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Humanities Division

ENGLISH & FINE ARTS

cadet reading book

Leaders throughout history have used their skills as readers, thinkers and communicators to effect change. Our department is committed to improving the reading, writing and speaking skills of all cadets.

About Us

The Department of English and Fine Arts believes that critical and imaginative thinking and clear, effective communication are the foundations of outstanding leadership, both inside and outside the Air Force.

Our cadets engage in literary texts spanning three millennia and numerous cultural traditions. They grapple with some of the most perplexing questions of the human condition: What does it mean to be human? What are the sources of human greatness and human depravity? Why do we yearn, through literature and art, to share our stories with others, and why is it vital to listen to these stories in a complex and interconnected world?

Ultimately, we aim to develop warrior-scholars whose conceptions of leadership are buttressed by wisdom—a wisdom captured and communicated by literature and art. Our department enriches the intellectual experiences of all cadets through a variety of opportunities, including:

English & Fine Arts Faculty and Staff

Department News News From Around The Department


September 29, 2023

English professor motivated by her love of storytelling

Lt. Col. Jessica Lopez is a Class of 2004 graduate and a U.S. Air Force Academy Department of English and Fine Arts assistant professor and deputy head of the Department of English and Fine Arts. (U.S. Air Force photo by Trevor Cokley) By Randy Roughton  U.S. Air Force Academy Strategic Communications  U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.– U.S. Air Force Academy assistant professor Lt. Col. Jessica Lopez flew in multiple military operations all over the world, but one passion led her on a different career path. She loves stories. ‘Stories matter’ “Stories matter,” said Lopez, a Department of English and Fine...

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December 14, 2021

Cadet & faculty arts journal ignites creativity in a year of upheaval

By Rachelle Stoll, Strategic Communications  Photo by Justin Pacheco   The global pandemic shifted life dramatically for all of us. As lock downs and wide-spread quarantines began in 2020, building blocks of our daily lives came abruptly to a halt. Children stayed home, away from the familiarity and routine of their classrooms, playgrounds, and after-school activities. Workers—or those of us whose jobs allowed us to—shifted to working from home, dismantling American work culture, relegating communication with bosses and co-workers to screens and e-mails.   The Cadet Wing here at the Air Force Academy, along with faculty and staff, dealt with its own specific set of circumstances at the onset of the pandemic. The Academy, an institution whose training and effectiveness...

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June 8, 2020

‘Why limit yourself?’: Cadet combines majors to make Shakespeare more accessible

Ray Bowden, June 8, 2020 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- A cadet’s project has the potential to benefit next year’s crop of English students as they wade through the works of William Shakespeare. Cadet 2nd Class Brynn Sulte, a computer science and English major, created a database to help other students at the Air Force Academy analyze more than 150 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet. “The goal is to make this database available in a classroom setting and develop it more broadly for research,” she said. Daniel Couch, an English professor at the school, said Sulte’s...

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