Maintains that the humanities get "screwed" in the academy because they are feminized. Explores this process of "feminization," focusing on college English departments. Offers a different view of the relationship between "soft" humanities and "hard" disciplines, reconceived from a feminist perspective. (SR)

Describes how chairs of English departments can help their departments prosper in economic hard times. (SR)

Suggests that parenting is still invisible in the academy. Discusses commonalities between parenting and teaching. Concludes that academicians must bring their parenting selves and their children into their work and their workplaces. (RS)

Considers how in the 1990s most English departments have altered curricula to accommodate the explosion of the canon, the emphasis on cultural studies, the arrival of new technology in writing and literature classrooms, and the varied learning styles of students. Discusses how many of these changes have been patches rather than substantial…

Addresses (1) shared understandings regarding the extent and pattern of increased reliance on part-time and adjunct faculty; (2) elements of quality undergraduate instruction affected; and (3) institutional advantages and disadvantages of such reliance. Suggests general guidelines for rectifying inappropriate reliance on part-time and adjunct…

Offers basic principles for English department fundraising: know why people should give money to the department; identify several colleagues who can help represent the department to potential givers; involve alumni; work on getting grants while pursuing private gifts from donors; create a print representation of the department; and cultivate a…

Describes how the author survived for more than a quarter of a century as a minor university administrator by applying a "schizoid narrativizing strategy" to the art of running, and being run by, an academic department. Notes that established written departmental procedures are indispensable. Discusses briefly the state of the academic economy.…

Describes the author's department goals with three main principles: to build departmental community, to harness rather than dissipate energy, and to address multiple audiences simultaneously. Discusses how she communicates to the college as a whole what the department does well and finds ways in which caring for the department's interests might…

Describes a program that gives first-year students the chance to have a small course, 15 to 20 students, taught by a full-time faculty member on a special topic conceived by the professor. Notes that their program set an implicit parallel of time and value between teaching at the most advanced and at the most introductory levels of the curriculum.…

Explores some historical reasons why, academic freedom and tenure notwithstanding, retaliation against Writing Program Administrators (WPA) remains rather invisible as well as rather commonplace. Suggests that there is a good deal of historical connection between many WPAs' and writing teachers' present job circumstances and the circumstances that…

Notes that four computers and writing specialists and one librarian who had found work in a variety of nontraditional, nonteaching positions were asked to meet at LinguaMOO and talk about their careers. Contains a version of that conversation as edited for print purposes, and the annotations and responses made after the fact by the participants.…

Illustrates four points relating to community college students. Emphasizes relations to writing and relations to the humanities. Considers four points including: the class as golden age; interaction with students that seems at first monumentally bad but that leads to meaningful resolution and change; holding "ourselves" as educators accountable;…

Considers that ever since distance learning technology has enabled colleges and universities to offer courses to students who might otherwise not be able to earn college credit, resistance has emerged on pedagogical or fiscal grounds. Notes that most students in distance learning composition classes indicate that they would participate in such a…

Expresses concern that the future of English is a matter of dwindling importance except among English professors. Suggests English professors need to confront the growing irrelevance of English to the major developments in many institutions. Suggests the future of English may depend in part on what professors define, and defend, as the value of…

Offers suggestions for use in establishing undergraduate career guidance programs in English departments. (AEA)