-century British literature. He has served as a faculty member for CCU study abroad programs in London, Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam, and is currently the Chair of the Department of English.
Cynthia Port, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of English and specializes in modern and contemporary British and Anglophone literatures. She participated in a study abroad program in Oxford as an undergraduate and, as a graduate student, helped coordinate the University of Pennsylvania's program at King's College in London.
Assistant Professor of English and Students Receive ASIANetwork Fellows Program Award
Professor of English Honored in Coastal Carolina University Distinguised Teacher-Scholar Lecturer Series
Sara Sanders named to South Carolina Humanities Council Board
Dan Albergotti Receives South Carolina Arts Commission Fellowship
