EIU Department of English

Mission Statement

The English Department of Eastern Illinois University offers undergraduate and graduate programs that assure intellectual and academic excellence among English majors and minors.  In promoting awareness of cultural diversity in the study of language and literature, encouraging creativity, fostering proficient student writing in an age of digital communications, and making appropriate contributions to general education and to other University programs, the Department serves a function central to the University’s mission.  The Department maintains a diverse, highly qualified faculty committed to excellence in teaching, research/creative activity, and service, attracting a diverse population of students of high quality who will graduate as independent, critical readers, thinkers, and writers.  Department faculty are actively involved in planning, articulating, administrating and assessing the aims of the Department, and in pursuing outreach programs and interactions among faculty, staff, students, and community.