<p>Since I noticed threads about other departments, I was wondering how strong is the English Department, and its respective undergraduate major, at Tufts. Also, is there any kind of a Journalism program at Tufts? Thanks.</p>
<p>Tufts embraces a liberal arts point of view for its undergraduates. As a result there are no "professional" programs like Journalism, but you can always minor in Communication & Media Studies which is a liberal arts approach to, well, communications & media—and you can choose to focus on journalism. That being said, as a Tufts alum who now works at one of the top 5-circulation newspapers in the country, I can tell you your best journalism education will come from internships every summer and to get those, you should get as involved as possible with the Tufts Daily (an award-winning student daily in its own right!). (Oh, and don't be fooled—the student weekly, the Tufts Observer is widely-regarded as a joke when it comes to journalism.)</p>
<p>The English Department is stellar. Jay Cantor is a famous post-modernist writer; Jonathan Wilson is an excellent contemporary Jewish novelist; and then for those of you into modernism, Lecia Rosenthal is queen; Lee Edelman is the premier scholar in queer literature and film studies; Deborah Digges is a renowned poet and memoirist. Any of you fans of Saul Bellow? His widow and a scholar in English literature in her own right, Janice Bellow, teaches here, too. And I'm just scratching the surface.</p>
<p>You can't major in creative writing, but you can take lots of creative writing classes. Jonathan Wilson, mentioned above, is by far my favorite. The idea in not being able to major in creative writing, within (or without) the English major, is that you can't really start writing seriously until you've read the greats that came before. I agree with that take. Save a focus in creative writing for an MFA program, if you must.</p>
<p>That being said, as an English major, after taking tons of literature, poetry, and creative writing classes, your senior honors thesis can be a creative piece—be it poetry, fiction, memoir, short stories, etc.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your response. Tufts sounds like it has a very strong English faculty. My D is currently a HS sophomore, but I look forward to bringing her to visit Tufts some time in the next year to year and a half.</p>
<p>Wow, pretty comprehensive... thanks Lolabelle!</p>
<p>I'm curious if you took any classes with either Prof Strong or Prof Hurka? I've heard good things of their writing classes, and would be interested if you had a first hand account.</p>
<p>I know Prof. Strong socially -- I kind of went to dinners with English profs a lot! -- and he's BELOVED by many students who've had him as a professor. I unfortunately did not have the pleasure. But he's an incredible interesting, funny, intellectually-challenging man, from what I've seen and heard of him. I never had Prof. Hurka, either, I'm afraid.</p>
<p>Love lolabelle's answer, the passion for Tufts just oozes out of every word, the opinion is well stated and supported with relevant facts! No wonder she got hired by a large-circulation newspaper. Just don't tell us that it is the New York Post, I thought that Murdoch was not that interested in independent thinkers.... oh, wait, the NY Post is #11, the Washington Post is #5 :-)</p>
<p>Posts like this justify sifting through all the riffraff that litters these forums - my chances this, my chances that, is X better than Y, where should I apply. Grrrrrr....</p>
<p>Haha, Groovy, I certainly am not at a News Corp. paper. ;)</p>
<p>Thanks for that detailed response, I am happy to hear that the Tufts English department is still so strong. I had an amazing experience as an English major at Tufts in the 70's, studying with Sylvan Barnet and especially Denise Levertov. Denise Leverov was not only a well-known poet (check your Norton Anthology), but she was a committed activist. She took her students under her wing and involved them in many aspects of her life. She took us with her to poetry readings at Deer Island prison, let us hang out when she was interviewed by the Paris Review, and brought us to meet Grace Paley. She personally knew most of the important American poets of the late 20th century, so she brought an incredible perspective to her classes. If only every teacher was like her.</p>