Department of English
306 Clemens HallNorth Campus
Buffalo, NY
Chad Lavin, Associate Professor
Interim Chair
David Alff, Associate Professor
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Christanne Miller, SUNY Distinguished Professor
Director of Digital Humanities Minor
Nikolaus Wasmoen, Visiting Assistant Professor in English and Digital Humanities
Program Advisor, Digital Humanities Minor
Why study Digital Humanities Minor at UB?
*Not a baccalaureate degree program
All branches of learning rely increasingly on digital tools and knowledge—including in the Humanities. Digital Humanities is distinct from other fields of study in computational methods in its focus on applying or adapting digital tools and framework to research questions, debates, and problems in the Humanities. The interdepartmental Digital Humanities Minor equips students with critical thinking and technological skills, while providing hands on experience through workshops and internships where students can apply what they are learning in the classroom to projects on campus and in the community. The minor is open to students from all majors.
Students in the minor will be trained to define complex problems in ways that allow them to apply technologies effectively and critically toward solutions, while accounting for the social, cultural, and ethical ramifications of those technologies. In addition to gaining competence in the use of high-powered, widely applicable digital technologies, students in the minor will acquire skills in collaboration, written and spoken communication, web design, project management, and presentation and portfolio building.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of all requirements, the student will have knowledge to:
- Engage in critical thinking and problem-solving skills
- Use fundamental digital humanities concepts and terminology
- Use fundamental digital humanities tools and methods
- Make persuasive self-presentations in a digital environment
- Conduct collaborative research and projects in project-based teams
- Define, plan, and execute a short-term independent multimedia research project
- Identify and analyze information and data across multiple formats and domains
- Exercise time-management and personal organization skills in relation to the demands of internship and host-project training, documentation, and communication
- Understand ethical dimensions of digital humanities research, tools, and projects
The Learning Environment
The central mission of the English department is to offer students a unique learning experience that features small classes, lively discussion with their fellow students, and close working relationships with faculty members. Our curriculum provides opportunities to discover literature and cinema from around the world, to develop as creative writers, and to practice the craft of journalism. In classes of every size (from large lecture courses to seminars, workshops, independent studies and senior thesis projects), at all levels of instruction, whether in the classroom or remote, our goal is to foster the individual growth of our students as readers and writers through critical thinking, class discussion, exploration and experimentation.
About Our Facilities
The home of English Department is Clemens Hall, where students come to meet with faculty advisors and mentors during office hours. The department holds classes in centrally scheduled spaces throughout the campus, which includes traditional classrooms and lecture halls that are amenable to our program’s teaching goals.
About Our Faculty
The faculty consists of nationally and internationally prominent scholars and writers who also take teaching very seriously, including six faculty members who have won the prestigious SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching or have been made Distinguished Teaching Professors. Their interests range from early modern literature to postmodernism and include cultural studies, postcolonialism, psychoanalytic theory, film, gender and sexuality studies, visual studies, poetics, Marxism, documentary, African-American literature, ecocriticism, mythology and much more
Each semester, the department also offers courses taught by approximately 60 teaching assistants and 20 adjunct instructors.
We welcome students to meet with the director of undergraduate studies (303 Clemens Hall, 716-645-2579) to discuss any aspect of our program (individual courses, major requirements, study abroad, grants, internships and more).
Faculty List Directory
Please visit the English department website for additional information about our faculty.
Career Outlook
Skills gained in this program include:
- Writing: Writing creatively, creating persuasive messages, using precise language, assessing an audience, presenting specific viewpoints, writing concisely, drafting documents and editing.
- Research: Defining problems, establishing hypotheses, gathering information, using original sources, interpreting data, summarizing and presenting information and evaluating results.
- Critical Thinking: Thinking independently, reading critically, understanding components of complex problems, perceiving patterns/structures, comparing/contrasting, synthesizing themes and summarizing ideas.
Academic Advising
New English minors, whether transfer students or continuing students, are invited to schedule a meeting with the director of undergraduate studies to discuss in more detail both the requirements of the major and their individual course of study.
Students should normally complete or be waived from the university writing skills requirement (ENG 101 and ENG 201 in the old General Education curriculum, ENG 105 and a CL2 course in the new curriculum) before registering for courses numbered 202 and above. However, English majors and minors may also be simultaneously enrolled in the university writing requirement courses when taking their first courses in the department.
Within the parameters of our general course descriptions (e.g. Studies in the Novel), instructors choose authors, texts, topics and approaches that suit their interests and expertise. More information about particular courses can be found in the Whole English Catalog, found in the English Undergraduate Office, 303 Clemens Hall.
Academic Advising Contact Information
To schedule an appointment with the director of undergraduate studies, please call the English Undergraduate office, 716-645-2579, or visit us in 303 Clemens Hall.
Scholarships and Financial Support
Students in the English department may qualify for scholarships and financial support from a number of funding sources, including: