Formerly Known as the English Department 

by Ahlaam Abdulwali ’25

At the beginning of the semester, all majors and minors received an email announcing that the English department would be rebranded as the The English and Creative Writing department. This change also merged the creative writing and literature tracks. We wanted to check in with Matt Burgess, the department chair, to get his perspective of the name change and what that means for the department’s future. 

What inspired faculty to change the name of the department?

An emphasis on the collaborative and productive relationships between literature and creative writing infuses everything we do here in the department. So we decided: why not change our name to reflect that? As an added benefit, all our students will now have more flexibility in choosing classes.

Describe what it was like in the room when the conversation occurred?

Excited! 

Were students confused about the department name previously?

I don’t think students were confused, but creative writing students had fewer elective choices compared to their counterparts on the literature path. For example, a creative writing student couldn’t count an internship toward their major, which didn’t seem fair. We wanted to make the major easier to navigate, for everyone. 

How do you feel about the name change? 

I love it! I’m especially excited that students will no longer self-identify as “just” creative writing majors, or “just” literature majors. I’m a novelist who benefits enormously from reading widely across historical periods and engaging deeply with scholarly research. Hard distinctions between literature and creativity don’t make a whole lot of sense to me. All of us, faculty and students alike, are here for the same reason: because the study and production of literature help us to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

How will the English major requirements differ from what they are now?

They’ll be easier to navigate. “Intro to Creative Writing” now counts as a foundation course, everyone takes four electives of their own choosing (which can include a literary course in a language other than English, up to two courses from a study away program, an internship, and/or a preceptorship), and seniors can now choose between a creative writing capstone (so long as they’ve taken at least one creative writing crafts class) or a literary studies capstone.

Thank you Matt for taking the time to answer our questions! We hope that this clarifies any questions you might have about the department’s name change. Make sure to pick up a department sticker with the new name in the English department office!