From the Chair

Dear Friends of the Department,

Welcome to the Department of English and Comparative Literature (ECL)! It is a great privilege to serve as chair of our department, which has modeled excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service at Carolina for over 225 years. We plan to keep doing so.

A shared sense of purpose binds our faculty, students, and staff together in a strong community of learning. Embracing our motto “Moving Words, Powerful Ideas,” we produce and share knowledge through print, digital, and visual media in our classrooms and far beyond. The department teaches every Carolina undergraduate through our First Year Writing Program. Our award-winning faculty are dedicated scholars and teachers, providing an exceptional educational experience for undergraduate and graduate students alike. Our teachers prepare students to create, communicate, and think critically, and train them to become exemplary leaders for North Carolina, the United States, and the world. Through podcasts, talks in public schools and libraries, and events such as the Thomas Wolfe Lecture, Triangle Film Salon, and Jane Austen Summer Program, we share our love of words, ideas, and learning with the public.

We are a diverse and inclusive department that regards variety as a source of creativity, innovation, and knowledge. Our programs and initiatives reflect the varied research and study interests of our faculty and students. Undergraduate majors may now choose to focus on one of seven concentrations, including British and American Literature, Comparative Literature, Film Studies, and more. We house the Digital Literacy and Communications Lab, as well as programs in Creative Writing, Film Studies, Latino/a Studies, and Health Humanities. We are honored that our alumni find their experiences in our department a rewarding and inspiring springboard for success. The alumni profiles on our website show that Carolina’s English and Comparative Literature education provides a strong foundation for a wide range of professions, from publishing to financial services, from medicine to film production, from teaching to practicing the law, and more.

Many of the department’s programs and initiatives require private support to sustain our success as we move into the future. Our generous friends and alumni enhance the English and Comparative Literature Department and allow us to keep providing an outstanding educational experience for our students, campus and beyond.

Private giving to the Department of English and Comparative Literature enables the following:

• Strengthening of the educational experience for our undergraduate majors through enhanced research and pre-professional opportunities.
• Improving support for our graduate students, increasing recruitment fellowships to competitive levels with our peer institutions and shortening time to complete the degree.
• Increasing support for the research of our accomplished faculty, whose outstanding scholarship and teaching ensure a bright future of educational achievement that benefits our students, department, and the community.