Department of English

The faculty, staff, and students welcome you to the USF English department. We offer broad study in literature, rhetoric and composition, and creative writing on both the undergraduate and graduate levels, with classes taught by our distinguished faculty. The links to the left will navigate you through this site.

Department Highlights

Jay Hopler Wins Prestigious Whiting Award

It is our distinct pleasure to announce that Jay Hopler has won a 2009 Whiting Writers' Award. Professor Hopler teaches poetry at USF and is the author of the poetry collection Green Squall, as well as numerous poems published extensively in renowned literary journals and magazines. To read more about the award, please visit the foundation's website. An article highligting Professor Hopler's accomplishment can be found online in the St. Petersburg Times. Congratulations, Professor Hopler, on this outstanding accomplishment!

Faculty Search Announcement

The Department of English is conducting a search for an Associate or Full Professor in Rhetoric & Composition. For position details and application prodedure, please visit our Announcements page.

Pat Rogers Wins Outstanding Research Achievement Award

We are pleased to announce that Professor Pat Rogers has won a USF Outstanding Research Achievement Award. He is the only non-scientist to have won one this year. The award will be presented October 9 at an Office of Research luncheon (invitation only). He will also receive his Distinguished University Professor Award (see below news clip) at an open reception hosted by President Genshaft on November 19 at 4:30—6:00 in Traditions Hall.

Pat Rogers Named Distinguished University Professor

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Pat Rogers has been named USF's 2009 Distinguished University Professor (DUP). Being selected as a DUP involves an intensive internal and external review of the faculty member’s credentials that culminates in a selection by the Distinguished University Professor Recommending Committee. Being nominated for DUP status is a significant honor because it indicates that the individual has an outstanding scholarly record and has made significant contributions to USF and to her/his profession. We congratulate you, Dr. Rogers!

Fundraising Challenge!

We are grateful to Stacy Parker DeRaps, USF alumna and former creative writing student, who has donated $2100 from The Brian G. DeRaps Memorial Foundation in memory of her husband. $100 of her donation is to be used now; the remaining $2000 will be placed in a USF Foundation account, where it will be used in years to come to help fund our Florida-themed literary magazine, Saw Palm. Stacy challenges anyone interested in supporting great writing in Florida to add to this donation. Any amount helps and will be greatly appreciated!

Provost's Award for Teaching Excellence

We are pleased to announce that three Graduate Teaching Assistants from the Department of English were honored at the Provost's Award ceremony on April 13th. Quentin Vieregge, PhD candidate in Rhetoric and Composition, received the Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Teaching Assistant; Cameron Hunt-Logan, PhD student in Literature, received the Provost's Commendation for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Teaching Assistant; and Jessica McKee, PhD student in Literature, received the Provost's Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Teaching Assistant. Congratulations to all three TAs on this truly significant acheivement!

Please be sure to visit our News page for additional department news.

Upcoming Events

Poetry Reading & Discussion by Chad Sweeney

Poet Chad Sweeney is scheduled to visit USF on November 4th at 6:00pm at the USF GraphicStudio. Chad Sweeney is the author of three books of poetry: Parable of Hide and Seek (Alice James, 2010), Arranging the Blaze (Anhinga, 2009), and An Architecture (BlazeVOX, 2007), and the chapbook A Mirror to Shatter the Hammer (Tarpaulin Sky, 2006--as well as the editor of Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds: The Teachers of WritersCorps in Poetry and Prose(City Lights, 2009) and coeditor of the journal of poetry and translation, Parthenon West Review. Sweeney’s work has appeared in Best American Poetry 2008, Crazyhorse, New American Writing, Colorado Review, Black Warrior, Barrow Street, Runes, Verse, Volt, Passages North, American Letters & Commentary, and elsewhere. He is working toward a Ph.D. in literature at Western Michigan University, where he teaches poetry and serves as assistant editor of New Issues Press. He lives in Kalamazoo with his wife, the poet Jennifer K. Sweeney.