Adult Degree Completion Program in English and Creative Writing (BA)
The Adult Degree Completion program undergraduate English and Creative Writing major is a flexible degree in the humanities that combines the study of literature with the craft of writing creatively. Majors have the opportunity to integrate elective courses across different disciplines (such as History, Art, Philosophy, and Religion) into their program of study, or to pursue a track to earn credits towards earning a teaching credential after completion of the BA.
ADC applicants must be at least 24 years of age. Prior transferable college semester units as well as work experience (through the evaluation and awarding of experiential learning credits) may count towards the Bachelor’s degree total of 124 units. Coursework towards the 36 unit major must be completed at Dominican.
English and Creative Writing
The BA in English Literature and Creative Writing joins the advanced study of literature with training in analytical and creative forms of writing. The major prepares students to become innovative, ethical, and human-centered thinkers and communicators in an increasingly global, networked, and digitally-mediated world. The curriculum emphasizes the study of diverse literatures in English–from British to American, multiethnic literature, diasporic to postcolonial, as well as global literatures in translation–across a range of historical periods and grounded in critical theoretical frameworks in areas including gender, race, and sexuality studies; disability studies; performance studies; narrative medicine and health humanities.
Students in the ADC program take 20 units of required courses that balance across the following skills: writing, close reading, literary analysis, and creative praxis. Students then choose 12 elective units in Literature, Creative Writing, or other humanities disciplines with the Department’s approval. Students interested in Dominican’s teacher credential program and MS in Education take all 12 elective units in Education to count towards the program. All students complete a Capstone Project, which may take the form of a sustained interdisciplinary work of literary study, or an extended work in Creative Writing within a chosen genre, such as fiction, poetry, drama, a screenplay, memoir, or other creative non-fiction.
Students interested in deepening their skills in Creative Writing also have the opportunity to complete an accelerated 8-unit track to the MFA program.
English and Creative Writing is a flexible degree with well-documented outcomes for long term employment in diverse fields such as education, academia, politics, advocacy, speechwriting, the film industry, business and marketing, digital content creation, politics, public relations, law, and more.
Program Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate advanced critical thinking through such methods as summary, evaluation, synthesis, and integration of research;
- Create effective, original, and argumentative rhetoric across media (oral, visual, and written) appropriate to topic, purpose, and audience; topics and issues may include problem solving, civic engagement, and/or posting policy or social change;
- Apply understanding of how communication shapes and is shaped by difference (including but not limited to categories such as race, gender, sexuality, age and class) and reflect on one’s own place in a broader social context;
- Evaluate source material, synthesize new concepts, and apply deduction, induction, and/or logic for advanced argumentative research purposes; use proper citation and documentation.
- Demonstrate the disciplinary practices of close reading; apply critical theory to written, verbal, and visual literatures in order to grapple with the complexities of human experience with care and attention.
- Analyze literary forms of genres including fiction, poetry, drama, film, and oral narrative; recognize hybrid forms and literary adaptation, as well as historical and cultural contexts for literary production.
- (Creative Writing Concentration) Literary Craft. Produce a focused and sustained creative writing portfolio, interrelating form and technique appropriate to a specific genre or genres.
Requirements
Fulfill 20 units in the following areas:
| ENGL 3409 | Advanced Writing & Research: Autobiography | 4.00 units |
| | |
| ENGL 2300/ENGL 3300 | Advanced Writing & Research: Film & Drama | 4.00 units |
| or | |
| ENGL 2302/ENGL 3302 | Advanced Writing & Research: Poetry & Fiction | 4.00 units |
| or | |
| ENGL 2305 | Introduction to Creative Writing | 4.00 units |
| | |
| Literatures of the Americas | 4.00 units |
| Anglophone Literature | 4.00 units |
| Critical Theory & Interdisciplinary Thinking | 4.00 units |
| Total Credit Hours: | 20 |
Electives:
Select three additional upper division English and Creative Writing course electives, or electives in other humanities disciplines in consultation with advising:
| English and Creative Writing course | 4.00 |
| English and Creative Writing course | 4.00 |
| English and Creative Writing course | 4.00 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 12 |
If completing teacher credential courses, select three additional upper division courses according to the specialization that aligns with your teaching area of interest*:
| EDU 4010 | Teaching for Equity | 4.00 units |
| EDU 4020 | Differentiating Instruction for Inclusive Classrooms | 4.00 units |
| EDU 4165 | Teaching Reading in Elementary School | 4.00 units |
| EDU 4165 | Teaching Reading in Elementary School | 4.00 units |
| EDU 4306 | Behavior Intervention and Support | 4.00 units |
*In addition, students may take PSY 3120: Child and Adolescent Development (4 units) to meet the CAD credential requirement.
Capstone and Internship:
Accelerated Track to the MFA
Students who major or minor in our program may elect to take 8 additional upper division, non-overlapping units that may be applied toward an accelerated track in the Dominican MFA program.
| ENGL 4305 | Advanced Creative Writing | 4.00 units |
ENGL 4XXX
| Other Creative Writing Course at 4000 level | 4.00 units |
Total Credit Hours: 36