English Department Overview
The art and study of reading, writing, language, and speech are among the oldest forms of education in the world. In the English Department you can pursue this vital activity in one or more of our academic fields: Literature, Writing, Linguistics, and Speech Language Pathology. Through practice in interpretation, composition, and research, we encourage you to appreciate a variety of experiences and cultures while developing a range of rhetorical and analytical abilities—skills that will be useful in your career and in all aspects of your life. Inspired by the complex and diverse nature of our students’ experiences, we foster the values of respectful discussion and debate, intellectual curiosity, civic responsibility, self-empowerment, and empathic engagement with the perspectives of others.
Curious about the many exciting career paths for English majors? For Literature and Writing, get inspired here! For Linguistics, get inspired here! For Speech Language Pathology (SLP), get inspired here!
Why choose English? Hear what some graduates of the CSI English department have to say!
See our English Department News
Programs in this department
The department offers the Bachelor's degree in English, with options in Literature, Writing, Linguistics, and Dramatic Literature; minors in Literature, Writing, Linguistics, and Speech Language Pathology; and the Master's degree. The department also offers non-credit courses in reading and writing for both native and non-native speakers of English.
- English BA
- Concentrations in Literature, Writing, Linguistics, and Dramatic Literature
- English Minors in Literature, Writing, and Linguistics
- Speech Language Pathology Minor
- Adolescence Education Sequence - Information for majors who wish to teach high school
- Honors In the Major - English majors wishing to graduate with honors
- Master of English (MA) Catalog
Tutoring at the Writing Center - Improve Reading and Writing Skills
The Writing Center (WritingCenter@csi.cuny.edu) is now offering both online and in-person tutoring. Visit Writing Center Tutoring for full details including schedules.
Basic Services and Goals
The Writing Center, under the direction of the English Department, assists students in improving their reading and writing skills in all subject areas. Our tutors do this by providing students with meaningful feedback and engaging them in discussion aimed at helping the students fulfill their potential through a better understanding of course requirements, assignments and readings.
Primary Modes of Tutoring
To meet these goals, we offer two primary modes of tutoring.
- Online sessions are conducted via appointment only.
- During in-person hours, students will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis.
If you wish to schedule an online appointment, please submit your request to WritingCenter@csi.cuny.edu.
If you prefer to see someone in person, come join us in 2S-216 during our scheduled drop-in hours.
If you have questions or require further information, feel free to call us @ 718.982.3635.
For Students Whose First Language is not English (ESL Students)
The English Department offers writing courses that are tailored especially for students whose first language is not English. For more information about our ESL courses please click here.
Jumpstart your career with an English degree
Additional English Department News...
English Department Faculty and Staff
Full Time Faculty
Staff
Grasso, Fredricka
Administrative Assistant
2S-218
718.982.3640
fredricka.grasso@csi.cuny.edu
Kathleen Passantino
Office Assistant
2S-218
718.982.3640
Kathleen.Passantino@csi.cuny.edu
* Black Lives Matter Statement: Our Commitment to Antiracism
In 2020, we found ourselves in the midst of intertwined crises. The Covid-19 pandemic forced us into lockdown. While some of us were inconvenienced by directives to stay at home, Black, Brown, immigrant, working-class, and poor communities, lacking access to health care and social and economic safety nets, were ravaged by the novel coronavirus. As many CUNY students, faculty, and staff struggled to adjust to remote learning and remote work, New York State and CUNY leadership chose to lean into their austerity policies, once again subjecting the university to deep budget cuts. Their persistent refusal to invest in CUNY, the “engine of economic mobility,” has especially burdened our minoritized students, who have to contend with rising tuition fees and course caps, shrinking library and academic support services, and campuses in disrepair.
The nation was also shaken by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Walter Wallace, Jr. and the shooting of Jacob Blake. As Mr. Floyd was being brutalized, he repeatedly uttered, “I can’t breathe.” His words painfully echoed the last words of Eric Garner, who died six years ago from an illegal chokehold in Stapleton, Staten Island. Even while Mr. Garner’s murder inspired national outrage, we have yet to witness substantial police reform. We keep saying the names of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Stephon Clark, Atatiana Jefferson, and many others as our demands for justice and reform remain unheard. We think also of the countless Black Americans targeted by racist policing and police violence whose names we do not know.
As the horrifying assault on the Capitol in early January made clear, the troubling issues of 2020 have not miraculously vanished at the dawn of a new year. To confront and undo the racist, unjust policies and practices that shape our systems of education, health care, employment, housing, and policing, we need to dedicate ourselves to consistent action and engage in critical self-reflection. Through teaching, research, and community work, the faculty of the English Department of the College of Staten Island demonstrate how the humanities can be a tool for social transformation. The study of literature and language and the practices of reading and writing can deepen our understanding of the gaps between our ideals and our realities, can enable us to imagine and create alternatives to inequitable and violent systems. But we also recognize that the humanities and higher education must undergo transformation in order to become more racially just. The English Department recommits itself to an antiracist curriculum and antiracist pedagogies as we continue the hard work ahead.
19 January 2021