The largest department in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, English offers a range of undergraduate majors and concentrations, minors, and graduate programs. We also offer many courses of interest to the University community as a whole, and we work with other departments and programs -- such as Foreign Languages and Literatures, Women's Studies, Communications, Education -- to furnish multidisciplinary opportunities for NC State students.

Most students first become acquainted with the department in First-Year Writing courses, where they find focused, small-class instruction in composition and critical thinking. After the Freshman year, many students fulfil their General Humanities Requirement with an English class, others enroll in the various Professional Writing classes, while still others decide to major in English. Majors choose among concentrations in Language and Literature (LAN), in Language, Writing & Rhetoric (LWR), in World Literature (LIT), in Creative Writing (LCW), in Teacher Education (LTN), and in Literature, Language and Science (LSN). Other options include minors and courses in Linguistics, Film Studies, and Journalism.

Graduate students enroll in either the Master of Arts in English program (with concentrations in English & American literature, Linguistics, Creative Writing, Rhetoric & Composition, and World Literature), the Master of Science in Technical Communication program, or the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.

In partnership with NCSU’s Department of Communication, the English Department also offers an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media (CRDM). Built on the premise that new developments in communication media and information technologies require a dramatic shift in instruction and research, this program integrates the study of oral, written, and visual modes of communication to focus on the human dimensions of information and communication technologies.