Emeritus & Retired Faculty

Beginning his university-level teaching career in Oklahoma when he was twenty years old, Associate Professor Rutledge has taught innumerable correspondence courses, off-campus courses, study-abroad course, television courses, and campus courses. The following may not be his complete list, but it is pretty close:

1. English for Upward-Bound Students
2. English for High-School Junior Scholars
3. High-School Grammar & Composition I—for ninth grade—by correspondence at WKU
4. High-School Literature I—Introduction to Literature for ninth grade—by correspondence at WKU
5. High-School Grammar & Composition II—for tenth grade—by correspondence at WKU
6. High-School Literature II—World Literature for tenth grade—by correspondence at WKU
7. High-School Grammar & Composition III—for eleventh grade—by correspondence at WKU
8. High-School Literature III—American Literature for eleventh grade—by correspondence at WKU
9. High-School Grammar & Composition IV—for twelfth grade—by correspondence at WKU
10. High-School Literature IV—British Literature for twelfth grade—by correspondence at WKU
11. English 049—a pilot course in Remedial English that later evolved into English 055
12. English 055—Remedial English
13. English 101, later 100—Freshman Composition
14. English 102—Freshman Composition II
15. English 102 Honors Combined with Psychology 100 Honors
16. English 102 Honors Combined with English 283 Honors
17. English 102H combined with History 120H, Psychology 100H, and Biology 148H
18. English 104 Honors—Introduction to Linguistics
19. English 104 Honors Combined with Psychology 100 Honors
20. English 183, later 283, and still later 200—Introduction to Literature
21. English 199 Honors—Special Topic in Advanced Freshman Composition
22. English 200 Honors Combined with Psychology 199 Honors

English 202 English Honors Forum—The Registrar officially lists the following sub-topics as separate courses, just as PE 101 Activities are listed as separate courses.

23. English 202-Sub-Topic #1 English Honors Forum—Literary Chronology
24. English 202-Sub-Topic #2 English Honors Forum—Literary Women
25. English 202-Sub-Topic #3 English Honors Forum—Fulbright Lectures
26. English 202 Sub-Topic #4 English Honors Forum—World Literature
27. English 202-Sub-Topic #5 English Honors Forum—The Short Story
28. English 202-Sub-Topic #6 English Honors Forum—Career Opportunities
29. English 202-Sub-Topic #7 English Honors Forum—The Contemporary
30. English 202-Sub-Topic #8 English Honors Forum—Southern Writers
31. English 202-Sub-Topic #9 English Honors Forum—Poetry
32. English 202-Sub-Topic #10 English Honors Forum—Drama
33. English 202-Sub-Topic #11 English Honors Forum—Language
34. English 202-Sub-Topic #12 English Honors Forum—Fiction
35. English 202-Sub-Topic #13 English Honors Forum—Writing
36. English 202-Sub-Topic #14 English Honors Forum—The Hero in Literature

37. English 290—English Topics Abroad (scheduled for summer 2016)
38. English 300—Writing in the Disciplines
39. English 321—American Studies II
40. English 380—Masterpieces of British Literature (taught on-site in England)
41. English 381—British Literature Before 1798
42. English 382—British Literature Since 1798
43. English 390—Masterpieces of American Literature
44. English 391—American Literature I (American Literature Before the Civil War)
45. English 392—American Literature II (American Literature Since the Civil War)
46. English 398—Honors Hemingway & Faulkner
47. English 399 Honors Special Topic—American Literature of the Sixties
48. English 399 Honors Special Topic—American Literature of the Great Depression
49. English 399 Special Topic—The Literary Works of James Agee & Thomas Wolfe
50. English 399 Special Topic—The Southern Gothic
51. English 399 Special Topic—The Small Town in American Literature: From Winesburg to Lake Wobegon
52. English 399 Special Topic—The Bible as Literature
53. English 399 Special Topic—The Dramas of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller
54. English 399 Special Topic—The Dramas of Eugene O’Neill
55. English 399 Honors Special Topic/ Honors 300—Literary New England
(taught on-site at various places in New England)
56. English 399 Honors Special Topic/ Honors 300—The Life and Literature of New York City
(taught on-site in New York City)
57. English 399 Honors Special Topic/ Honors 300—The Life and Literature of Chicago
(taught on-site in Chicago)
58. English 399 Honors Special Topic/ Honors 300—Cuban Literature and Culture
(taught on-site in Cuba)
59. English 399 Special Topic—The Humanistic Tradition in Britain
(taught on-site in England, Scotland, and Wales)
60. English 399 Special Topic—Literary London
(taught on-site in London)
61. English 399 Special Topic—The Literary World of Jane Austen: Fact, Fiction, & Film
(taught on-site in England)
62. English 399 Special Topic—Robert Penn Warren
63. English 411—Directed Writing (travel writing, a mystery novel, etc.)
64. English 455 Honors—American Drama
65. English 459—Modern Drama
66. English 482—Shakespeare (to be taught on-site in England in the fall of 2016)
67. English 486—The Eighteenth Century (taught in Oklahoma)
68. English 490—The American Novel (taught in Oklahoma)
69. English 499—Directed Study (Alice Walker, James Dickey, Jesse Stuart, Garrison Keillor, James Fenimore Cooper, Flannery O’Connor, & various other writers)
70. English 499 Honors—Alternative American Writers (team-taught)
71. Honors 100—Colloquium on the Sixties
72. Honors 303—Thesis Preparation
73. Honors 403—Thesis Research
74. Honors 404—Senior Thesis

Of the hundreds of literary study-tours that Associate Professor Rutledge has led—with multiple field trips often scheduled on the same day—favorite locales have included Oxford, Mississippi; Oak Park, Illinois; Nantucket Island, Massachusetts; New York City, New York; Chicago, Illinois; London, England; and Havana, Cuba.

Associate Professor Walker Rutledge has achieved several curious distinctions:   he started the English Department’s Honors Program over thirty years ago and has overseen it ever since; he has taught more different English courses than anyone else in the history of the Western Kentucky University; and believing that nothing brings literature to life more readily than appreciating its origins, he holds the dubious record for organizing and conducting the most field trips and study-tours for students. 

When not teaching, grading essays, or researching his courses, Associate Professor Rutledge plays the jazz piano. He invites you to email him at walker.rutledge@wku.edu.