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Program Overview

Program Overview

Explore the complex and compelling relationships among languages, literature, and cultures. Engage in critical thinking and discussion with peers and faculty who will challenge your worldview, whether you’re debating gender theory or interpreting poetry. 

A highly personalized academic experience will allow you to cultivate an area of expertise with our tracks writing, teaching or literature. You’ll thrive in our small classes where your technical skills are sharpened and your creativity is magnified. Plus, close mentorships with your professors provide access to competitive internships and publishing opportunities. 

If you choose the teaching route, you will be prepared in the areas of classroom management and intercultural competence along with literature, writing, cultural studies and communication core studies. A diverse set of local schools will welcome you in and provide you with hands-on learning opportunities.

Our students’ robust reading, writing and critical thinking skills serve them in many diverse career paths—in fact, recent grads have flourishing careers across industries like law, medicine, education and business. Our program proves that your love for language can help make you a marketable candidate for employment or postgraduate study. 

14:1

Student to faculty ratio

Internship

Become more competitive in the job market with an internship related to your interests. You’ll gain experience and boost your exposure. An internship will also help you learn whether you’ve chosen a career you’ll enjoy.

Job placement

With a top-tier university education on your resume, you’ll be in high demand, whether you choose to launch your career or begin graduate school. Most of our programs have a placement rate of at least 90 percent within six months of graduation.

Expert faculty, small class sizes

Learn from award-winning, experienced faculty who actually care about you. Our small class sizes allow us to get to know you personally. We lead an approachable community within our respective programs. Our faculty connections are the experts on their subject matter, too.

Our Faculty

  • Willie Steele headshot

    Willie Steele

    Professor

    Willie Steele grew up in Ohio before completing his undergraduate degree (English and Speech Communication) from Lipscomb University where he ran cross country and track. He stayed in Tennessee to...

    Meet Willie Steele
  • Dana Carpenter headshot

    Dana Carpenter

    Professor

    Chamblee Carpenter is an Associate Professor who teaches American literature and Creative Writing. She is also an award-winning novelist. Her debut novel, Bohemian Gospel, won Killer Nashville's Claymore Award and...

    Meet Dana Carpenter

Career Paths

Proofreaders and copy markers

Read transcript or proof type setup to detect and mark for correction any grammatical, typographical, or compositional errors. Excludes workers whose primary duty is editing copy. Includes proofreaders of Braille.

High School Teachers

High school teachers help prepare students for life after graduation. They teach academic lessons and various skills that students will need to attend college and to enter the job market.

Writers and Authors

Writers and authors develop written content for various types of media, including advertisements; books; magazines; movie, play, and television scripts; and blogs.