Academics: Undergraduate

CAREERS IN ENGLISH

A degree in English provided an excellent basis for students preparing for careers that demand good professional or creative writing skills, planning to teach secondary school, or intending to pursue graduate degrees. The pre-law and business options within the major expand the traditional bounds of the English program while still providing students with the solid emphasis in critical thinking, analysis and writing vital to effective careers and leadership positions in law, business, and public service.

Internships and Career Planning

Internships

English majors are urged to seek information early in their progress through the major on internship opportunities, which can provide an important experience for resumes and equally important resources for making choices about potential careers.

WSU Career Services office and the Undergraduate English Club typically offer a panel discussion each fall on internship opportunities. All majors should consult the Career Services website for information on internships, on-campus interview opportunities, and career and job-search strategies, and most will benefit by registering for the on-line information services through that website.

The department maintains a partial list of internship opportunities on and off campus in Avery 202B; new postings are made on the first-floor bulletin boards. The WSU Community Service Learning Center (335-7708) has a range of local internships available, and the WSU Writing Center (335-7959) offers various opportunities to gain tutoring, group leadership, and editing experience.

Career Planning

All majors are urged to discuss career plans early with their advisors, their professors, and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. The WSU Career Services website and its counselors are valuable aids in planning and pursuing careers, both early and late. Materials on options in the English major and the careers they can lead to are available in Avery 202K.

What Can You Do With An English Degree?

Positions Held by Former WSU English Majors at Various Career Stages

adjudication specialist (claims examiner)
administrative analyst, engineering
administrative analyst, logistic support
administrative assistant
administrative associate, engineering
administrative secretary
advertising assistant
advertising trainee
air traffic controller
alcohol and tobacco tax investigator
area inspection foreman
assistant to works manager
associate industrial engineer
associate programmer
associate writer
attorney
audiovisual
adviser
author and creative writing professor
bank examiner trainee
biographer
border patrol agent
broadcast analyst
budget specialist
building management officer
building management specialist
buyer
buyer trainee
catalog reference librarian
claim adjustor trainee
claims examiner
college president
communication director
community college instructor
computer operator
computer programmer
consular officer
contract specialist
copywriter
corporate sales manager
customer service representative
data-processing programmer
director of business development
director, personnel planning & development
dispatcher
distribution facilities specialist
distribution staff aid
editing, publication group supervisor
editor
editor, book publishing
editor, house publication
editorial assistant
editorial supervisor
educational specialist
elementary school teacher
employee development specialist
employment interviewer
engineering information analyst
equal employment investigator conciliator
equal employment opportunities specialist
expediter, purchasing
federal security agent
financial management specialist
foreign service officer
fund raiser and professional writer
general administrator
general assistant
general manager, products
high school teacher
highway safety management specialist
insurance executive
journal editor
legal secretary
legislative affairs specialist
librarian
management analyst
management intern
manager, communication services
manager, process systems
manager, sales administration
manager, systems center
market data analyst
medical administrative specialist
metallurgical assistant
methods analyst
owner, microbrewery marketing firm
packaging engineer
personnel adviser
personnel management specialist
personnel representative
physician
poet and teacher
position classification specialist
press relations assistant
printing assistant
procurement specialist
production trainee
professional employment representative
program analyst
program specialist
programmer
project designer
public affairs officer
public information assistant
public information specialist
publication sales manager
realty specialist
regional representative
research assistant
researcher and writer, political journal
revenue officer
sales trainee
school counselor
scientific information assistant
senior accountant
senior administrative associate
senior aircraft service manuals engineer
senior aircraft structures engineer
senior business development analyst
senior copywriter
senior engineer senior market application analyst
senior mathematician
senior production liaison engineer
senior technical representative
service correspondent
social insurance representative
speech writer for state governor
supervisor, claims
supply management specialist
systems analyst
technical information specialist
technical librarian
technical writer
teleprocessing analyst
time study consultant
training specialist
transportation industry analyst
treasury enforcement agent
university professor
vice principal, middle school
wage and salary representative
writer and editor

Famous English Majors

(With credit to gatherings by Departments of English at Mississippi State University and University of Arkansas at Little Rock.)

Douglas Adams (writer—Hichhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
Alan Alda (actor, writer)
Russell Baker (journalist)
Dave Barry (humorist, writer, actor)
Joy Behar (writer, comedienne, co-host of “The View”)
Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (television writer/ producer—”Designing Women”)
Gwendolyn Brooks (Pulitzer prize-winning poet)
Carol Browner (former head of the Environmental Protection Agency)
Edward Burns (actor, director, producer, writer)
James Cameron (director, editor, producer, screenwriter—Titanic)
Johnny Carson (talk show host)
Chevy Chase (comedian, actor, writer)
Tom Clancy (writer)
Mario Cuomo (former governor of New York)
Joan Cusack (actor—Grosse Point Blank)
Matt Damon (actor, screenwriter)
Vin Diesel (actor, director, producer, screenwriter)
David Duchovny (actor, “X-Files”)
Michael Eisner (Walt Disney CEO)
Harrison Ford (actor)
Jodi Foster (actor, filmmaker)
Kathryn Fuller (World Wildlife Fund-U.S. CEO and President)
A. Bartlett Giamatti (President, Yale University, and Commissioner of Baseball)
Allen Ginsberg (poet—”Howl”)
Cathy Guisewite (cartoonist—”Cathy”)
Mary Hart (co-host of “Entertainment Tonight”)
Joseph Heller (writer—Catch 22)
Don Henley (singer, songwriter, musician, environmental activist)
David Henry Hwang (playwright—M. Butterfly)
Chris Isaak (songwriter, singer)
Ken Jennings (software developer and milliondollar winner on “Jeopardy”)
Catherine Keener (actor—Being John Malkovich)
Garrison Keillor (humorist, author, host of NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion”)
Stephen King (writer, novelist)
Kris Kristofferson (singer, songwriter, musician, actor)
Tommy Lee Jones (actor)
John Mahoney (actor—Marty on “Frasier”)
Arthur Miller (playwright—Death of a Salesman)
Toni Morrison (novelist—Beloved, Jazz)
Paul Newman (actor, activist, food entrepreneur/ philanthropist)
Joyce Carol Oates (fiction writer—You Must Remember This)
Conan O’Brien (talk show host, writer)
Randy Owen (singer, songwriter, musician)
Joe Paterno (football coach, Penn State)
David Hyde Pierce (actor—Niles on “Frasier”)
Christopher Reeve (writer, director, actor—Superman)
Sally Ride (astronaut)
Joan Rivers (comedienne)
Richard Rodriquez (journalist, TV commentator)
Geoffrey Rush (actor, director, playwright, musician)
Susan Sarandon (actor—Thelma and Louise, Dead Man Walking)
Fred Savage (actor—“The Wonder Years”)
Diane Sawyer (broadcast journalist)
Martin Scorsese (director—Raging Bull, Taxi, Gangs of New York)
Marty Shottenheimer (former coach of Kansas City Chiefs)
Paul Simon (songwriter, singer)
Sting (singer, songwriter, musician, actor, environmental activist)
Steven Spielberg (filmmaker)
Dr. Seuss, a.k.a. Theodor Geisel (children’s author)
Amy Tan (writer—Joy Luck Club)
Brandon Tartikoff (television executive)
Clarence Thomas (U.S. Supreme Court Justice)
Emma Thompson (actor, producer, screenwriter–Sense and Sensibility)
Grant Tinker (TV executive and producer)
John Updike (fiction writer—Witches of Eastwick, Rabbit Run )
James Van Der Beek (actor—“Dawson’s Creek”)
Harold Varmus (Nobel Laureate in medicine, Director of National Institute of Health)
Barbara Walters (broadcast journalist)
Sigourney Weaver (actor—Alien saga)
Eudora Welty (fiction writer—Delta Wedding)
Pete Wilson (former governor of California)
Reese Witherspoon (actor)
Bob Woodward (journalist, writer—All the President’s Men)
Renee Zellweger (actor—Chicago, Cold Mountain)

Digital Technology & Culture

Internships and Careers

Professional Writing Certificate

Living in Pullman