The study of English at the University has a long and distinguished history: St Andrews was one of the first universities in the world to teach English literature, the first British university to teach American literature, and the first Scottish university to offer a degree in Creative Writing. The School of English is ranked as the best in Scotland and ninth in the UK in The Times Good University Guide 2010 and fifth in The Guardian University Guide 2012. In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise in 2008, 70% of the School’s research and writing was rated as 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent', and the School had the highest percentage of work rated at 4* of any department in the UK.

In the eighteenth century, St Andrews was one of the first universities in the world to teach literary texts in English; the University also pioneered the study of modern literature in the English language. In addition, St Andrews taught American Literature earlier than elsewhere in Britain: in the mid-nineteenth century, William Spalding lectured on Longfellow and Fenimore Cooper, and wrote a ground-breaking survey of English Literature, including American writers. St Andrews was thus the first university in Britain to teach American literature. The School enjoys an international reputation and now wishes to build on this unique historical foundation by establishing a new research core: an initiative to teach, explore and support International Literatures in English.

The need to enhance the study of international literatures within the School of English is now paramount. The School already has academic excellence, but over too narrow a definition of the field, especially given the importance of English as a global language, a language in which national identities are shaped and contested, and which unites peoples of widely diverging faiths, ethnicities and politics. Student demand to study American Literature at St Andrews is evident, and possible strands of study already identified include Black American Literature, Hispanic American Literature, Nature and Literature and Native American Literature. Securing funds for an Endowed Lectureship in American Literature will act as a lynchpin for expansion of the study of International Literatures in English at St Andrews.

The overall costs would be £1.3 million for an in-perpetuity lectureship. Fundraising for an endowed lectureship represents a commitment to the intellectual infrastructure of an academic school, the most important infrastructure the University possesses.

Establishing an Endowed Lectureship in American Literature as part of the International Literatures in English programme will build on past achievements while also looking toward new developments, progressing the School’s dedication to international expansion. Students’ educations will be considerably enhanced, experiencing the full range of literature written in English since the seventeenth century. Staff would benefit enormously from the enrichment of cultural perspective afforded by this much-needed challenge to the School’s national insularity. In addition, there would certainly be a corresponding increase in postgraduate research.