Department of English

 

Department of English

Mission Statement

As part of the country’s largest urban public university system and Brooklyn’s only open-access community college, the English Department at Kingsborough is committed to the social justice mission of the City University of New York. English is a crucial contributor to the Liberal Arts program and offers all Kingsborough students a foundation in reading and writing through the required core composition sequence. Our faculty believe that critical reading, research, and writing cultivate the humanistic thinking that is essential for active engagement and participation in a democracy.

We believe that everyone has the capacity to expand their literacy, to explore new ways of thinking through reading and research, and to use writing as a vital form of expression, communication, and discovery. Through exposure to a diverse range of works, students in English build a writing practice that explores creative, scholarly, and public genres. Gaining experience in critical writing and research, students also deepen their cultural, media, and information literacy. This attention to the myriad ways language and writing shape our personal and civic lives and our world will position our students to excel in a variety of careers, intellectual pursuits, and creative endeavors.

The English Department is a vibrant community of scholars specializing in literary studies, cultural studies, writing studies, English-as-a-second language, and creative writing. Our diverse expertise and pedagogical approaches offer students a rigorous and dynamic educational experience. We are committed to fostering scholarship, creativity, and professional growth by supporting faculty and inspiring our students to explore the transformative power of reading and writing in all their forms. We offer Liberal Arts A.A. degree concentrations in Literary Study and in Creative writing, along with core composition courses designed to empower you, as a Kingsborough student, to meet the writing and reading challenges you'll find in your future college classes and in the broader world.

  • Department of English

  • 2001 Oriental Boulevard
    Room C-309
    Brooklyn, NY 11235

  • 718-368-5849

Department Chairperson

 

 

Coordinators, Composition Course Sequence

Co-Directors, ESL Program
Area Director, Literary Studies English Academic Coordinator, KLC
 Area Director, Creative Writing

Testimonials of English Majors at KCC

Suri Duitch

Interim President

Studied English at Columbia College, Columbia University, B.A.

Being an English major provided me with a foundation for my lifelong work to improve my writing skills. It made me a deeper reader, which also helps with writing skills. And reading was and continues to be one of the primary ways in which I relate to the world and learn about people and cultures that are different from me. Literature is my lens for understanding the world.

Johana Rivera

Vice President for Enrollment Management

B.A. in English, Brooklyn College.

As a non-native speaker, I was eager to immerse myself in the language. I focused on comparative literature, which allowed me to explore the similarities and differences across a diverse array of texts. This academic journey provided a solid foundation that significantly enhanced my writing skills.

Chanel Bishop

Assistant Dean of Advisement

B.A. in English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

My English training helped me to learn how to think about the experience of the reader and to think creatively about how to engage an audience, all crucial for the work that I do within higher education.

Pittershawn Palmer

Communications Publications Editorial Manager

B.A. in English, Iona University.

As one of the writers in my department, drawing on my English training is a given. In my personal life, as a writer, poet, and editor, English is primary. English was and continues to be my road to other worlds.

Scott Andrew Cally

Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Communications & Performing Arts

Lafayette College, B.A. English.

An English degree teaches you, among other things, to analyze and write. These are two essential skills for almost any professional career.

Jonathan Cavalieri

Institutional Effectiveness Manager.

Queens College, B.A.

The ability to identify subtext and critically analyze text has been a transferrable skill, valuable throughout my career