Student Resources

Students in English Department programs have a wide variety of challenging and engaging coursework to choose from in our department. You can also choose to participate in our student organizations, creative activities, publishing projects, and scholarly and literary events.

Includes independent study, independent reading, and thesis units.

Supervised Course Request (SCR) form — Graduate students (GRAD)
Supervised Course Request (SCR) form — Undergraduates (UGRD)

Completed form for Fall 2026 is due to English Department office no later than Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. No exceptions.

*Limit one form per each course request, please.*

After all participants have signed, your request will be processed within 3-5 business days. You can expect an email from the office with your class number and enrollment information.

Questions about the SCR process? Email the department staff.

Topics courses are taught seminar style, with substantial reading, research, and writing included.

Topics Courses – Fall 2026

ENGL 169T – Black Horror: Identity, Terror, and Disruptions in Film and Literature (Blackburn)

Examination of how Black filmmakers and contemporary authors use the horror genre to investigate historical trauma, identity, and recognition of oppressive cultural realities while reimagining survival, community, and liberation. Exploration of the intersections of fear and social analysis through close readings and screenings that trace horror as both genre and cultural critique.

ENGL 175T/278T – Contemporary Rhetorics (Wang)

What is rhetoric? How do we define rhetoric? What do we do with rhetoric? How do we do it, and why? Focus on identity and identification, the right to speak/discursive power, silence/silencing, listening, recognition, (dis)memory, space, materiality, and the conditions for cross-cultural dialogue.

ENGL 188T – Lidia Yuknavitch (Womer)

The acclaimed author of four novels, two memoirs, a story collection, and a manifesto, contemporary author Yuknacitch’s works reside at the intersection of the personal and political has been regularly praised for its “searing honesty, wide-open compassion, and sensual engagement with this earthly realm,” and for breaking “down barriers of time and space, of history and language.” Yuknavitch’s groundbreaking and revolutionary workshop practice of “Corporeal Writing” embraces a body-centered philosophy of artmaking.

ENGL 250T – A.I. and Literature (Foster)

Study of the ethics, effects, and possibilities for a digital humanities approach to literary studies concentrated on the intersection of A.I. and literary analysis and argumentation. Topics include ethics and use of A.I. for expanding academic creativity; research; critical digital pedagogy; periodic literary studies; and intersectional theoretical approaches.

ENGL 250T – Palestinian Literature (Jarrar)

Anglophone-Palestinian diaspora literature through frameworks of diaspora studies, postcolonial theory, and transnational literary studies. We will trace literary trajectories from "homeland" to diaspora, analyzing how Palestinian writers negotiate questions of belonging, displacement, memory, and resistance across geographic and cultural boundaries.

Seminars in English – Fall 2026

ENGL 193 – Frankenstein (Mandaville)

With Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel as an anchor text and Guillermo del Toro’s 2025 film as the most recent example, this course explores literary and cinematic reimaginings of monstrous human creations, including A.I., to consider why this story/trope has such staying power, particularly over the last century. Queer, feminist, race, and disability scholarship will help inform discussion.

ENGL 193 – Age of the Plantation (Gordon)

The plantationocene, or “age of the plantation,” is an environmental humanities term that centers slavery, colonialism, capitalism, and race in discussions of climate change and social justice. This course surveys current research and theory on the topic, then extends and elaborates on that research by way of primary texts from the literary history of the plantation, including by Frederick Douglass, Martin R. Delany, William Faulkner, and Jesmyn Ward. Other materials include literary theory and environmental studies texts by Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing, Sophie Chao, and Sylvia Wynter; painting, film, conceptual art, music, and poetry; and local California/Central Valley case studies.

Bulldogs for Recovery — Helps students learn healthier ways to cope with substance use, safe partying, etc.
Career Development Center — Gives students a one-stop shop for job opportunities and professional development.
Dream Success Center — Helps students who may have mixed or undocumented immigration statuses.
Learning Center — Provides students with tutoring, supplemental instruction, academic success coaching, etc.
Let's Talk Counseling — Gives students easy access to confidential and anonymous mental health counseling.
Money Management Center — Helps students learn techniques for budgeting, credit, and debt management.
Student Cupboard — An on-campus food pantry that provides students with free food and hygiene products.
Student Health and Counseling Center — A full, high-quality on-campus health facility for students.
Victim Advocacy Services — Provides confidential support to students impacted by interpersonal violence.
Writing Center — Helps students with their writing assignments, from start to finish.