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English Department


Welcome to the Department of English at UTEP! Our department is a vibrant and diverse community comprised of more than thirty full-time faculty, dozens of graduate students and lecturers, and four staff members. Our faculty are recognized nationally and internationally for their cutting-edge research in literature, rhetoric and writing studies, education, and cultural studies. Our department is one of the most productive at UTEP in terms of research, and our faculty have won many of the most prestigious awards in their fields, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Mellon Foundation, and many others. We offer a number of programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels: bachelor’s programs in Literature and English Education; master’s programs in Literature, Rhetoric and Writing Studies, and English Education; and a PhD program in Rhetoric and Composition. In addition to being active researchers, our faculty are talented instructors who have won multiple teaching awards and whose w have gone on to highly successful careers in a wide range of fields. I encourage you to browse our courses and programs and take advantage of what our department has to offer.

 

Joe Ortiz

Chair, Department of English

 

 

 

Dr. Ortiz

NEWS 

Dr. Isabel Baca, as co-editor of the Community Literacy Journal, published the spring issue, Volume 19, Issue 2, of the journal and co-authored the Introduction with Libby Catchings from Denver University: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/communityliteracy/vol19/iss2/2/
Dr. Lucía Durá received a Sloan Centers for Systemic Change $1,049,000 (renewable) grant from the Sloan Foundation as a Co-PI with Drs. Steve Crites (PI), Katie Serafine (Co-PI), Kennith Meissner (Co-PI), and Liz Walsh (Co-PI) for the project "Empowering the Next Generation of Highly Skilled STEM Professionals through Access, Intentionality, and Effectiveness." 
Dr. Brad Jacobson presented on a panel titled, “Dreaming Together: Teaching Writing across the High School to College Continuum,” and a roundtable discussion, "Writing Boldly toward a Brighter Future,” at the NCTE Annual Convention in Denver (Nov 20-23). 
Dr. Soyeon Lee published a chapter entitled “Critical Empathy and Student User Experience Dispositions” in Teaching User Experience: A Process Approach (Routledge, ATTW Series in Technical and Professional Communication, 2025). 
Dr. Marion Christina Rohrleitner published “Unaccompanied, Undocumented, Unwanted, and Underground: Contemporary Narratives of Migration al Norte” in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Anglophone Literature and Migration: Critical and Creative Voices (1946-2016), edited by Nicoletta Vallorani, Simona Bertacco, and William Boelhower on November 15, 2025. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/bloomsbury-handbook-of-anglophone-literature-and-migration-9798765103555/

 

FEATURED NEWS


Jesse Pisors, Ed.D., has been named UTEP's Vice President for Institutional Advancement. Pisors has spent almost 15 years in university advancement leadership, serving as a director, senior director, executive director and twice as a vice president.

UTEP Names Jesse Pisors Vice President for Institutional Advancement

EL PASO, Texas (Dec. 2, 2025) — The University of Texas at El Paso has named Jesse Pisors, Ed.D., as Vice President for Institutional Advancement. Pisors was most recently president at Pasco-Hernando State College in Florida and was previously Vice President for University Relations and Advancement for Texas A&M University-San Antonio.

Fabian R. Villagomez, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biological Sciences, is studying high-grade serous carcinoma, an aggressive form of ovarian cancer. His work has helped identify a new target, Claudin-4, that may make the cancer cells more vulnerable to treatment.

UTEP Researcher Finds Potential New Treatment for Aggressive Ovarian Cancer

EL PASO, Texas (Dec. 1, 2025) – Scientists at The University of Texas at El Paso have found a promising new target in the fight against high-grade serous carcinoma, an aggressive form of ovarian cancer. Less than 50 percent of women survive five years after diagnosis, according to the team.

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The University of Texas at El Paso
Department of English
Hudspeth Hall, Room 113
500 W University
El Paso, Texas 79902

E: english@utep.edu
P: (915) 747-5731
F: (915) 747-6214