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Oklahoma Christian University’s Language and Literature department offers students unique opportunities to unleash their potential. 

Lang and literature students in class

According to Associate Professor of English Dr. Nathan Shank, the unique opportunities within Oklahoma Christian’s English department provide advantages that distinguish it from other universities.

“All English departments share certain characteristics, yet we have unique programs such as ‘Soundings,’ which is our literary and visual arts journal and it’s in its 43rd year of publication. It is totally student-produced and that’s what’s so great about it,” Shank said. “The students get the budget, plan the fundraising events, and solicit poetry and prose, visual arts and photography from the community. Then, they put it all together in a volume and host an unveiling ceremony at the end of the year.”

Beyond student-led initiatives, Shank emphasized a newer and invaluable opportunity for students to experience within the program and community.

“Another thing that sets us apart is our Unaware project. This was started five years ago and it’s a collaboration with the Office of Juvenile Affairs in Oklahoma. We work with incarcerated teenage boys in Tecumseh, Oklahoma,” Shank said. “They do creative writing for us and our students respond to it. Usually, we get to go to their campus and meet them, or sometimes they come to our campus and meet us. We celebrate this collection by publishing everyone’s words together.”

In addition to ongoing projects, the department is kicking off a new study abroad program specifically designed to appeal to Language and Literature students.

“Just this year we are launching a study abroad trip to Latin America. We’re taking a 17-day cruise along the east side of Central America going through the Panama Canal and visiting Columbia, and Costa Rica, Guatemala and Mexico. Students will get to learn about other cultures through that experience,” Shank said.

He then went on to emphasize that while the Language and Literature program offers many important projects and activities, faith remains at the heart of it all.

“Faith is really important to our students in the Language and Literature department. We have student chaplains and they run a chapel every other week for the entire department,” Shank said. “They find speakers, choose a theme and they’re often charged with praying or managing it as well.”

This year, Shank explained the overall theme in the department relates to a more creative aspect of faith.

“This year our theme is Cultivating Creativity and it’s connected to the faith experience of creating works from the God-given image of Christ that we are in,” Shank said. “This is a big component of how faith plays out in language and literature.”

In light of the opportunities accessible to students in the program, Shank said they have many partnerships with potential employers in the area for students to secure internships and jobs after graduation.

Dr. Nathan Shank

“We’re involved with a lot of employers who we are in regular contact with and making sure the skills our students are learning in our department match up with the skills employers look at,” Shank said. “We’ve had students intern for the Oklahoman, High-Five Media, Paycom, the Kirkpatrick Foundation, Goodin Group, Harrison Consulting and Platinum Business Services.”

Though Oklahoma Christian’s Language and Literature department may prove smaller than other university departments, Shank said students who graduate from the program can often go on to prestigious graduate programs.

“100% of our students who want to go to graduate school get accepted. We’ve recently had students who are either pre-law English, writing and literature majors go on to places like Harvard or Georgetown University,” Shank said. “Even though Oklahoma Christian is a small liberal arts university, we are often able to jump students really far ahead into the Ivy Leagues.”

Shank highlighted the department's commitment to individual students, ensuring each one is known and valued.

“You’re not just a number, we know all of our students and we want to know any prospective students who might be coming as well,” Shank said.



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