English Major

View course descriptions and suggested course sequence.

Your work at the Academy prepares you to serve our nation as an exceptional leader – and superb leadership starts with effective, engaging communication. That’s exactly what you’ll learn as an English major.  Leaders throughout history have used their skills as readers, thinkers and communicators to change the world. This is the essence of the English major. You will focus on literature, imagination, and communication as deliberate human endeavors. You’ll explore the most perplexing questions of the human condition: What does it mean to be human? What is the source of our greatness and our depravity, our nobility and our pathos? For what ideals and against what forces must we fight? How will you persuade others, especially those you lead? How will you help them understand? The ultimate goal of the warrior-scholar is wisdom—a vision that transcends the ephemeral and superfluous. The study of literature and communication offers the wisdom of generations to a new generation of leaders: you.

The course of study as an English major reflect a combination of the rigorous traditions of the discipline and your personal interests. The program is extremely flexible, allowing you to explore the literature and ideas that excite your curiosity. You will be able to pattern a curriculum suited to your desires—one that’s sure to enrich your intellectual life. For those cadets who show outstanding potential, research grants for work at civilian institutions are available, as well as opportunities to present papers at professional conferences and to have research published.

If you enjoy reading, thinking, and communicating, the English major is for you. Your studies as an English major will give you practical training in leadership. Great literature provides examples of human value systems and human relations—occasions for you to experience and appreciate the art of dealing with people before you receive your commission in the Air Force.