Undergraduates choose from emphases that include literature, film studies, creative writing, English education, and linguistics, while also having an opportunity to minor in Irish Studies or literature. The English Department also houses the Montana Writing Project, which collaborates with educators and students at all levels across the state, as well as the Composition program, serving close to twenty percent of the student body each year. Graduate degrees are offered in Creative Writing (our nationally ranked MFA program), Literature (MA), and English Education (MAT).<br><br>A common dedication to excellence in reading, writing, and critical thinking holds the many threads of our department together. Our students, regardless of the options they choose, receive a strong foundation in studying both in canonical and noncanonical literatures–taking classes that expose them to texts as varied as Paradise Lost, Bleak House, Love Medicine, Brokeback Mountain, and Midnights Children. Through close reading, students learn to analyze a plethora of diverse forms of representation, developing skills that facilitate criticism, creative writing, and pedagogy. These skills also prepare students for the larger challenges that face them in a world where reading, writing, and thinking are integral to almost every profession.<br><br>In Film Studies, students receive a thorough introduction to the many facets of moving image culture, including a background in film history, theory, and aesthetics. In this interdisciplinary program, students are exposed to a broad array of national and international films, as well as filmic translations of well–known works of literature. Students analyze film from a variety of theoretical perspectives and become critical viewers of what is now one of the most predominant forms of cultural representation.