Beverly Chin, Chair, Director, English Teaching, Director, Montana Writing Project

The Department of English is among the oldest and most prestigious units at the University. As one of the campus's original departments, it offered some of the University's inaugural courses, including literature classes taught by UM's first president, Oscar J. Craig. In 1919, Rhodes Scholar H.G. Merriam inaugurated one of the first creative writing programs in the country. Now, more than a century old, this department offers a

B.A. with options in

• Literature,
• Creative Writing,
• Teaching,
• Film Studies, and
• Linguistics

Graduate degrees in

• Creative Writing (M.F.A.),
• Literature (M.A.), and
• Teaching (M.A.).

Our Composition program serves the entire University by offering the first-year composition requirement, as well as courses in advanced composition and graduate seminars in the teaching of writing. We have a relatively new minor in Irish Studies.

Admission Requirements

To be admitted to any option of the undergraduate English major, a student must satisfy the following requirements:

1. Completion of 24 credits overall with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 or a GPA of 2.5 in the previous two terms.
2. Completion of at least nine credits in English, excluding WRIT (composition) courses, with a minimum GPA of 2.5 and no grade lower than a C (2.00) in those courses.

Students who intend to major in English but who have not yet met the above requirements are admitted to the program as pre-English majors. Pre-English majors will be assigned to the English department Academic Advisor. Before a student can graduate with a major in English, she or he must meet the requirements to become an English major and declare a specific option within the program.