Department of Literature, Journalism and Modern Languages

Storytelling. It’s one of the most powerful forms of communication that has been passed on over thousands of years, from generation to generation. The ability to tell a story is one that, though not easily mastered, is easily practiced through writing.

If words spew from the recesses of your mind, to your hand, to your black roller pen, if they gurgle out of your mouth making your fingers jump rope on the keyboard, if they hold you hostage until you write them down, or run away from you, taunting, as you chase them haltingly, you will find a home in the Department of Literature, Journalism, and Modern Languages (LJML). Begin your story here.

Overview

PLNU offers a concentration in Creative Writing through its journalism major. Students will begin with introductory courses in literature and journalism. The Department of LJML adheres to the belief that writers are born of readers, that in order to write something of quality, one must be reading and thinking and living and reflecting. Students will read literature from classical to post-modern times, approach literary works from a variety of theoretical perspectives, and develop critical writing skills. Upper division requirements include courses in linguistics, grammar, editing and creative writing courses in poetry, fiction, non-fiction and short story. Students will also learn about magazine production and concepts, mass media and electronic journalism.

Special Features:

• Opportunity to participate in prestigious internships, cultivating contacts and experience for students aspiring to write in technical, business, or journalism fields. Past students have interned with organizations such as CBS, the San Diego Union-Tribune, The Daily Transcript, Yahoo! News, as well as other local and national publications.
• Professors are knowledgeable, published writers whose works have been appeared in scholarly journals such as French Studies, The Princeton University Library Chronicle, and The Journal of Mass Media Ethics, as well as The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. With international invitations to lecture and submit papers, faculty members have presented at The University of London, UCLA, Princeton University, and the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese in Madrid, Spain.
• Department faculty have received major national grants including several from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Fellowship Grant, and the Del Amo Foundation.
• Opportunity to join Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego chapter.
• Alumni have gone on to work at newspapers and magazines in San Diego and nationally, as reporters, editors and photographers.
  

Career Opportunities:

• Print or Broadcast Journalism
• Reporter
• Magazine Editor
• Photo Journalist
• Publishing
• Public Relations
• Novelist
• Teaching