PLU Department of English

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PLU Department of English

Pacific Lutheran University's Department of English | Literature and Writing | PPA | Children's Liter Why is a liberal arts education useful?

The study of English offers excellent preparation for any future requiring integrative thinking, skills in writing, discernment in reading and an appreciation of the human experience and aesthetic values. Business, law, government, technology, education and publishing are areas where graduates frequently make their careers. Those who pursue studies in English can expect to learn how sensitive read

ers engage texts through their own speaking and writing, following their insights into the rich pleasures of language and growing more sophisticated in constructing effective arguments. They will also be introduced to the ways in which major critical traditions frame our approaches to texts and define the issues that keep them meaningful and relevant in our lives. Careers
Humanities at Work

See the incredible things PLU alums are doing with their Humanities degrees! The English department offers emphases in writing and literature, as well as minors in Children’s Literature and Culture and Publishing and Printing Arts. We support study abroad by offering study tours to such places as Africa, Australia and the Caribbean. The writing emphasis at PLU has been designed for a broad spectrum of students, from those wishing to focus on fiction and poetry, to those interested in more pragmatic types of writing, to those set on exploring theoretical issues in rhetoric and composition. The English literature emphasis introduces students to the great literary traditions of Britain, North America, and the English-speaking world. Employers are looking for workers who know how to think, how to process information, how to write. Read the pieces from the National Commission on Writing (linked below) on why this training is invaluable, no matter what career you decide to pursue. PLU’s minor in Children’s Literature and Culture is designed to give students practical knowledge and critical literacy around childhood and youth. Our minor in Publishing & Printing Arts offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the world of publishing.

10/10/2025

Dear Friends of the PLU English Department:

I hope you’re doing well! I’m reaching out because PLU’s Bjug Day of Giving is coming up on October 14-15, and I would be very grateful for your support of the English Department.

Two years ago, the English Department launched a new concentration in the major, to complement our continuing Literature and Creative Writing majors. The Professional, Public, and Digital Literacies (PPDL) concentration offers PLU English majors an opportunity to focus on more practical and applied forms of writing, and it incorporates a broader range of nonfiction and multimodal (digital/video/sound) genres.

As part of PLU’s annual Bjug Day, we’re raising funds to help support our new PPDL concentration, especially to purchase licenses the professional-grade software and apps and to underwrite continuing student and faculty development opportunities in the digital humanities.

Would you consider making a gift to support the English Department? Your gift by October 15 can be matched with an extra gift for student scholarships!
Make your gift here: plu.edu/bjug

Thank you for your support! Your gift will help us to strengthen and enhance our course offerings. And whether or not you can contribute at this time, I hope you will reach out and let us know where you are and what you are doing now. My English colleagues and I are always glad to hear from our former students!

With all best wishes,

Solveig Robinson, Chair of English

Help us reach 2,025 supporters.💛Give to what you love & your gift can be MATCHED: plu.edu/GiveBJUG

03/16/2025

We recently had the great pleasure of welcoming to campus this AWESOME panel of PLU English alums, who shared with our students how their PLU degrees prepared them for their career journeys. What an amazing opportunity for our students! Huge thanks to Yisel Morales, Claire Plourde, Rachel Diebel, Nicole Hoyes Wilson, and Josh Orf-Rodriguez!

02/20/2025

Look at this impressive line-up of PLU English alums who are coming to campus on Tues 2/25 to talk about career paths with our students!

Please come join us!
Tuesday, February 25th, 7-8pm in the AUC, room 201.
A fabulous panel of English Department Alums will be on hand to talk about life after college.
For more information, please contact English Department Chair Jim Albrecht ([email protected]) or [email protected].
We'll see you there!

10/14/2024

Dear friends of PLU English –

Tomorrow and Wednesday – Oct 15 and 16th – is PLU’s annual Bjug Day of online giving.

You can designate your gift to benefit a specific PLU program —and we hope you’ll consider supporting your PLU English.

Your gift will help support important faculty development opportunities, to support our new Concentration in Professional, Public, and Digital Literacy. And help us fund on-campus events to support our students – like an alumni “career night” program we are planning for spring.

Any modest gift helps …. a lot! So please show your PLU pride with a gift to the English Department. Thanks!

Join me so we can reach 2,024 supporters. 💛 Give to what you love and your gift can be MATCHED!

04/11/2024

https://www.givecampus.com/xbxq8n

Dear friends of PLU English. PLU's student-run literary arts journal _Saxifrage_ is publishing it's 50th anniversary edition at the end of this month! The _Saxifrage_ editorial team is running a crowd-funding campaign to help pay for production costs, for community events to celebrate this big anniversary, and to keep _Saxifrage_ strong as it heads into the next 50 years! Can you pitch in to help our student team meet their goal?

Join me and make a gift to Saxifrage!

12/11/2023

PLU's literary arts magazine, Saxifrage, is celebrating its 50th anniversary!

There is a short video about the magazine's founding and first half-century of publication on the Saxifrage website. Check it out:

https://www.plu.edu/studentmedia/saxifrage/

10/17/2023

PLU’s Bjug Day fundraising event is here! (today through tomorrow night).

You can designate your Bjug Day gift to benefit a specific PLU program — and we hope you’ll support PLU English.

These are exciting times of change for us, as we implement a revised major and welcome an outstanding cadre of new faculty colleagues.

Your gift will help fund essential faculty-development workshops (on topics like teaching with digital media), and help us provide professional grants to support our junior colleagues.

So show your PLU-English pride with a Bjug-Day gift this year!

Show your love for Lutes by midnight on Oct. 18: www.plu.edu/bjug-day! 🌟 Bjug Day is all about Giving to What You Love — from scholarships to athletics and ...

10/14/2023

10/10/2023

You can designate your Bjug Day gift to benefit a specific PLU program —and we hope you’ll consider supporting your PLU English Department.

These are exciting times of change for us...

We are implementing a revised major that offers students three concentrations of study: Creative writing, Literature - and our new concentration in Professional, Public, and Digital writing!

And we have welcomed an outstanding cadre of new Visiting faculty this year – Professors Bella Bravo (M.F.A. Univ of Wisconsin), Ali Mctar (Ph.D. Princeton), Miranda Morgan (M.F.A. Univ of Montana), and Hannah Comerford (M.F.A. PLU).

Your gift will help us fund essential faculty-development opportunities...
• Pedagogy workshops and training as we implement courses in our new major (including teaching with digital media)
• Grants to support our junior colleagues’ scholarship
As well as exciting on-campus programs for our students... Like our recent Banned Books Week “Read-In”!

Please show your PLU pride with a gift to the English Department!

Join me so we can reach 2,023 Lutes.💛 Give to what you love and your $10+ will be MATCHED!

10/05/2023

Check out PLU's new and improved English Department website! Our alumni profiles are impressive!

The Pacific Lutheran University English department offers emphases in writing and literature, as well as minors in Children’s Literature and Culture and Publishing and Printing Arts.

10/04/2023

Today PLU English and School of Education faculty and students held a rocking Banned Books Week "Read-In"!

Address

12180 Park Avenue SAdministration Building, Room 222
Tacoma, WA
98447

Telephone

+12535357295

Website

http://www.plu.edu/english/

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