Learning Opportunities

Hands-on learning is at the core of all our majors.

In any major or minor in the English and journalism department, you’ll have numerous opportunities to apply what you’re learning, conduct research, and gain experience. It’s all part of how we equip you with skills that transfer to any career.

And you’ll be able to get involved right away. Bethel’s size and vibrant community present opportunities for you to get involved from your first day on campus.  

Build your portfolio

Hone your writing skills and be published through numerous opportunities right here on Bethel’s campus: 

• The Clarion student newspaper. You’ll gain experience in writing, design, photography, and more on Bethel's student newspaper. The Clarion has received multiple national awards for writing, photography, and its website. 
• The Coeval. Bethel's undergraduate literary and art magazine is published each semester, the Coeval is edited by students and advised by the English and Journalism department. See the archive of Coeval issues in the Digital Library.
• Textura. Over a January trip, find a unique opportunity to practice your photojournalistic skills internationally and work together with graphic designers to turn their content into a magazine. Past magazines and stories have received numerous awards. Textura Guatemala magazine from the 2017 trip to Guatemala received a national Best Feature Magazine award from the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP).
• On-campus roles. You’ll have the chance to write, design, and shoot photos and videos for student government groups, the Bethel University Office of Marketing, and the university sports information office.
• Healy Poetry Prize. Sharpen your creative writing skills through entering your work to this poetry competition—created in honor of the late Gerald Healy, former Bethel professor of English.

Study abroad and off-campus programs

Study around the world through January sessions classes like Travel Writing along with numerous other opportunities over a full semester, January session, spring break, and summers. Bethel’s Department of English and Journalism typically has the highest number of students studying abroad each year.

• Literature and writing around the globe. In recent years Bethel’s Department of English and Journalism has led January interim trips to Brazil, Japan, Egypt, and Israel to practice the art of travel writing and study other literary and cultural traditions.
• Textura. This photojournalistic January interim trip is co-led by the Department of English and Journalism and the Department of Art and Design. This experience is an intimate exploration of a different culture, in which you will write investigative pieces about local life and use those stories and photos to compile and design a magazine. 
• NYC Semester. As a journalism student, you can spend a fall or spring New York City Semester at The King’s College in downtown Manhattan. You’ll take a full slate of classes while also pursuing a meaningful internship and networking possibilities throughout the city. Former Wall Street Journal reporter Paul Glader, a friend of Bethel, runs the program, which has hosted five Bethel University journalists since the partnership began in 2015.

Internships

Apply what you learn through strong internships at newspapers and publishing houses, including: 

• Minneapolis Star Tribune
• St. Paul Pioneer Press
• Kansas City Star
• Christianity Today
• Redleaf Press
• Believers Press
• Bethany House Publishers
• Coffee House Press

Hands-on application

Literature students attend performances at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis as well as at smaller venues throughout the Twin Cities before performing their own scenes in class; journalism and education students partner with fourth- and fifth-graders at Maxfield elementary school in St. Paul to create the Maxfield Times; and writing students create and produce the Coeval literary journal in the class Publishing and Being Published. 

On-campus work

You can work for the department as a teaching assistant (TA), where you’ll work closely with faculty in a valuable opportunity for mentorship, gaining experience in teaching, research, or administration. Students also commonly work as tutors.

Connect with the community

Get to know students and faculty and learn about the process of news-gathering, editing, and publishing by working with professionals in our Johnson Center for Journalism and Communication, which provides campus workshops with world-class Christian journalists.