Discusses the psychological impact of chairing an English department in a time of shrinking resources. Provides advice for department heads faced with budget cuts. (HB)

Examines the dilemmas of mid-career feminist professors, including: escalating demands on their time; pressures of work and family; high casualty rates among women hired; friction between generations and among feminists; and doubts about what professionalism means to the collective participants in the feminist venture. Discusses strains of this…

Calls attention to some of the psychological dimensions of English department chairs' responsibilities to mentor and evaluate faculty members. Notes an estrangement effect between chairs and faculty; the importance of making the right initial appointments; usefulness of written performance evaluations; and the importance of mentoring junior…

Defends the exclusion of Shakespeare course requirements for the English Department at Indiana University by explaining that "Shakespeare can take care of himself"--students will sign up for as many Shakespeare classes as offered. Presents opposing obstacles and objectives to this curricular decision. (SC)

Considers the direction of literature curricula and asks why the study of literature and language is an essential part of culture. Explains the curriculum's educational value and intellectual purposes to those who allocate resources. Raises fundamental questions about the political and spiritual aspects of teaching literature. (SC)

Analyzes the hierarchies that have defined college English. Reviews two models for how literacy programs can contribute to public learning. Suggests that if educators adopt a civic stance on graduate studies, they may be able to place graduates in positions where they can use their leadership skills beyond as well as within departments of English.…

Examines the possibility of a university based on dissensus, disagreement, and diversity. Deconstructs the traditional English major, noting the inappropriateness of studying British literature as a substitute for a national cultural whole. Notes that the United States has never really had cultural unity and has always looked to the future for it.…

In recent years, traditional teacher training programs for graduate teaching assistants which value a rather narrow definition of academic work have produced a limiting path of professionalization. The problem can no longer be figured as a matter of emphasis--should more training resources be directed toward pedagogy instead of content area…

The English department at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is trying to create an environment where all voices are heard and respected, both those of the literarists and compositionists. Where it is probably more customary to think of curriculum as a reflection of faculty values, the guiding principle at LMU has been that curriculum can influence…

At present, the composition program at San Diego State is located in two departments. The Academic Skills Center offers pre-baccalaureate courses for basic writers and developmental ESL writers. The Department of English and Comparative Literature offers most of the required general education two-semester sequence, advanced composition courses,…

Part-time college instructors with children are not perceived as professionals, and therefore they often do not advance to full-time status. Their inability to move out of the area limits their possibilities for full-time work and colleges often exploit this. Of the part-time women interviewed by members of a panel at the Conference on College…

When the ideology of individualism is used in composition studies to create a hero image for the writer/teacher, the effect is to exclude from the "hero status" people who do not fit the requirements of the ideology. However beautiful and powerful a story it may be, for instance, Mike Rose's "Lives on the Boundary" puts forth…

Composition researchers are poised to offer new answers to the three questions which are at the heart of ideological definition: what exists; what is good; and what is possible? Researchers must consider the impact of computer-assisted composition programs (often called "style checkers") as well as the basic word processor. Style…

The social/political issues facing university English departments in South Africa include problems of identity and definition, the need for instruction within the context of social and political history, the problems of cultural relativism, the corrosive implications of Black subordination, and the complex alternatives of private and public…

Includes a comment by Ann Berthoff on Ross Winterowd's "The Purification of Literature and Rhetoric," with a response by Winterowd. Also includes Jeanie C. Crain's comment on "The Wyoming Conference Resolution: Opposing Unfair Salaries and Working Conditions for Post-Secondary Teachers of Writing." (MM)