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Department of English

Students study together in the Writing Center.

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.

Login to your Fresno State single sign-on, and then start here:

Completed form is due to English Department office no later than Friday, February 7, 2025.

*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 2025

ENGL 169T – American Gothic Literature (Hernandez)

This seminar will focus on Gothic literature, genre that allegorically captures an array of cultural anxieties that pervade cultures.  The Gothic arose as the dark analog to romanticism and pushed the limits of Enlightenment reason, and has been redeployed ever since in new iterations.  We will explore the legacy of the Gothic as a “mode” that gave rise to other genres and modes such as horror, science fiction, fantasy, and the psychological thriller.  This course will sample some early European examples of the Gothic in order to provide a literary genealogy for the genre, but the bulk of the semester will turn to distinctly U.S. reimaginings of Gothicism to suit our particular fears as a fledgling democracy, constantly expanding on a violent frontier, and with a growing economy based on racial capitalism.

ENGL 188T – Hanif Abdurraqib (Church)

Poet, essayist, and cultural critic, Hanif Abdurraqib has become one of the most influential contemporary African American authors in the country. This course will read most or all of his published books of poetry and creative nonfiction, while also studying interviews and listening to the author perform his work. Covering topics as diverse as basketball, family, soccer, pop music, loss, racism, rap, rock and various forms of black performance, Abdurraqib has established himself as a writer to watch.

ENGL 250T – Environmental Rhetoric (McConnell)

Environmental rhetoric aims to merge activism and contention. We will explore the multiple discourses of conservation, ecology, activism, research, and public response. We will study rhetorical ecologies and analyze current arguments (clean water, weather, sustainability, climate change). What does it mean to share concerns and scientific findings with a range of audiences who have varying needs, desires, and ethical concerns? In this course, students will have the opportunity to examine their roles as citizen scholars and support their ability to engage with a range of audiences as they design a rhetorically effective response for an environmental issue, concern, or group of their choice.

ENGL 250T – NC-17 Comics and Graphic Novels (Mandaville)

In the age of “fast media,” comics offers an increasingly popular “slow” form through which to think about ideas and tell stories. Supplementary theory and historical texts will introduce the ancient traditions of comics/graphic narrative: concepts, vocabulary, and evolution of the text/image form. We will read closely a selection of diverse texts, fiction and non-fiction by diverse writers in the US and around the world. Consideration of the role of this form/genre in the context of increasingly dominant digital media will inform creative and critical discussion and writing. Assignments will also include close-reading response papers, a multi-draft literary research essay, in class creative experimentation and a memoir/nonfiction piece in comics form.

Seminars in English – Fall 2025

ENGL 193 – The Fantastical Worlds of Studio Ghibli (Rodríguez-Astacio)

This course will take a deep dive into the fantastical worlds of the Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli, which has a strong presence in the art of animation worldwide, with many of its works being adaptations of fantasy children’s and young adult literature. This course would emphasize their films and the sources that inspired them or were adapted by the studio (both Japanese and Western sources). Similarly, Ghibli films feature female protagonists, and this class will center the heroine’s journey and girlhood in fantasy settings. The accompanying sources for adaptation are fantasy children’s novels, manga, and folktales. Themes include: coming of age, war, history, the environment, family.

ENGL 193 – Contemporary Palestinian American Literature (Jarrar)

The purpose of this course is to survey Palestinian-American literature. The course will also trace the trajectory from "homeland" to the US, examining how Palestinian literature and American fiction have both shaped contemporary Palestinian-American writers. We will explore links between the writers' various cultures and subcultures; between the writers' themes and obsessions; and between gender, sexuality, and ethnicity. We will read literature by Zaina Arafat, Susan Muaddi Darraj, Etaf Rum, Susan Abulhawa. Suheir Hammad, Fady Joudah, George Abraham, Steven Salaita, Isabella Hammad, and Mohammad El-Kurd. Many of the writers will visit class via Zoom.