Opportunities in ETS
STUDY ABROAD If you plan to study abroad, be sure to consider in advance how the curriculum will affect your completion of requirements for the Liberal Arts Core and for your ETS major or minor. You should also follow carefully the instructions for registering from abroad for the courses you will need in the semester when you return to Syracuse. Students who are unable to commit to an entire semester abroad may wish to consider some of the short-term study abroad options offered in ETS. The department regularly offers courses with a travel component over Spring Break, as well as six-week summer session courses taught abroad. Interest meetings will be held in October and January for short-term study abroad courses. More information and applications are available through SU Abroad: http://suabroad.syr.edu/ [back to Table of Contents] Click here for more information on Distinction in ETS [back to Table of Contents]
The department strongly encourages ETS majors to study abroad for a semester, particularly at the University's London campus, which regularly offers a variety of ETS courses in everything from Shakespeare to Victorian novels to contemporary British cinema. For information on programs abroad and on courses available in the London program, consult the SU Abroad office: http://suabroad.syr.edu/
Short-Term Study Abroad
DISTINCTION IN ETS
Outstanding junior ETS majors will be invited to participate in the Distinction Program, enabling them to earn the designation “Distinction in English and Textual Studies” with their degree. The Distinction Program requires students to demonstrate outstanding academic accomplishment by maintaining a 3.4 overall GPA and a 3.6 within the major, enroll in and complete a graduate-level English course during their senior year, and successfully complete a senior thesis project (which will include enrolling in the 1-credit Thesis Research Practicum in the fall and the 2-credit Thesis Workshop in the spring semester of their senior year). The “Distinction” designation will be granted upon graduation.
The graduate course will enable students to participate in a rigorous, intense seminar in a field or topic of their choice, and the thesis project will require substantial research, critical analysis, and writing. These two projects will serve as valuable preparation for students interested in graduate school, and both will provide impressive credentials on applications to graduate school, law school, or other professional degree programs.
Creative writing projects will not be considered for Distinction.
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ETS AND THE HONORS PROGRAM
The English department offers one or two Honors sections of ETS courses every year. Enrollment in these courses is restricted to students in the Renée Crown University Honors Program.
Honors Capstone Projects and Distinction in ETS
The structure and support of the Distinction Program can be extremely useful for Honors students writing a critical Capstone Project. Students enrolled in the Renée Crown University Honors program who meet the GPA requirements for the ETS Distinction Program will be invited to participate in Distinction on an altered schedule and with slightly altered requirements that will allow them to develop their projects to complete both Distinction and the Honors Capstone Project. Honors students who do not meet the GPA requirements for invitation to the Distinction Program but who wish to write a critical Capstone Project may sign up for and take ETS 494: Research Practicum and ETS 495: Thesis Writing Workshop.
Honors Capstone Projects in Creative Writing
Students who wish to undertake a fiction or poetry Capstone Project must make special arrangements for approval of their projects. A prerequisite is completion of a creative writing workshop in the medium proposed for the project, either poetry or fiction (HNR 340, ETS 215, ETS 217, ETS 401, or ETS 403). Students will include with their Capstone Proposal Form a sample of their writing (for fiction: one story, not longer than 20 pages; for poetry: 6-8 poems). Students should NOT ask a faculty member to serve as an advisor before submitting the Proposal Form. The Creative Writing faculty committee will evaluate all proposals to determine whether or not a project is viable, and whether or not a professor is available to work with the student.
SIGMA TAU DELTA
Sigma Tau Delta is an internationally recognized honors society specifically focused on excellence in the field of English language and literature. Invitation to Sigma Tau Delta is not only a mark of scholastic distinction, but also an opportunity to engage with peers in the field: members are encouraged to submit to the organization’s journal and compete for Sigma Tau Delta-sponsored scholarships, awards, and grants. The Chi Xi chapter of the Sigma Tau Delta honors society was established at Syracuse in 2010.
Requirements for invitation to the society are as follows:
ETS majors must have (1) an overall cumulative GPA of 3.4, (2) a cumulative GPA of 3.5 within English classes, and (3) completed ETS 242 & 305, plus 9 credit hours of ETS coursework toward an ETS major.
Minors must have (1) an overall cumulative GPA of 3.4, (2) a cumulative GPA of 3.5 within English classes, and (3) completed 9 credit hours of ETS coursework toward an ETS minor.
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INTERNSHIPS
The English department has developed partnerships with SU Press and Salt Hill Literary Journal to place interns at these institutions. Available intern positions and application procedures will be advertised to ETS majors during the fall semester.
The English Department Internship Policy can be found here.
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CAREER PANELS
The English department hosts an annual career panel to help you think about career and graduate school options. Past panels have included “What Can I Do with an English Major?” and “ETS Goes to Law School.”
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ETS UNDERGRADUATE CONFERENCE
The ETS Undergraduate Conference was first held in 1997. Designed to showcase the work of undergraduates at all levels, it provides students with a public forum to present their own work as well as listen and respond to the work of their peers in the ETS major.
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SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS
Each spring the English Department names an outstanding junior ETS major as the winner of the Joan Garfinkel Memorial Scholarship. It also nominates one or more students for the Newell W. Rossman, Jr. Scholarships in the Humanities, which are awarded through an annual competition sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences. The Margaret Y. Cragg Prize is awarded to the major with the highest grade point average in ETS courses at the end of the junior year. There are three prizes for graduating senior majors: the Jean Marie Richards Memorial Award for excellence in English, the Anthony J. Pietrafesa Prize for the highest average in ETS courses, and the Lauretta H. McCaffrey Prize for a female student with a high grade point average in ETS. The department also holds annual contests in the writing of fiction, poetry, and critical essays.