ENG 353 A American Lit 1860 To Present
An invitation to explore currents and crosscurrents, traditions and individual talents, movements and masterpieces from the Civil War era to the present. Works will be chosen from a variety of genres, and course units may emphasize particular regions, periods, or themes, such as Southern voices (Faulkner, Hurston, Welty), the era of World War I (Hemingway, Cummings, Dos Passos), and feminist fiction and poetry (Kingston, Walker, Sexton).

ENG 185 A Eco-Media
Since the Lumière brothers conducted one of the earliest public film screenings in 1895, people have recognized cinema as a powerful medium for documenting moving images and for telling stories. Recently, people have turned to film to inspire people to think and act ecologically. This course explores how various cinematic media shape the ways we understand and represent ecological issues and potentially sustainable futures. We will move through documentaries, fiction features, and digital transmedia texts as well as the Decorah Eagle Cam. Students will acquire the ability to analyze various approaches to narrating ecological issues through discussion and in writing. They will also produce their own eco-media projects to post on the Internet.

ENG 211 A Writing for Media
A comprehensive course in news writing, reporting, and writing for media. Focus on the issues and skills central to journalism, and professional writing for various media. Readings and examples from newspapers, on-line and print magazines, and electronic journalism.

ENG 247 A Literature and Ecology
What kinds of stories help us confront, ignore, deny, or re-imagine the ecological challenges we face? How do we use narratives and poetry to perceive and imagine ecosystems? And why do we think things like mountains, wind turbines, fjords, limestone, bonobos, the influenza virus, or snow-globes are beautiful or ugly, natural or unnatural? This course explores how literature and other cultural texts shape the ways we think about and act in the biophysical world and the systems that comprise it. Readings will vary by may come from traditions of nature writing; explorations of place, space, and time; connections between religion and ecology; relationships linking literature and science; and intersections of ecology and social issues like ability, class, gender, and race.