Bachelor in English program modernizes curriculum and adds courses – The Oakland Post

The English Department at Oakland University is modernizing its curriculum for its Bachelor of Arts in English program. The department introduced four new courses, as well as two new requirements for the degree.

The curriculum changes kicked off this school year with its new courses starting at the start of the fall 2021 semester. The four new courses include Indigenous Literature; Literature and environment; Gender, sexuality and literature; and Studies and Literature on Disability.

One of the new requirements is that students must take a course under the category of World and Ethnic Literatures – which can be taken by courses such as Indigenous Literature or African American Literature. A second new category of course is that of Critical and Cultural Approaches to Literature – which can be filled by literature and the environment; Studies and literature on disability; or Gender, sexuality and literature.

The program will retain some of its old requirements, such as British Literature courses, for example, but these have been reduced in order to provide students with a more comprehensive study program. The mission of the department with the changes they are implementing is to diversify education, as well as to meet the interests and needs of faculty and students.

Dr Kevin Laam, Associate Professor of English, discusses how, historically, university English departments have served to entrench English dominance in language, literature and culture. However, this historical fact does not reflect the advancement of literary studies in recent decades, according to Dr Laam.

“This [this historical fact] does not reflect the various fields of study in which our faculty are engaged, and does not address the wide and growing range of holistic theoretical perspectives that make up literary studies in the 21st century, â€said Dr Laam. “This historical fact also does not meet the needs of our students who love to read and write, but also want to be introduced to a variety of perspectives in the books they read and write.”

The department is rich in professors with various fields of expertise and research. The new courses intend to highlight the specializations of teachers.

Since the change in requirements was recently implemented in early fall 2021, students who have entered semesters or years of the program can still take the old program so as not to interfere with the progress of the program. their current degree.

“The way it works is that when a student enters university, they are subject to the requirements that exist at the time,†said English Department Chairman Dr. Robert anderson. “Every student who comes to Oakland University in the fall of 2021 will use these requirements.”

Discussions on program updates have been ongoing among faculty in the department since 2019. Professors have been working on restructuring the program and developing new categories for almost a year.

“As our discipline evolves, our program must evolve accordingly,” said Dr Laam. “Because we still have students in the old program, we need to make this transition gradually, but we hope to be more aggressive in offering and developing new courses as we progress. ”