An English Degree with Direction: Pathways to Real Careers

“To be a good writer is to read, and to be a good reader is to write.”

When you hear the phrase “English major,” what comes to mind? Many will just assume it’s a pathway to a teaching career, or perhaps lead to journalism or PR jobs. A recent restructuring of George Fox University’s English major is helping to better define just where the major can take you.

Jessica Hughes, department chair of the Department of English and Languages, introduced this new approach to the major, with the goal of getting away from preceding binary paths toward more innovative, interwoven pathways. Previously, the major was split into literature and writing concentrations with separate roadmaps for each concentration. While some classes overlapped, many students stayed separated outside of core courses.

Now, newly created pathways allow students to choose from three career-focused paths: literary arts, teaching and travel, and creative storytelling. Students are now able to explore career interests without binding themselves to one track. They act as guide rails, making sure that students will have the correct courses in order to pursue their desired career after graduation.

In a discussion, professor Hughes emphasized the sentiment of pathways stemming from a desire to better prepare students after graduation. She talked about the importance of writers reading and readers writing. Because reading and writing are so closely related to the success of any career stemming from an English major, she introduced the pathways with the hope that students will be prepared for any career in the humanities or beyond.

The literary arts pathway focuses on high literary culture, such as becoming a novelist or writer; working in the publishing industry or higher education; or pursuing a master’s degree in library science. Opportunities on campus to build your portfolio include The Wineskin, a student-run journal of art, prose and poetry, and applying to be a student worker at the campus library. Students from any year or major can submit work to be included in the journal.

Teaching and travel explores options for teaching abroad and prepares students for a Master of Arts in Teaching, training them to teach in public or private schools across the country. Students in this pathway will have the courses needed to graduate with a TESOL (Teach English to Speakers of Other Languages) certificate, which is acknowledged by many institutions and schools as the standard for teaching abroad and in the U.S. Many students teach abroad for a period of time after graduation.

Creative storytelling prepares students interested in journalism and business writing, either for nonprofits or a variety of businesses. Students can get real-world experience writing for publications such as The Crescent, a student-run newspaper, and internships at the local newspaper, Newsberg. There are classes specifically for journalism, magazine and feature writing, as well as creative writing classes to hone storytelling skills.

These pathways will help students to identify career and educational goals, allowing them to focus on graduating with all of the credentials necessary for their passionately pursued occupation, and professor Hughes is to thank for helping to better define how to pursue those callings.