Department of English Academic Distinction Statement

As a research-driven, student-centered department, KSU’s Department of English promotes the study of what is unique regarding human expression to empower students to understand who they are and how they should live, while also helping students cultivate and articulate skillsets that will enable them to thrive in viable career pathways.  The department houses three degrees, English (BA), English Education (BS), and Professional Writing (MA), that honor humanistic traditions while teaching students to make a range of contributions to professional and civic life. Additionally, the department is home to core programs in First-Year Composition and General Education Literature, essential areas to KSU’s undergraduate student success ecosystem. The students the department serves are fully representative of the communities we serve in the metropolitan area and region, and we embrace high-impact practices such as mentored research, community-engaged learning, and internships in order to support their ability to succeed. The faculty, who pursue multifaceted research and creative endeavors, elevate KSU’s profile, impacting both local and global communities.

Commit to the Study and Research of English

The Department of English at Kennesaw State is committed to excellent teaching, scholarship, and service to the university and the community. With a dynamic faculty engaged in a variety of research approaches, the department models and promotes scholarship that honors humanistic traditions while making a range of contributions to university and civic life.

2024 excellence in assessment logo gold level

Gold Level for Excellence in Assessment

B.A. in English and B.S. in English Education received the highest rating of “Exceeds” on all criteria in the 2023 – 2024 Assessment of Learning Report.

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January 2026

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    M.A. in Professional Writing Virtual Info Session
    M.A. in Professional Writing Virtual Info Session
    12:00pm

    This event will provide an overview of the MAPW program, application process,
    and admissions requirements for prospective students.

    Buy Tickets
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February 2026

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      Reading and Q&A with Alex Wharton
      Reading and Q&A with Alex Wharton
      6:30pm
      at English Building, 102

      Join us for a reading and Q&A with poet Alex Wharton! 

      Here's a glimpse of Alex's work:

      • Louis Hamilton featuring one of Alex's poems in his Burberry coat at the 2024 Met Gala
      • HRH Princess Katherine recently commissioned Alex to write a signature poem for the UK's Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood at the first-of-its-kind Future Workforce Summit. Alex can be seen at the beginning and end of the clip.
      • Alex reciting one of his poems — This one is so fun!
      • Alex's website and books
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      M.A. in Professional Writing Virtual Info Session
      M.A. in Professional Writing Virtual Info Session
      12:00pm

      This event will provide an overview of the MAPW program, application process,
      and admissions requirements for prospective students.

      Buy Tickets
    • 19
      Thursday
      Building Relationships, Supporting Legible Sovereignties: Developing the Homelands Exhibition at McClung Museum with Dr. Lisa King
      Building Relationships, Supporting Legible Sovereignties: Developing the Homelands Exhibition at McClung Museum with Dr. Lisa King
      11:00am

      Every college and university in the United States is built on Indigenous lands, though the vast majority of these institutions are not well-equipped to understand the relationships and obligations this fact entails. Moreover, many of these institutions have Native American/Indigenous collections in their keeping that may not be NAGPRA compliant, creating further complications and obligations to Native Nations. How does an institution, or even parts of an institution, begin repair work to build relationships with and obligations to Native Nations?  This presentation uses Dr. King’s experiences working with the McClung Museum at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the creation of the Homelands: Connecting to Mounds Through Native Art exhibition alongside four Native Nations as an example of how we can support Indigenous voices and begin the long process of developing better relationships to the peoples whose land we are on. 

       

      Lisa King is Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Writing, and Linguistics and Director of First Year Writing in the Department of English at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Her work is interdisciplinary, based on cultural rhetorics with an emphasis in contemporary Native American/Indigenous rhetorics. She is co-editor of Survivance, Sovereignty, and Story: Teaching American Indian Rhetorics (with Joyce Rain Anderson and Rose Gubele, 2015) and Decolonial Possibilities:  Indigenously Rooted Practices in Rhetoric and Writing (with Andrea Riley Mukavetz, 2025), and author of Legible Sovereignties: Rhetoric, Representations, and Native American Museums (2017). She is also co-curator on a collaborative exhibition with four Native Nations at UTK’s McClung Museum, titled, “Homelands: Connecting to Mounds through Native Art” (2025-2028). 

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      National Haiku Month Writing Workshop
      National Haiku Month Writing Workshop
      2:00pm
      at English Building, 222

      Want to practice concise writing through a timeless creative form? Join us in celebration of National Haiku Writing Month! Learn about the traditions of haiku and how you can craft your very own. This event is open to beginners and experienced writers alike.

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March 2026

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      K-Culture Boom 4.0: Demon Hunters and Global Korean Culture
      K-Culture Boom 4.0: Demon Hunters and Global Korean Culture
      2:30pm

      Professor Kim is an interdisciplinary scholar with doctoral degrees in Interdisciplinary Theatre and Drama (Northwestern University, 2005) and Slavic Language and Literature (Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, 2001). Her work primarily focuses on borderland performances, transmedia, entertainment industry, and the historical roots of today’s popular culture. A large body of Professor Kim’s work explores the cultural history of the two Koreas: from the North Korean propaganda performances to K-pop, from cellphones in Pyongyang to K-drama productions in the age of streaming, her books situate the dynamic pulse of history at the heart of inquiry. Her writings have appeared in English, Korean, Russian, Polish, and German languages. Currently she serves as a member of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council and co-edits the Columbia University Press’ new book series Critical Voices from East Asia. Her commentary on Korean cultural politics has been featured in major media outlets, such as Billboard, NPR, NYT, WSJ, CNN and her opinion pieces have been published by the Los Angeles Times and NBC. She was named a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow, a prestigious honor which recognizes her bold and impactful contributions to the field of Theatre Arts & Performance Studies.

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      M.A. in Professional Writing Virtual Info Session
      M.A. in Professional Writing Virtual Info Session
      12:00pm

      This event will provide an overview of the MAPW program, application process,
      and admissions requirements for prospective students.

      Buy Tickets
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April 2026

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    M.A. in Professional Writing Virtual Info Session
    M.A. in Professional Writing Virtual Info Session
    12:00pm

    This event will provide an overview of the MAPW program, application process,
    and admissions requirements for prospective students.

    Buy Tickets
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    Author Soniah Kamal with Dr. Ananya Vahal-Perez at The Nest
    Author Soniah Kamal with Dr. Ananya Vahal-Perez at The Nest
    2:00pm
    at Sturgis Library, 124

    Soniah Kamal is an award-winning novelist, essayist and public speaker. Her most recent novel, Unmarriageable, has been hailed "the gold standard of Pride and Prejudice adaptations". Unmarriageable is a Financial Times Readers’ Best Book of 2019, a New York Public Library, a NPR Code Switch Summer Read Pick, a People’s Magazine pick, a ‘Books All Georgians Should Read,’ a 2020 Georgia Author of the Year for Literary Fiction nominee and shortlisted for the 2020 Townsend Award for Fiction and more. Soniah's work has appeared in critically acclaimed anthologies and publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic. Soniah has an MFA from Georgia State University where she was a Paul Bowles Fiction Fellow and a BA in Philosophy from St. Johns College where her thesis received the Susan. B. Irene Award.

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May 2026

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No events for this month

June 2026

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July 2026

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August 2026

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September 2026

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October 2026

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November 2026

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December 2026

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