| Department of English

Rebecca Oh earns HRI Research Prize honorable mention

2026-04-15

Rebecca Oh has been named an honorable mention for the 2025-2026 HRI Research Prize for her article "Apocalyptic Realism: Death and Life Amid Nuclear Infrastructures" in the journal Environmental Humanities. In this...

A GoPro, a book, and a horse named Tornado

2026-04-15

At a calm trot, a horse’s hooves leave divots in the pale, rocky dirt. Under a brilliantly blue Arizona sky, one may wonder where the “tornado” from this artwork's title comes in. Then, the horse picks up speed, kicking up dust and pebbles in a chaotic storm. Some photos are entirely a blur. When...

Christopher Kempf earns Guggenheim Fellowship

2026-04-14

English professor Christopher Kempf has been awarded a 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship.Kempf was one of two Illinois professors to earn the fellowship, and among 223 individuals working...

New multi-institutional project to use AI to represent past historical periods

2026-03-10

A new project led by a team of researchers from four universities aims to create and evaluate language models that represent past historical periods. The project, "...

English faculty members, graduate student named HRI Fellows

2026-03-04

Three members of the Department of English have earned faculty and graduate student fellowships from the Humanities Research Institute for 2026–27. This year’s research theme is “Up Against Erasure.” ...

Book chronicles how citizens, writers remain hopeful in face of environmental harms

2026-03-03

Rebecca Oh and her new book, "Reading Better States"

Citizens and writers remain hopeful in the face of environmental harms in “Reading Better States: Utopian Method and Environmental Harm in the Global South,” the new book by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign...

Justine Murison on Norton Library Podcast

Illinois English professor and department head Justine Murison appeared on the Norton Library Podcast's two-episode series on Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" to discuss Hawthorne's life...

Read more about Justine Murison on Norton Library Podcast

Illinois English alumna Connie Frank earns LAS Humanitarian Award

2026-02-24

View of Foellinger Auditorium from the Quad

English alumna Connie Frank has been named the 2026 College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Humanitarian Award winner. The College of LAS will recognize Frank and the other six award recipients during this year's alumni awards celebration in April. This year's honorees are researchers,...

Susan Koshy to lead Illinois faculty team awarded Mellon Foundation's Sawyer Seminar grant

2026-02-24

A multi-disciplinary team of faculty researchers from the University of Illinois has been awarded a Sawyer Seminar grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to study the challenges to democracy and academic freedom confronting US universities now. This is the first time in the 30-year...

Awards & Scholarships Details

Read more about Awards & Scholarships Details

The Department of English offers merit scholarships totaling more than $100,000 in an annual competition in the spring.

Subscribe to