The English program of the Department of English and Modern Languages offers courses leading to the BA degree. Every attempt has been made to state the major and minor requirements as clearly as possible. However, we recommend that every student majoring or minoring in the program maintain close communication with the academic advisor assigned by the department in order to plan a program suited to the student's needs. Graduates from the program enter a variety of careers requiring skills in communication; research; and the analysis or production of texts, including teaching, journalism, law, publishing, creative writing, technical writing, and business management. The relatively low number of required hours for the major gives students flexibility either to develop further their background in writing and literature or to add expertise in a related field. The concentrations in Creative Writing, Professional Writing, and Children's Literature all require additional hours of coursework. Majors seeking licensure for teaching secondary English should add to the major requirements ENGL 208, ENGL 350, ENGL 381, ENGL 382, ENGL 479, ENGL 480, and ENGL 482. In addition, they must be formally admitted to the Teacher Preparation Program and should therefore complete EDUC 245 and EDUC 260 and pass the Praxis I examination preferably during their freshman year. Before being admitted to student teaching, teacher candidates must complete all required education and major courses except ENGL 482, maintain a minimum cumulative GPA both overall and in the major, pass the Virginia Communication and Literacy Assessment (VCLA) and Praxis II tests. Finally, students must complete student teaching in their last semester. In addition to the BA degree in English, the department offers four concentrations (Professional Writing, Creative Writing, Children's Literature, and secondary licensure) and four minors (English, Children's Literature, Professional Writing, and Creative Writing).