Special Opportunities

At Dominican, English students can join a club, submit to the literary magazine, participate in an honor society or study abroad.

Honor Society

English majors and minors who meet the academic requirements will be invited to join Dominican’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society.

Members receive the Sigma Tau Delta newsletter and The Rectangle, the society’s award-winning literary publication. Student members are also eligible to compete for writing prizes and various scholarships and awards.

Sigma Tau Delta engages in various service opportunities; for example, book sales, Thanksgiving baskets and Adopt-a-Kid.

Study Abroad

English majors can earn credit toward their degree by studying in England for a full semester through Dominican’s Semester in London program, offered each fall semester. The Study Abroad website has additional information.

Undergraduate Research

Dominican’s Office of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Investigations (URSCI) promotes student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship. Funds are available on a competitive basis to:

  • Provide a summer stipend to students performing their own independent research;
  • Cover supplies or travel; or
  • Pay a stipend to students who assist faculty with the faculty member’s research.

Undergraduates in all disciplines are eligible for all three types of awards.

English majors have been successful competing for these awards. Recently, an English student won URSCI support for her summer research and to defray her travel expenses for a trip to England, where she presented a paper at a professional conference on Jane Austen.

Closer to home, one of the school year’s highlights is the URSCI Expo. This daylong event is held each April to showcase independent student research in all disciplines. Several English majors are usually among the presenters.

Stella Veritatis (Star of Truth)

For more than 85 years, Dominican has had its own annual literary magazine, The Eagle. In 2017, this literary magazine was reimagined and renamed Stella Veritatis. The magazine is sponsored by the Department of English, and student submissions are always welcome. Currently, each new issue is issued at the end of the spring semester.

Student editors are typically junior or senior English majors in the writing concentration. Students in English 334 Editing the Literary Journal serve as editorial staff gaining substantive experience in publication operations.

Professor Maggie Andersen, director of the English Department Writing Program, serves as moderator and advisor.

“Our majors do some amazing work. They offer strong insights and are able to draw sophisticated parallels as both readers and writers.”

–Sheila Bauer-Gatsos, PhD

Assistant Professor, English Department