The 4+1 Program in English allows SUNY Cortland students in English or Professional Writing to complete both their BA and MA in just five years. With just one additional year of coursework, students in the program graduate with a Master’s in English.
As one of the largest departments on campus, English provides students many options for literary and cultural study while preserving small class sizes. Our award-winning faculty offer a variety of courses in literature, professional writing, and adolescence education, covering topics such as Shakespeare, world literature, rhetoric, new media, and 21st century literacies.
Students actively participate in the process of reading and writing and study how words work: how they can be shaped into literary art, organized into a lesson plan, or developed into distinct genres, from poetry to a resume; how we use them to fashion our understanding of ourselves and our place in local, national, and global communities.
Upon graduation, a SUNY Cortland English major is not only in demand by creative and professional institutions, but also well prepared for graduate school, law school, and careers in teaching, journalism, new media, communications and business.
Check out these additional resources on why majoring in English brings a lifetime of opportunity, career choice, and excitement:
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As scholars and teachers of English, we believe that language matters. Therefore, we write to denounce—in the strongest possible terms—the police brutality and murder that have stolen so many Black lives. We believe that Black Lives Matter. We acknowledge, too, that systemic racism not only grounds institutions of policing, mass incarceration, capitalism, and the state, but also education. All too often, English classrooms are spaces where white supremacy is enforced, not contested and rejected, where literature only reflects a blindingly white minority, where only one mode of speaking or writing is valued. As English faculty, we commit to interrogating and resisting the histories of structural racism that make whiteness seem natural or default; we commit to intersectional pedagogy, which understands racism as shaped by other forces of oppression, including sexism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism; and we commit to listening, so that our classrooms may be spaces for the continual unlearning of prejudice and oppression. We invite our students to join us in speaking loudly against racism in all forms.
The English Club welcomes students from across SUNY Cortland to connect through their shared appreciation of language and literature. For more information, visit the Club's page at Cortland Connect.
SUNY Cortland hosts a chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the international honors society for students of English. For more information, contact the chapter's faculty advisor, Prof. John Leffel.
The Cortland Writers Association is a community of young collegiate writers passionate about inspiring others to see reality through a beautiful lens, one student’s pen at a time. At SUNY Cortland's CWA, we are passionate about making our writing visions come to life, with the support and input of one another. Whether you're a poet, a creative writer, an aspiring writer, or just need help with an essay, CWA is a safe place to come share and create work. We invite you to come create with us every Monday at 7 in Corey Union, Room 209. Visit the Cortland Writers Association page.