The study of literature is an extended, varied, continuous conversation among students, faculty, writers and their texts. It is concerned not only with how you read and write, but also how you feel and think.
The study of literature requires the involvement of the whole person, engages you in highly personal ways and asks you to respond fully and honestly to the most complex and complete human experiences. Students’ critical understanding of the discipline helps them to express their own ideas and respond to those of others, and to help them to formulate and engage in critical argument.
Achieve More
Latest News
Award-winning fiction writer Amina Gautier will read from her work at Ripon College Wednesday, Feb. 21, as part of the Ripon College Visiting Writers Series […]
Award-winning poet Jessica Q. Stark will read from her work at Ripon College Wednesday, Oct. 11, as part of the Ripon College Visiting Writers Series […]
Valerie Laken, author of the novel Dream House and the story collection Separate Kingdoms will read from her work at Ripon College Wednesday, Sept. 27, […]
Advising
Ripon College faculty and professional staff are dedicated to helping you reach your goals, whatever they may be and however often they may change along the way. It’s part of our value statement to you.
As a student at Ripon, you will be assigned a faculty adviser based on your area(s) of interest. You will meet with your faculty adviser throughout your time as a student to discuss your current aspirations, plan your course schedule and plot a future trajectory. We also work collaboratively with Ripon College Career and Professional Development to help match your interests and skills to concrete goals and construct a plan for professional success offering personalized career counseling, off-campus learning opportunities and an online job board with potential to connect with local, national and international employers.
Advising at Ripon
Career Tracks
The English major at Ripon prepares students for successful careers in law, journalism, theatre and teaching at every level. Many graduates go directly into careers in public relations, politics, industry, medical and health professions, library science, and publishing and writing.
Recent graduates are working as educators at all levels, communications associates and specialists, editors, content writers, executive assistants, reference librarians and senior coaches.
Alumni Profiles
Michael Timm ’04 was a double major in English and anthropology. He was heavily involved in the College Days newspaper, first as a writer and then as its editor. Under his leadership, the paper won numerous awards for excellence, but, Timm says, “The greatest reward was the camaraderie forged deadline after deadline.” Between his sophomore and junior years, he traveled to Peru, where he worked with an archaeological field team from UCLA surveying the Lake Titicaca basin.
As a free-lance writer in Milwaukee, Timm has written a book about the history of the Robertson-Ryan Insurance Agency; now he’s writing a book about the history of the Coakley Brothers moving company. He edits an independent newspaper, Bay View Compass. During the summer of 2009, he studied creative writing at the University of Oxford in England. He has written and directed two interactive murder mystery plays, with a third soon to be performed at Milwaukee’s Alchemist Theatre. The next stage in Timm’s multifaceted career path will be pursuing a master’s degree with an emphasis in environmental journalism at UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences.
Kristen McCullough ’04, who double majored in English and communication, considers literature to be the most revealing study of life, people and history. She says, “Working with the English faculty at Ripon, I dabbled in creative writing, brought prose to life on film, coauthored an independent study course in Native American literature with Professor Kate Sontag and, most importantly, explored the workings of my own mind.” Outside of class, she was on the editorial board of College Days, and she presented original research at three national conferences, including a paper on the effect Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club had on her audiences.
After Ripon, Kristen spent five years in nonprofit management consulting, helping mission-driven organizations craft compelling messages about the value they bring to constituents and to the world. Finding herself drawn to the individuals she met along the way, she returned to school and pursued a master’s degree in clinical social work, emphasizing the psychological, economic and political forces at play in the lives of individuals. “I am now a therapist in child welfare,” she says, “I work alongside vulnerable children, parents and families to uncover and re-author the story of their lives and the lives of their communities.”