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English Department offers a full array of courses in British and American
literature, as well as other literatures in English. We also offer courses
in creative writing, journalism, film, theater, and new media. The department
encourages interdisciplinary study and provides an environment that fosters
intimate and interactive learning and teaching. There are extensive opportunities
for undergraduates to pursue internships and independent research. The
department offers an English major with separate tracks in literature,
creative writing, theater, and language, media, and communication, along
with minors in English literature, writing (journalism or creative writing),
and theater. Our internationally recognized graduate program offers both
M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, and our alums have gone on to academic careers
in some of the nation's most respected colleges and universities. The
department sponsors an annual reading series featuring world-renowned
poets and fiction writers, as well as numerous distinguished outside
speakers. It also regularly hosts conferences, workshops, and symposia
on a wide variety of subjects of scholarly and general interest.
Department Chair: John Michael (585) 275-9257
Director of Graduate Studies: Thomas Hahn (585) 275-9259
Director of Undergraduate Studies: Rosemary Kegl (585) 275-9246
Mailing Address:
Department of English
404 Morey Hall
RC Box 270451
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627-0451
Locations and Phone Numbers:
404 Morey Hall, River Campus
Phone: (585) 275-4092
Fax: (585) 442-5769
William Blake Archive
507 Morey Hall, River Campus
Phone: (585) 275-0432
Fax: (585) 442-5769
Debate Program
404 Morey Hall, River Campus
Phone: (585) 275-3873
Fax: (585) 442-5769
International Theatre Program
107 Todd Union, River Campus
Phone: (585) 275-4959
Fax: (585) 461-4547
New Book!
Identity and the Failure of America
by John Michael
In Identity and the Failure of America, John Michael explores the contradictions between a mythic national identity promising justice to all and the realities of a divided, hierarchical, and frequently iniquitous history and social order. Through a series of insightful readings, Michael analyzes such cultural moments as the epic dramatization of the tension between individual ambition and communal complicity in Moby Dick, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s antislavery activism, and Frederick Douglass’s long fight for racial equity. Focusing on exemplary instances when the nature of the United States as an essentially conflicted nation turned to force, Michael ultimately posits the development of a more cosmopolitan American identity, one that is more fully and justly imagined in response to the nation’s ethical failings at home and abroad.
John Michael is professor of English and of visual and cultural studies at the University of Rochester. He is the author of Anxious Intellects: Academic Prefessionals, Public Intellectuals and Enlightenment Values and Emerson and Skepticism: The Cipher of the World.
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English Department offers a full array of courses in British and American
literature, as well as other literatures in English. We also offer courses
in creative writing, journalism, film, theater, and new media. The department
encourages interdisciplinary study and provides an environment that fosters
intimate and interactive learning and teaching. There are extensive opportunities
for undergraduates to pursue internships and independent research. The
department offers an English major with separate tracks in literature,
creative writing, theater, and language, media, and communication, along
with minors in English literature, writing (journalism or creative writing),
and theater. Our internationally recognized graduate program offers both
M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, and our alums have gone on to academic careers
in some of the nation's most respected colleges and universities. The
department sponsors an annual reading series featuring world-renowned
poets and fiction writers, as well as numerous distinguished outside
speakers. It also regularly hosts conferences, workshops, and symposia
on a wide variety of subjects of scholarly and general interest. 
