Department of English

English Department Stories

Writing for the Profession Students Write Proposals for Grant Funds as Service Learning Project         

Members of Jamie McDaniel's Writing for the Profession class recently spoke with Becky Gray, PSU English Alumnus and Director of Research, Planning, and Grants Development for Southeast Kansas Community Action Agency (SEK-CAP), about grant and proposal writing.

As part of a service-learning component of the course, the students are completing a grant proposal in response to a SEK-CAP request for proposals.  If SEK-CAP selects to fund their proposal, then the English Department will use the funds to purchase Adobe software that students will use for service learning projects.  For example, students could create or revise documents for SEK-CAP in order to help the organization in their mission to fight poverty.

McDaniel says, "Whether students study literature, creative writing, rhetoric / composition, or technical / professional writing, the art of grant writing is an important skill.  The students can now write proposals to fund a research proposal, to finance the writing of a novel, or to pay for further graduate study."

Pictured from left to right are Jean Lozano-Pittsley, Becky Gray, Leslie Bowman, Carla Chadd, Robin Pettibon, Michelle Gorges, Taylor Longnecker, and Kylie Klenke.

 Alumni success stories

 Faculty success stories 

Student and Faculty Activities

Faculty and students in the PSU English Department participate in a range of departmental activities outside the classroom. The Distinguished Visiting Writers Series brings prominent writers to our campus for readings, class discussions, and conversation. Each year the winner of the Victor J. Emmett Memorial Prize is invited to campus to receive the prize and present a scholarly lecture. Our students write, edit, and produce Cow Creek Review, the student literary journal that showcases our students' fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry. The department also sponsors Sigma Tau Delta English Honors Society.

Writing Support

The facilities in our department enhance students' reading and writing abilities. The Department has a Computer Lab and supports The Writing Center @ PSU. In addition to staffed, physical facilities, the English Department helps coordinates a university-wide program called Writing to Learn. All PSU students enroll in a series of Writing to Learn courses that emphasize intensive writing skills across the disciplines.