The English Department fosters versatile and imaginative students with the strong interpretive and communication skills valued by today’s employers. Our information age requires expertise in reading, analyzing, evaluating, and writing about complex issues; our ingenuity economy rewards creativity, improvisation, and adaptability. The many crises facing us in the twenty-first century call for critical and creative thinking, innovative problem solving, historical and cultural awareness, and understanding diverse perspectives. The skills and content we teach in English prepare students for an intricate and rapidly changing world.

We are offering an exciting lineup of classes in Spring 21. Please read here for the course descriptions. As you’ll see, our instructors have designed engaging courses with care and attention to the highest quality of instruction in traditional and online formats.

Students have the choice between fully in-person, hybrid, and fully online classes. Judging from their success last semester, we can assure you our online offerings are robust, challenging, and rewarding. Instructors have been working hard to create an enriching virtual classroom experience by integrating an array of strategies with new technologies like chat and breakout rooms. While we all look forward to a safe return to in-person learning, we are confident that students are mastering core skills and material in the Covid interim.

As always, this spring you will be in the hands of outstanding teachers and mentors – many of whom are award-winning educators. But this year we are converting the challenges of distance into new opportunities for connection. Instructors are using Zoom to meet more frequently with students one-on-one and in small groups. Classroom community and conversation are forming inside and outside designated class time on digital media such as GroupMe and Twitter. Virtual activities and extracurricular series—from writing clubs, to the Critical Reading Project, to the “Career Conversations” series—help keep students close to the department, faculty and each other, academic success, and career goals.

Please reach out to me (michelle.sizemore@uky.edu) if you have any questions or concerns. I also invite students to my weekly in-person and virtual office hours Tuesdays, 2:00-4:00 p.m.– please check the English undergraduate newsletter for location and Zoom link.