About

Offering one of UNCW’s original majors, the Department of English has a long and proud history. The namesake of our building, Morton Hall, was Shannon Morton, Wilmington College’s first English department chair when it opened its doors in 1947 on the campus of New Hanover High School. Impressively, Shannon Morton taught up to seven classes each semester and served as the advisor for no fewer than three student organizations: the student government, the debate team and the Pen Pushers Club.

Our faculty today honor Morton’s tradition of fostering student engagement both in and outside of the classroom. We offer small class sizes that allow us to really get to know our students. For our majors, minors and graduate students we maintain a robust internship program, offer an active Sigma Tau Delta Honor Society, and host a rich and varied intellectual and social event calendar. Our students travel the world through our unique Wentworth Travel Fellowship program, as well as through longstanding study abroad experiences such as Dr. Vic Malo’s "Harry Potter" trip in London, England, and Dr. Lance Cummings’ “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” program in Krakow, Poland. 

Naturally, we have a successful track record of winning awards for teaching, including the prestigious UNCW Board of Governor’s Award as well as the campuswide Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award, Discere Aude Award, Lecturer of the Year Award and Part-Time Lecturer Award.

The department offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate programs that our students have used to pursue an array of professional and personal goals. Between building core skills in critical thinking and analysis and applying those skills in interdisciplinary and real-world contexts, our alumni face their futures with confidence.