English BA with Secondary Teaching Licensure Endorsement

The secondary licensure program is a partnership program between the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) and the School of Education & Human Development (SEHD). Secondary Education Licensure students choose a major within CLAS and complete all CORE, CLAS, major, and initial teacher education admission requirements before completing a final professional year of licensure coursework through the SEHD.

These degree requirements are subject to periodic revision by the academic department, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences reserves the right to make exceptions and substitutions as judged necessary in individual cases. Therefore, the College strongly urges students to consult regularly with their major advisor, CLAS advisor and SEHD advisor to confirm the best plans of study before finalizing them.

Program Delivery

  • This is an on-campus program.

Declaring This Major

  • To declare (or change to) this major, please see the “Major/Minor Declaration Form” link on CLAS Advising’s Forms and Resources page. Note that the form must be submitted to your CLAS advisor and that the form may only be used for major/minor changes within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

General Requirements

To earn a degree, students must satisfy all requirements in each of the areas below, in addition to their individual major requirements.

Program Requirements

  1. Students must complete a minimum of 42 ENGL credit hours. Up to 15 of those credit hours can also be counted toward the CU Denver Core and CLAS Graduation Requirements.
  2. Students must complete a minimum of 27 upper division (3000-level and above) ENGL credit hours.
  3. Students must earn a minimum grade of C- (1.7) in all courses that apply to the major and must achieve a minimum cumulative major GPA of 2.0. All graded attempts in required and elective courses are calculated in the major GPA. Courses taken using pass/fail grading cannot apply to major requirements.
  4. Students must complete a minimum of 15 ENGL upper-division (3000-level and above) credit hours with CU Denver faculty.

Program Restrictions, Allowances, and Recommendations

Students are responsible for meeting with the advisor in the SEHD to confirm teacher education and licensure requirements. In addition to completing all minimum program requirements above, SEHD secondary education students must complete the following minimum SEHD licensure requirements:

  1. Complete the Education Declaration form and all subsequent processes and requirements, including a background check, prior to April 1st (for students intending to complete their clinical field experience in fall) or November 1st (for students intending to complete their clinical field experience in spring). Students must meet with the SEHD advisor for detailed information.
  2. Student pursuing secondary education licensure must complete the following requirements to be admitted to the Professional (final) Year:
    1. a minimum cumulative CU GPA of 3.0 or higher. Students with a lower GPA may be considered under certain conditions.
    2. all CU Denver Core, CLAS, major, electives, and initial teacher education coursework requirements prior to the start of the Professional Year
    3. the official application and interview process
    4. Deadlines for Professional Year application are March 1st (for students intending to begin Professional Year in fall) or October 1st (for students intending to begin Professional Year in spring).
  3. Students must complete all initial teacher education and professional (final) year coursework with a minimum grade of B- or higher.
  4. Students must pass the appropriate Praxis exam before the start of the second semester of the Professional Year. 
  5. ENGL 1010, 1020, and 2030 are not included in the major.

I. Required Courses (21 credit hours)

Take all of the following courses:

ENGL 2450- Introduction to Literature 
ENGL 2070- Grammar, Rhetoric and Style
ENGL 2600- Literary Classics (CU Denver Humanities core)
ENGL 3001- Critical Writing (CLAS Communicative Skills requirement)  
ENGL 3084- Multimedia Composition (CLAS Communicative Skills requirement) 
ENGL 3661- Shakespeare
ENGL 3795- Race and Ethn. in Am Lit  (CU Denver Cultural Diversity core) 

II. Area Requirements (21 credit hours)

A. Take three of the following American, British and Contemporary Literature Courses (one course in each category):  

ENGL 3700- American Literature to the Civil War
ENGL 3750- American Literature after  the Civil War
ENGL 4166- History of American Poetry
ENGL 4230- American Novel
ENGL 4200- Survey of the English Novel to 1900
ENGL 4250- 20th Century Fiction
ENGL 4460- Contemporary World Literature
ENGL 4600- Modernism

B. Take one of the following creative writing/film courses:

ENGL 2156- Introduction to Creative Writing (CU Denver Arts Core) 
ENGL 2250- Introduction to Film

C. Take the following language development course:

ENGL 3160- Language Theory

D. Take one of the following media/language acquisition courses: 

ENGL 4190- Advanced Topics in Writing and Digital Studies 
ENGL 4601- Principles & Practices of Second Language Acquisition  

E. Take one of the following upper-division literature courses:  

ENGL 4000- Studies of Major Authors
ENGL 4001- Studies of Major Authors: Am. Lit
ENGL 4002- Studies of Major Authors: Before 1650
ENGL 4003- Studies of Major Authors: 1650-1900
ENGL 4004- Studies of Major Authors: After 1900
ENGL 4236- American Short Story
ENGL 4500- Medieval Literature
ENGL 4520- English Renaissance
ENGL 4560- English Romanticism
ENGL 4580- The Victorian Age