Designing a senior seminar as a "capstone" course for English majors provided an educator the opportunity to devise a course that might provide the majors and anyone who teaches the course an experience of what Paulo Freire calls "liberatory education." According to the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education…

In a personal narrative reflecting on 27 years of teaching, an adjunct faculty member realizes that she knows quite a bit firsthand about the adjunct. Judith Gappa and David Leslie, in their 1993 book, "The Invisible Faculty," state that budgets are balanced and classes assigned on the assumption that 20 to 50% of all undergraduate…

These Literacy across the Curriculum materials are designed to support schools in England that have already done considerable work on literacy across the curriculum as well as those that are just starting. The training pack contains notes for 13 possible units of training. This booklet accompanies the training which introduces schools to the…

Describes faculty recruitment from the perspectives of a department chair and a college dean. Argues that administration and faculty must imagine ways in both recruitment and curriculum whereby interdepartmental alliances that foster interdisciplinary work can be forged. (MM)

Discusses the role of the English department head in a time of educational crisis. Examines the possibility that graduate study in English is losing its moral base. Considers the role of leadership and oppositional politics in the context of the crisis in graduate study. (HB)

Describes how the English department at Western Washington University set out to revise the English curriculum as a participant in the MLA-FIPSE English Programs Curriculum Review Project. Shows how the faculty redesigned the curriculum, and asks tough questions concerning the best way to undertake such changes. (HB)

Discusses three fundamental questions that figure prominently in any attempt to imagine the future of English departments: What is an English department? What is the goal of an English department? and What is to be done? (HB)

Argues that the academic profession needs to monitor the establishment of posttenure-review systems very closely, even in their apparently most benign form. Suggests that resources poured into a blanket posttenure-review policy would be better spent in rewarding truly productive faculty members. (RS)

Makes a series of recommendations for dealing with the problem of the number of PhD English candidates versus the smaller number of college teaching positions that are available each year. Asserts that far too many new PhD candidates are being admitted. Suggests, for example, guidelines for assessing PhD programs and the use of apprenticeships.…

Examines one English department in the midst of establishing an independent writing major and program. Analyzes situational constraints in the context of professional concerns regarding tenure and in current disciplinary concerns regarding recognition of computers and composition labor. Argues for establishing tenure and promotion guidelines that…

Reform of undergraduate education is sweeping the United States and the design of the writing major at Millikin University (Decatur, Illinois), is an example of this movement. The writing major was in need of reform because, in addition to the English major core of literature surveys, Shakespeare, and a course in the history of grammar and the…

This paper provides some ideas for those searching for positions in the academic field of English (with emphasis on rhetoric/composition) at small, state-supported liberal arts colleges. It presents information about how searches are initiated and conducted and how candidates might best present themselves while engaged in a job search. Included in…

Because the structure of a writing program establishes its content and values, a writing program should be integrated with other aspects of English studies to avoid being merely an add-on to the college English department. Several planning strategies can assist in promoting this integration. A writing program should involve all related campus…

The objectives, programs, and procedures of the English department at Maine Township High School South in Park Ridge, Illinois, are set forth in this handbook. The 14 sections cover the following areas: the department philosophy; the community and the student body; the purposes and objectives of the district's educational program; departmental…

Describes how the task of leading an English department has changed over the past 25 years. Considers the delicate yet essential task of the department head to provide leadership and vision for an entire department. Relates the general problems of English departments and specific problems in graduate education with diversity and difference gone…