Engl 3050 Literature and the Environment, Spring 2025

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Policies
last update: January 10, 2025

 

Course and Instructor
- English 3050 Literature and the Environment, MWF 11:40am-12:35pm in Warf Pickel Hall, Room 517

- Dr. Kevin O'Donnell, instructor; odonnell@etsu.edu faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/

- Office Hours: I will not hold regular office hours this semester because Burleson Hall office space has been disrupted by renovation. To arrange an in-person meeting, please email me or talk to me in class. I will make myself available at your convenience.

 

Assignment Overview/ Final Grade Breakdown

- Two exams (25% each): 50%

- Book Review Essay – 1000-1250 wds: 20%

- 5 reading responses: 25% (5 points each)

- Attendance and participation: 5% 

 

- Extra credit opportunities: up to 5% each, added onto your points (will discuss in class)

 

Texts

- Erika Howsare. The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with Our Wild Neighbors. Catapult Books, 2025. $17.95. 978-1646222506

- Barbara Kingsolver. Flight Behavior: A Novel. Harper Perennial, 2013. $16.99. 978-0062124272

- Elizabeth Kolbert. Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future. Crown, 2022. $17.00. 978-0593136287 

- Bill McKibben. American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau. Library of America, 2008. $49.95. 978-1598530209

- Cormac McCarthy. The Road. Vintage, 2006. $16.95. 978-0307387899

- Ron Rash. Serena: A Novel. Ecco, 2009. $14.99. 978-0061470844

 

Attendance and Participation

- Missing more than 4 scheduled class meetings will lower your final grade by a full letter grade.

- The official Department of Lit and Language attendance policy is that if you miss more than 9 classes in a MWF class, you fail the course. (I have never had to fail a student due to attendance. Usually, if someone misses that many classes, they fail the course for other reasons.)

- I reserve 5% of the final grade for participation. If you show up and participate, you get the full 5%.