Meetings in academic and social settings, formal and informal, are scheduled regularly. Bucknell's Institute for the Humanities, the West Branch Poetry Festivals, the Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets, and an extensive schedule of guest writers and lecturers enrich the program of study. Bucknell is home to a university press, and the journals West Branch, Translation and Literature, and The Bucknell Review. Coursework is further enhanced by an excellent library, computer facilities, a writing center, and a rich offering of literary and critical publications. Most seminars require active participation, student reports, oral and written, and a substantial paper.
All seminars require the permission of the instructor.
Advanced topics, such as Cross-Cultural Encounters, The American Novel, Gender and American Poetics, and Beat Generations. Plays by Lope, Calderon, and Shakespeare which raise common social, political, and moral issues will be read in bilingual editions within a comparative historical context and, when possible, studied in performance. In English, readings and papers may be done in Spanish. Advanced topics investigating relationships between gender, writing, and reading. Introduction to significant issues and debates characterizing the field known as Cultural Studies.