English and Media Studies B.A., General Concentration

Courses to complete the General Concentration are available both in our semester-based and YourPace modalities.

Students in the English Program at UMPI learn to think and communicate effectively, creatively, and critically in a variety of settings. Regardless of their areas of specialization–creative writing, literary studies, and media and cultural studies–all of our English majors are able to communicate clearly to a target audience, think critically and argue a point persuasively, and conduct research to find and synthesize information. Students who major in English graduate with strong reading, writing, and analytical skills that are in high demand by employers in a wide range of professions, such as publishing, writing, marketing, media/web development, government, and non-profit work, just to name a few. Our graduates also go into teaching or on to graduate study in the arts and humanities, business, or law.

Mission & Outcomes

Students will be able to:

1. Analyze and critique the production and reception of communicative forms to recognize how cultural identities are constructed and negotiated through social interactions as well as identify the boundaries of texts across diverse cultures, genres, modalities, and historical periods.
2. Create a variety of materials for real world situations by locating, evaluating, and using evidence relevant to audience, purpose, context, and design convention.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the history, theory, and practice of mass media, literary forms and technology, including its social dynamics, ethical concerns, and multimodal literacies.
4. Conduct innovative analyses of how media and literary forms intersect with everyday life and the broader cultural forces that shape individuals’ relationships with global communities.
5. Use interdisciplinary methods to clearly and persuasively convey information to professional, academic, and mass audiences through written, visual, and oral communication strategies.
6. Demonstrate the ability to critically select and apply appropriate techniques, forms, and conventions from creative, academic, or professional writing to produce (original and) effective work within a chosen genre.