The modern city of Canterbury juxtaposes the medieval cathedral and its saint (the object of Chaucer’s pilgrimage) with contemporary buildings occupied by innovative high-tech corporations.

The English Department Canterbury Program honors this juxtaposition by offering English majors a bridge between traditional humanistic pursuits and twenty-first century technological achievements.

In the joyous spirit of Chaucer’s clerk in The Canterbury Tales, the program provides opportunities for innovative collaboration in teaching and learning, enabling our students to explore the creative convergence of literary classics and current technology, written communication and corporate culture.

• support undergraduate research for English majors
• provide resources for faculty-student collaboration in Literature, Creative Writing, Composition, and Business Communication
• encourage the study of early English authors to promote student learning in traditional and innovative methodologies
• forge connections between undergraduate English majors and positions in business and industry.

Canterbury Scholars agree to write a senior thesis on a literary topic or complete a comparable advanced project in creative writing or business writing. Up to 10 units of upper-division credit within the English major may be earned during the senior year for work leading to the completion of the fellowship project (subject to the usual approval of sponsoring faculty, the department chair, and the college). Canterbury Scholars also agree to make their projects available on Scholar Commons at the SCU library and to present their work to the department at the senior awards dinner in the Spring.