Suggests reasons that Robert Scholes is an ideal person to receive the Francis Andrew March Award. Discusses aspects of his career that are not automatically clear from his publications. Concentrates on his professional presence for over more than a third of a century. (SG)

Shares some things about the author's career in the English profession, in a confessional mode. Notes that as a profession in a highly competitive and commodified society, educators encourage "hypocriticism"--intellectual bluff and bluster, self-promotion and one-upmanship. Recounts some episodes from an academic life of "lazy idle little…

Contends that the academy has forgotten the origin of the dissertation and has turned it from a substantive contribution of scholarship to an instrument of evaluation. Argues that continuing to treat the dissertation in this way maintains an unequal power hierarchy of "masters" and initiates--it should be seen as the first serious scholarly…

Reviews the growth of business and technical communication courses as college courses in universities. Documents the move to "professional" communication in English departments. Explains why technical communication dominates "professional" communication. Argues that faculty who teach business communication in business schools…

Describes how the English Department at Loyola University of Chicago, adopted assessment measures beneficial to the department's program and acceptable to administrators, faculty, and students. (TB)

Describes "academentia," the delusion that disciplines are intellectually powerful as a result of their specialization. Prescribes "neighborliness"--intellectual and practical work done from the perspective of critical consciousness--as the antidote to academentia. Suggests that writing projects have great potential as…

Describes the distinction between the National Endowment for the Arts, which funds artists, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds those who talk about art. Examines the similar distinction in alliances between writers and scholars in English departments, focusing on their effects on writing programs. (MM)

Argues that a paradox exists in humanities departments when such departments, which are the custodians and beneficiaries of literacy, fail to concern themselves with reading, writing, and pedagogy. (DF)

Recounts the rapid rise and recent decline of the once highly regarded Duke University (North Carolina) English department, characterized by disaffection and defection to other institutions of a large proportion of the faculty, disorganized teaching, and an unsettled curriculum. The perceptions of a number of the faculty involved are presented.…

By the late 19th century, the new universities in the United States had become so closely intertwined with the research imperative that their future depended on their position at the center of knowledge creation. The tension between the liberal arts college and the "modern" research university initiated a process of differentiation that…

Asserts that exploring convergences between composition and literature can bridge the gap between the two fields. (MM)

As the 21st century begins, the clicking of computer keyboards is increasingly interrupting the calm of literary classrooms. The sound of new technology now marks the world in which students grow up and will live, how they learn, and in essence who they are. How do educators cope and make it all work? On a typical day this could happen: the…

Urges the English teaching profession to heal the split between literature and composition teaching and to offer entry-level college students a freshman English program that combines the two disciplines. (AEA)

Traces the difficulties and exploitation encountered by a female faculty member beginning in the 1950s. Describes how personal voice is frustrated by the hegemonic powers of English departments and the exploitative system of part-time and untenured faculty. Concludes with a powerful affirmation of the teaching mission. (HB)

Presents a discussion one year after the author received a tenure-track job and describes the strategies and tactics that made her search a success. Discusses certain strategies that candidates conducting a local search can employ to maximize their credentials and opportunities. (SG)