By the end of this program students will demonstrate:

1. an ability to analyze when they undertake close reading.
2. an ability to connect when they write about the connections between works in English from different time periods.
3. an understanding of differences within human experience as well as our common humanity when they engage in critical analysis and form aesthetic judgments about African American, international, or LGBTQ literature and make connections between literary truths and human striving for equality, justice, and freedom.

Finally, students interpretations will benefit from their reflection on:

1. their own responses and preferences as a reader, and the meaning of literature and reading to them.
2. their own strategies and choices as a writer, in terms of both process and finished product.

The Student Learning Outcomes align with our program’s mission manifesto in that they require students to read and analyze (which entails seeing complexity, slowing down, and paying attention), they require the consideration of different perspectives (collaborate and empathize), and they require connecting the present with the past. 

Updated: July 2025

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