English has been part of the curriculum since the founding of the university in 1868. In the 1960s, the English Department became the first liberal arts department to offer a bachelor's degree.
Novelist Bernard Malamud was an English professor at Oregon State College from 1949 to 1961. During this time he wrote three novels: The Natural (1952), The Assistant (1957), and A New Life (1961) as well as a collection of short stories, The Magic Barrel (1959) for which he received the National Book Award. He was presented OSU's Distinguished Service Award in 1969. A collection of photographs of Malamud can be found in the University Archives collection.
In recent years, the English Department has developed and expanded its graduate programs, and numerous faculty have been honored with college, university, and professional teaching awards. The department boasts two University Distinguished Professors and the endowed Oregon Professor of English. Through their research, English faculty have produced and disseminated significant new knowledge in British, American, and World literatures, and in Creative Writing, Composition and Rhetoric, Criticism, and Film and Cultural Studies.