English & Communication

If you want to cultivate reading and writing as instruments of self-awareness, critical thinking, and engagement with the world; if you are interested in increasingly complex kinds of communication and their cultural implications; and if you want to develop supportive, lifelong relationships with your teachers and fellow students, our program is right for you.

About the Department

As an English major, you will learn how to navigate the complexities of written and spoken language with a critical eye, sharpening your use of language as a tool of persuasion and cultivating your ability to see how words make meaning in all kinds of literary texts. As a Communication major, you will study the dynamics of interpersonal and intercultural message-making as well as the politics of mediated representations, giving you invaluable tools to make sense of and make your mark in an ever-connected world.

At Saint Anselm College, you will develop supportive lifelong relationships with your teachers and fellow students. You will gain valuable experience through internships, research opportunities, and extracurriculars. English majors develop senior thesis projects on a range of topics, from James Baldwin, Wallace Stevens, and Zora Neale Hurston, to Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, and Beowulf, deepening their skills in research and argumentation.

Our graduates take their rigorous training to a variety of careers, from education, publishing, and broadcasting to politics, law, journalism, and finance. Recent research shows that English majors are hotly pursued by successful companies, that English skills are excellent predictors of career success, and that communication skills learned in college, including storytelling and persuasion, are essential attributes for success in career and civic life.