Department of English at Illinois State University

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Department of English at Illinois State University The Department of English @ ISU, offering the BA, MA/MS, and PhD degrees in English Studies.

Campus Box 4240
Normal, IL 61790

The Department of English at Illinois State University is dedicated to providing an environment that facilitates the individual and communal work—creative, intellectual, administrative, and outreach—of our faculty, staff, and students. Our vision is guided by the University mission statement, Educating Illinois, and includes the following:
•Create a work environment that values all members as people and fosters positive morale and transparency where possible, acknowledges and honors the professionalism of all faculty, staff, and graduate assistants in our various roles, and recognizes the interdependence of our work through informal and formal discourse;
•Promote innovative and dynamic pedagogical research, scholarship, and practice in the classroom and the curriculum;
•Support—through reassigned time and co-teaching opportunities—interdisciplinary research and publication, while continuing to value the forms of research and publication that are appropriate to a particular field;
•Continue to articulate and revise a multi-dimensional understanding of English Studies that responds to the changing needs of our students, the field, and the world;
•Maintain our commitment to providing students with a learning environment and community that supports growth as a individual, professional, and citizen;
•Strengthen diversity in the composition of our faculty, students, and curricular and pedagogical approaches through individual, programmatic, and departmental action; and
•Secure the facilities and resources required to support excellence in scholarship, teaching, and research.

TODAY, Friday, Oct. 16 at 2:00 in STV 133A! "Making Room for the Story: Balancing a Career and a Writing Life," a presen...
10/16/2026

TODAY, Friday, Oct. 16 at 2:00 in STV 133A!

"Making Room for the Story: Balancing a Career and a Writing Life," a presentation by Julie Navickas, ISU English Alum, Award-Winning Romance Author, and Senior Public Relations Specialist.

A brief presentation will be followed by student Q&A

Julie Navickas is a multi-award-winning romance author represented by Chip Rice of WordLink, Inc., a TEDx speaker, and host of the Just Write Julie podcast. She writes emotionally rich love stories that blend humor, heartbreak, and hope. Her Trading Heartbeats trilogy has earned a Literary Global Book Award, five first-place wins from The BookFest Awards, a Clarion Award, and honors from the American Writing Awards. She is also a senior public relations specialist in external affairs at COUNTRY Financial, where she brings storytelling and strategy together.
Navickas also teaches at the college level as an instructor at Illinois State University and Heartland Community College.

Navickas holds master’s degrees in organizational communication and English studies, and a bachelor’s in public relations.

Check out Navickas's 6 novels: Loved You Yesterday, I Love You Today, and I'll Love You Tomorrow and Trusting Love, Finding Love and Chasing Love.

We are so honored to announce that South Africa's National Poet Laureate will be coming to ISU, Mongane Wally Serote. Se...
10/06/2026

We are so honored to announce that South Africa's National Poet Laureate will be coming to ISU, Mongane Wally Serote. Serote is hosted by Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora and will read from and discuss _Listen_ on Monday, October 19 from 1-3 in the Publications Unit (Williams Hall Annex). On Tuesday, October 20, he will give a poetry reading, answer questions, and sign books at University Galleries from 5:30 - 7:30. Please join us for this incredible opportunity to meet Mongane Wally Serote!

10/03/2026

The SRPR Spoonfuls Chapbook Contest is now open! Submit your chapbook manuscripts via Submittable (link in comments!). The contest runs throughout October, but it is capped at 100 manuscripts total—don't wait to submit yours! Two winners are selected for publication.

10/03/2026

SAVE THE DATES! Two in-person events in Normal, IL

A Revolution We Can Live For: South Africa's National Poet Laureate Mongane Wally Serote Comes to Illinois October 19 & October 20.

For more details and to RSVP: https://bit.ly/SeroteEvent

We're hosting 2 great alumni events this October! On Friday, October 16, join us at 2:00 in STV 133A to hear the story o...
10/02/2026

We're hosting 2 great alumni events this October! On Friday, October 16, join us at 2:00 in STV 133A to hear the story of Julie Navickas (M.S., 2018), Senior Public Relations Specialist in External Affairs at Country Financial and author of two romance series (six novels): _Loved You Yesterday_, _I Love You Today_, and _I'll Love You Tomorrow_ and _Trusting Love_, _Finding Love_ and _Chasing Love_.

Then, on Friday, October 22 at 4:00 in STV 401, learn about the career paths of our Distinguished Alumni Award winners, the Honorable James A. Knecht, Dr. Lee Nickoson, and Destiny Dungey! This is an informal talk and Q&A. More posts to follow this month with the bios and accomplishments of our award winners!

Redbird Report recognizes the 50th anniversary of Obsidian: Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora! We are so proud...
09/29/2026

Redbird Report recognizes the 50th anniversary of Obsidian: Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora! We are so proud to have this groundbreaking journal at ISU. Congratulations to Dr. Duriel Harris, Tara Reeser, the many grad students who have worked as editors, and Dr. Steve Halle and the Publications Unit staff and students!

For more than 50 years, Obsidian, the award-winning literary platform, has created space for creatives of the African Diaspora to share poetry, fiction, essays, drama, visual art, and, more recently, digital media.

It is with great sadness that we share that Dr. Robert Sutherland passed away yesterday, September 10. Though my time wi...
09/11/2026

It is with great sadness that we share that Dr. Robert Sutherland passed away yesterday, September 10. Though my time with Dr. Sutherland did not overlap, I continue to hear from alumni who tell stories about his courses, and his generosity of time and spirit, changed their lives and made them lifelong lovers of language, writing, and literature. We wish his family, friends, co-workers, and students comfort and memories of great joy as you recall his influence in your lives. His legacy will certainly live on through the Sutherland Fellowship, a coveted opportunity for Master's students in Creative Writing, which supports them in studying and training in our Publications Unit.

https://robertdsutherland.com/index.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawURLF9wZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR7HJsmNAy7wOTTRHnbXzmrDBU6sRfvJJ4kpeVK5T9TsemFQBlr7qt2HQqLwBg_aem_Sm1v9FbEM1fJK24fXmVokQ

Robert D. Sutherland is an author of fiction and poetry, book illustrator, political cartoonist, semiotician and linguist.

Earlier this week we celebrated the excellent teaching of Dr. Eda Ozyesilpinar and Dr. Danielle Lillge. Dr. Ozyesilpinar...
09/03/2026

Earlier this week we celebrated the excellent teaching of Dr. Eda Ozyesilpinar and Dr. Danielle Lillge. Dr. Ozyesilpinar (who could not attend, hence no picture!) won the Outstanding College Teacher award, and Dr. Lillge won the John A. Dossey Award. Congratulations!

A worthy cause! Organizers are seeking books for the Banned Book Event at the Bloomington Public Library to celebrate LG...
08/27/2026

A worthy cause! Organizers are seeking books for the Banned Book Event at the Bloomington Public Library to celebrate LGBTQIA+ History Month on October 17th, 2026. See the flier for information about how to donate!

The Department of English is excited about the new year! Lines were long at Festival ISU for our popular trivia. One mor...
08/25/2026

The Department of English is excited about the new year! Lines were long at Festival ISU for our popular trivia. One more hour to stop by to learn about our unique sequences, minors, and certificate and our fun organizations! Thank you to our volunteers for sharing what we love about this major.

Address

Normal, IL
61790

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8am - 4:30pm
Friday 8am - 4:30pm

Telephone

(309) 438-3667

Website

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