English department faculty are closely engaged with the Africana Studies, Gender and Women's Studies and Irish Studies, and Programs, as well as the Concentration in Writing & Rhetoric.
Prof. Crystal Lucky is the director of the Africana Studies Program. Prof. Joseph Lennon is the director of the Irish Studies Program. Prof. Lisa Sewell and Prof. Jean Lutes are co-directors of the Gender and Women's Studies Program, and Profs. Ellen Bonds, Alice Dailey, Heather Hicks, and Evan Radcliffe all serve on the Steering Committee. Prof. Karyn Hollis directs the Concentration in Writing and Rhetoric.
Africana Studies
The Africana Studies Program of Villanova University was initiated in 1994 and is open to all students of the University. It offers a rich, deep, dense, innovative, and integrative interdisciplinary intellectual fare from most of the major disciplines of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and its attendant programmatic structures. Africana Studies engages Africa and peoples of African descent wherever and whenever they might be found. Its fundamental premise is quite straight forward.more..
Gender and Women's Studies
The Gender and Women's Studies Program is an interdisciplinary program providing courses and a minor and a concentration in Women's Studies. It is open to students in all degree programs.
Identifying gender as fundamental to the way that men and women understand themselves, Women's Studies focuses on the position of women and, thus, causes us to rethink history and culture. The academic discipline of Women Studies continues to transform scholarship and basic assumptions in all areas of the humanities, social sciences, and the professions. more...
Irish Studies
Irish Studies explores the history and culture of the Irish people from the different perspectives of literature, history, art, politics, and folklore, enabling students to understand the richness of Irish culture. It is a culture which traces itself back to the dawn of Western Civilization when the earliest Celts, who were known to the Greeks and challenged by the Romans, established an art which influenced the early Christians. In the ensuing centuries, Irish culture has continued to influence life in Europe and North America while exploring its own directions. more...
Concentration in Writing & Rhetoric
As an interdisciplinary program with courses from the Departments of English and Communication, the Program in Writing and Rhetoric will offer students opportunities to gain significant experience in a range of writing environments as well as knowledge of the rhetorical framework constituting professional, aesthetic and everyday writing. The program will allow students who want to pursue study in writing and communication to do so in a focused and comprehensive way with examination of the theoretical, historical, and philosophical aspects of these disciplines.more...
