“Wow, a double major in English—what are you gonna do with that?” is the start of a question-and-answer session I have managed to get down to a tight five while a student at the University of Pittsburgh; I’d like to thank my PR and public writing professors for that.
But it’s also a very valid question that I have spent the better part of three years trying to figure out, as I am sure many readers have too. I am majoring both in Public and Professional Writing and in English Writing with a focus in Poetry. This isn’t an uncommon thing, either. There are over 3,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. alone, with English programs giving out tens of thousands of degrees a year. So all of these people have got to be doing something with their degrees. They certainly didn’t all become teachers or poets or novelists (though more should).
This hints at the beauty of an English degree. It truly can seem like a blank canvas. Even though, here at Pitt, we are given a variety of classes to choose from in completing the requirements for a specific degree program, each student is free to create their own path through their academic and professional careers. This freedom allows each student to explore and to create their own academic experience.
But it is also that freedom and that uniqueness that can make what to do with an English degree seem more complex compared to the direct paths afforded by other degree programs, like nursing or pharmacy. This is why the English department has created five new professional development courses for the Spring 2024 semester. Each of these one-credit classes is designed to help translate what students have done in the classroom into what they can do following graduation and, perhaps, for the rest of their lives. There will be professional development classes in the Literature, Writing, Film and Media Studies, Public and Professional Writing (PPW), and Digital Narrative and Design (DNID) programs.
The exploration of the professional world is the goal of all five mini-courses. Each will cover a specific program in the English department and the way those students can translate their focus into their careers.
As Teaching Associate Professor Amanda Sevilla, who will be heading up the PPW class professional development course this coming spring, puts it, “My hope for this new workshop series is that it will demystify some of the current hiring practices for our students.” All of the courses will assist students in dossier and portfolio development, as well as in improving their online presence.
Along with more practical topics, the courses will also help students put their academic work into perspective. Teaching Professor Dan Kubis, who’s teaching the Literature professional development course, believes that this perspective will help students “explore the ways their academic work has prepared them for life after graduation.”
Kubis knows from firsthand experience that the skills learned in an English class easily translate to professional settings. “I have been in plenty of professional settings where research and writing projects come up, and most don’t want to touch it. But for us, that’s not really an issue.” English students learn plenty; they simply need to know how to translate those skills into the professional world, and that is something these Pitt English courses are designed to help them do.
Sevilla plans to address the “what next” question and allow students to understand what is needed to become successful outside of the academic world. “One way to accomplish this is to ask workshop participants to speak with professionals working in their areas of interest. I anticipate that many will likely connect with Pitt alumni in the community during this process as well!”
Besides the exploration of the professional world each class will allow students to hone their professional portfolios and learn best practices for LinkedIn as well as other online presence strategies. These workshops will allow for expert advice as well as excellent peer feedback on how to improve all aspects of a student’s personal brand.
In the end, the ultimate goal of the classes and Pitt English’s endeavor is to create a path for students to more easily move into the professional world. This is another stop along the way in the storied history of the English department’s cutting-edge work.
On a more personal note, it is also deeply satisfying as a student to see this kind of thought and effort at my university. I am enrolled in the Professional Development for Public and Professional writing in the spring and am incredibly excited to learn all the things the course and Professor Sevilla have to offer.
For a good part of my career here at Pitt, I didn’t really know what I was going to do with my degree. I jumped between graduate school, law school, and other placating answers that would provide a simple explanation for my future.
But there isn’t a simple explanation, and if anything, our major taught us that. The professional development courses will provide clarity and resources, but in reality, we chose this path not for the simplicity of job choice. We chose it for the fog. We chose to study English for the reason best expressed in Azar Nafisi’s Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times: “Reading fosters a mindset that questions and doubts; that is not content with the establishment or the established.”
We are critical thinkers, creators, savvy communicators, and fearless researchers. We are students of humanity and of the variety of ways humans express themselves. These skills have value. It just takes a little bit of perspective and some good advice to translate them, and the English department wants to make sure that happens.
—Clayton Smith
Clayton Smith was a fall communications intern at T5F, and a senior studying Public and Professional Writing and Poetry. He focuses on creating powerful stories that elevate the beauty of the human experience.
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