English departments is not uniform. Many departments still exist with traditional notions of inquiry and curriculum and ignore community engagement or understand it in narrow ways. For a variety of reasons, writing courses and compositionists more easily than literature scholars and creative writers can embrace current concepts of community…

This essay provides an account of The Ohio State University's (OSU) rhetoric department during the tenure of Joseph Villiers Denney, arguing that he appropriated and repurposed national trends in education and rhetoric in ways that complicate the narrative of rhetoric and composition's decline in the late nineteenth century. In this essay, the…

Shares observations about factors critical in the outcomes of the review of Ohio's state-supported doctoral programs in English. Details some of the responsibilities and challenges that both the departments and review panel faced in developing extensive self-studies. Argues that departments should address mismatches or anomalies in their programs.…