Career Opportunities

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Furman leads you on a challenging academic track with expansive horizons. Our graduates have pursued careers in medicine, law, teaching, arts administration, journalism, business, social service work, and numerous other fields.

We help our students select internships that will enhance their skills and guide them towards their future careers. English faculty members also collaborate with students on research projects during the summer and the school year.

Courses offered within the English department develop a student’s writing and editing skills, while honing their critical thinking.

In addition, English senior seminar classes foster the exploration of a student’s interests. The English literature track senior seminar encourages students to develop a research project within the realm of the class’ theme. The English writing track senior seminar helps students cultivate a polished portfolio of creative writing that can be used when applying for graduate programs or when submitting work to different publications.

The skills offered by an English degree can be applied to several different careers and post graduate degrees, as evidenced by our wide array of notable graduates.  Students interested in teaching English in secondary schools may take advantage of our teacher certification program at the graduate level through Furman’s Master of Arts in Teaching.  Consult with the Education Department (https://furman.edu/academics/education) to learn about the program of teacher education.

Notable Graduates:

  • The late Marshall Frady was an author and journalist who wrote for Newsweek, The Saturday Evening Post, Life, Harpers, ABC News, and many other publications.
  • Tommy Hays is an award-winning novelist and speaker. He is the author of The Pleasure Was Mine, chosen for Alamance Reads 2011 and Rockingham County Read 2011.
  • Matt Martin, a Rhodes Scholar, is an English professor at Wesleyan College.
  • Jennifer Thomas earned a Ph.D. in English and Women’s Studies from Emory University and is on the faculty at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts.
  • Meredith Williams is a staffing consultant for Ranstad Staffing in Columbia, South Carolina.
  • Emily DeMarco and Mark Canavera served in the Peace Corps.
  • Mason Freeman is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law and is a litigation associate for Winston & Strawn, LLP in Charlotte, North Carolina.
  • Dorothy Powers received an MBA from the University of North Carolina and works as a manager for Atlanta’s Deloitte Consulting.
  • Karen Buckley earned an MFA in film studies and works at National Geographic in Washington, D.C.
  • Evan Bohnenblust graduated from Temple University School of Medicine and trained as an anesthesiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
  • Roger Casey is the president of McDaniel College.
  • Theresa (T. J.) Wallace is Grants and Programs Officer for the Humanities Council of South Carolina, as well as the director of the South Carolina Book Festival.
  • Matthew Boyleston earned a Ph.D. in creative writing at the University of Houston and is Dean of the School of Fine Arts at Houston Baptist University.
  • Katherine Shipp is a pediatrician in Charleston.
  • Dan Smith is a Senior Associate in digital communications at CLS Strategies in Washington, D.C.
  • Sarah Hamilton holds a Master’s of International Administration from the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies.
  • Ed Tarkington is a teacher of English at Montgomery Bell Academy and has written a novel, Only Love Can Break Your Heart.
  • Ashland Johnson received her law degree from the University of Georgia and is the director of policy and campaigns for Athlete Ally in Washington, D.C.
  • Kelly Leonard received a Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina and works with Boomtown developing real estate software.