Date:  Thu, 28 Sep 1995 17:56:59 -0500

From:  Natalie Maynor <maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RA.MSSTATE.EDU>

Subject: Re: What Can You Do with a Degree in X



Here's something Harry Donaghy, my dept head, put together a few years

ago to hand out to prospective English majors. I have a copy online

because I included it in the department's web pages.



X-within-URL: http://www.msstate.edu/Dept/English/names.html



    A PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE FROM THE MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY

               ENGLISH DEPARTMENT



  Some students who enjoy English courses hesitate to major in the

  subject because they think that few career options are open to English

  majors. Nothing could be further from the truth.



  The stereotype of the English major as a grammar-spouting schoolmarm

  or wild-eyed poet has always been a convenient myth for people who

  have trouble with the first two of the three R's. Like many

  stereotypes, this one has a grain of truth. Some English majors choose

  a career in teaching. And some go the way of Douglas (Hitchhiker's

  Guide to the Galaxy) Adams, Gwendolyn ("We real cool") Brooks, Tom

  (Clear and Present Danger) Clancy, Allen ("Howl") Ginsberg, Joseph

  (Catch 22) Heller, David Henry (M. Butterfly) Hwang, Stephen (Master

  of Horror) King, Arthur (Death of a Salesman) Miller, Toni (Beloved)

  Morrison, Amy (Joy Luck Club) Tan, and Eudora Welty (to name but a few

  creative writers with English degrees). But thousands of English

  majors choose to employ their communication and problem-solving skills

  in a wide variety of other career fields.



  Although it is loath to meddle with a myth, the English Department at

  Mississippi State feels obliged to do so for the sake of students who

  would like to major in English but are concerned about it's practical

  value. By way of reassuring this group, we offer the names of a few

  English majors who have prominently offended against the stereotype.



  Alan Alda--actor, writer

  Russell Baker--journalist

  Dave Barry--humorist writer, actor

  Linda Bloodworth-Thomason--television writer/producer (Designing

  Women, Evening Shade)

  Carol Browner--Head of the Environmental Protection Agency

  Chevy Chase--comedian, actor, writer

  Mario Cuomo--Governor of New York

  Michael Eisner--Walt Disney CEO

  Jodi Foster--actress, filmmaker

  Kathryn Fuller--World Wildlife Fund CEO

  A. Bartlett Giamatti--President, Yale University and Commissioner of

  Baseball

  Cathy Guisewite--cartoonist (Cathy)

  Chris Isaak--songwriter, singer

  Stephen King--novelist

  Paul Newman--actor, food entrepreneur

  Joe Paterno--football coach (Penn State)

  Sally Ride--astronaut

  Joan Rivers--comedienne

  Diane Sawyer--broadcast journalist

  Paul Simon--songwriter, singer

  Steven Spielberg--filmmaker

  Marty Shottenheimer--Coach of Kansas City Chiefs

  Superman (Christopher Reeve)--journalist, superhero

  Brandon Tartikoff--television executive

  Clarence Thomas--U.S. Supreme Court Justice

  Granhma Tinker--TV Executive and Producer

  Harold Varmus--Nobel laureate in medicine, Director of National

  Institutes of Health

  Barbara Walters--broadcast journalist

  Sigourney Weaver--actress

  Pete Wilson--Governor of California

  Bob Woodward--journalist, writer (All the President's Men)