Language & Communication Department

Prepare for a Lifetime of Opportunities

If you want to read great literature, learn how to write for diverse purposes, and study how language creates our culture and can be used to change the world, the Bachelor of Arts in English program at the University of Michigan-Flint is for you.

While the diverse and flexible curriculum provides broad expertise in writing, literature, and linguistics, it ultimately centers on getting you employed. Throughout your courses, you learn skills employers highly value: communicating, writing, critical thinking, teamwork, cultural sensitivity, and empathy, among others. These skills, which are transferable from one career to the next, will help make you an ideal candidate for the dozen jobs the federal government predicts you’ll have in your lifetime.

Through the development of an adaptable skill set in listening, reading, and writing, along with linguistic sensitivity and emotional intelligence, as an English major, you will be prepared for a lifetime of personal and professional success. This includes being ready for a career as an editor or educator, a politician or producer, a director of advertising or human resources, a manager of public relations or social media, and various other opportunities.

Why UM-Flint?

Our faculty have been intensively trained and are engaged in research or creative writing, but they come to UM-Flint because they love teaching and helping students succeed. That commitment extends to taking the time to work with you individually.

It also extends to mentoring students. As an English major, you have a faculty mentor you can talk with about planning your studies, internships, research opportunities, planning for jobs or graduate school, time management, work/life balance, and much more.

English majors at UM-Flint have virtually unlimited opportunities to learn and grow. Here are just a few examples:

• The English Department regularly invites students to participate in community service and outreach projects like Exploring Mideast Michigan’s Empty Spaces: A Traveler’s Guide, an update to the 1941 Federal Writers’ Project guide to Michigan, and the Community Foundation of Greater Flint’s Neighborhood Oral History Project.
• In a paid or volunteer role, you can collaborate with faculty on state-of-the-art research in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program.
• UM-Flint’s Writing Center offers help with your writing and opportunities to be a paid tutor.
• Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honors society, provides the chance to meet and learn with students who share your interests and career aspirations.
• Volunteer opportunities abound at local organizations like the Flint & Genesee Literacy Network and Legal Services of Eastern Michigan.
• You can participate in local events like the Flint Community Read and the Flint Festival of Writers.