Student Opportunities

Student Organizations

Our faculty work with and support student organizations that provide leadership and professional development opportunities. These organizations allow you to network with fellow students and build relationships within the department.

Get involved in one of the student organizations devoted to English majors and minors:

Creative Writing Club

Those interested in creative writing will find themselves amongst their peers in the Creative Writing Club. Discuss and share writing with other students, talk about career and publishing opportunities, and most importantly, get those creative minds working!

Folklore Club

Everyone participates in and creates folklore, but very few realize it. The Folklore Club create opportunities to explore traditions, foodways, and other types of folklore in the local area and the world. Membership is open to everyone.

Sigma Tau Delta

Sigma Tau Delta is an international English Honor Society, with over 900 active chapters in the United States, that strives to uplift English students. They provide cultural stimulation on college campuses and promote interest in literature and the English language in surrounding communities of their local chapters.

Workplace Writing Forum

The Workplace Writing Forum (WWF) (formerly Society for Technical Communication – Student Chapter) is a student organization that sponsors informative programs for students to learn more about the practice of writing and designing content for functional uses. Students can learn more about publishing information for a variety of fields, such as technological, medical, and legal fields.

Learn More About MSU Student Organizations

Publications

The English Department sponsors  Moon City Press, a publishing organization, to offer students the chance to experience the behind-the-scenes work in editing and publishing. This group of faculty and students from MSU and other universities in the region collaborates to select and edit content, design page layouts, and handle all other production duties for Moon City publications. Students can participate in all aspects of publishing and build marketable skills through this work.

Alternatively, English Department students often collaborate with the Honors College to publish work in LOGOS: A Journal of Undergraduate Research. LOGOS is dedicated to publishing outstanding work by undergraduates in every academic discipline, including original research, essays, creative writing, and artwork. Led by Honors College student editors and advised by a Faculty Advisory Board, LOGOS conforms to the highest standards of scholastic integrity in a blind peer-review process.

The Editorial Board welcomes submissions from current and former undergraduate students and collaborative teams, particularly those engaged in departmental honors work, independent study, research assistance, or a competitive summer fellowship.

Annual Events

The English Department holds an annual event in the spring called English Week, which is a collective celebration of English and acts as a way to connect English students and faculty across our programs. It is a week filled with conferences, speakers, readings, and smaller events. Most events are free and open to the public!

Included in English Week is the Undergraduate Literature Conference (ULC). The ULC welcomes undergraduate students from across the region to present their research in a public forum. The ULC invites students to submit work relating to literature and media and present on a panel of students with similar works. This allows for discussion of these topics with other students as well as MSU faculty and community members.

Another event included in English Week is Workplace Writing Forum (WWF) Conference. This conference covers various topics that are intended to go beyond what students learn about workplace writing in the classroom and offers students from outside of the technical and professional writing track to learn how to accommodate their writing for the workplace. Some of the discussed topics a recent conference were digital ethics, ePortfolios, and incorporation of social media in the workplace.

Working with the Community

English students have provided volunteer hours in several on- and off-campus agencies. If you are interested in volunteer opportunities, please contact MSU’s Center for Community Engagement (CCE) or the Citizenship and Service Learning (CASL) office for more information on how you can dedicate time to the community that helps support our campus.