English or rhetoric and composition faculty must work to collapse disciplinary boundaries in their institutions. The challenge facing English departments is to collapse the "we-they" mentality, to develop productive partnerships with other departments, and to develop a healthy respect for other disciplines. At Yavapai College in Arizona,…

Many English departments employ world literature instructors with no obvious training in world literature. Ideally, all subjects should be taught by specialists. In practice, world literature courses are routinely rotated among an unenthusiastic faculty with generally no effort to remedy the situation by recruiting experts. Although world…

Experience using a freshman writing magazine in basic Rhetoric classes at other colleges prompted the creation of a similar one at DeKalb College in Georgia. Building a coalition of supportive colleagues; composing a statement of purpose; and sending letters with the pertinent information to freshmen writers, colleagues, and high school English…

Argues that graduate schools are overproducing literary scholars and underproducing composition and rhetoric scholars, who carry the increasingly bulk of the work in English departments, and examines, in detail, this split between rhetoric and literary scholars. (SRT)

Considers the national curricular practices in college English departments, specifically with regard to "service" courses. Provides excerpts of data from the Modern Language Association's national survey of 92 English departments. (HB)

When a large group of nontenured part-time English department faculty were summarily dismissed, a significant segment of the English curriculum was left largely unattended, and other problems arose throughout the institution. (MSE)

Recounts the disruptions, conflicts, and general hostility that resulted when the position of English department head was eliminated in an attempt to save money. (RBW)

Espouses cooperation between college English departments and schools of education in the training of English and reading teachers. (AEA)

Describes programs offered by a university English department that both improve the department's public image and enrich the cultural life of the school and the community. (AEA)

Examines and discusses ways in which both subtle and blatant bigotry toward nonnative speakers of English is present in departments of English. Illustrates how unfounded and inaccurate beliefs about English language proficiency create a hostile climate for a new population of students. Discusses the spoken and written English problems encountered…

Telecommunications networks were placed in 16 rural high school library media centers in 12 southside Virginia counties. With these units, the high school media centers are able to access the online public access catalog at Longwood College, the Lancaster Library's VTLS (Virginia Tech Library System) database. If a needed book is found, a request…

A tribute to the work of Ann Berthoff, this book--a collection of 6 poems and 21 essays--explores issues in the philosophy and teaching of composition. Each of the five sections is introduced with a poem by Marie Ponsot. Essays and their authors consist of (1) "Genre Theory, Academic Discourse, and Writing within Disciplines" (James F.…

Compares the structure of the headship of an English department with that of a chair, and then discusses the implementation of a chair.

Reviews current department efforts to emphasize the service functions of English. Suggests that the search for students must be tempered with the demand for quality in instruction and performance, whether the pursuit be of literacy or of literature. (MM)

When English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students were few and far between at college, they were absorbed into regular Freshman English courses designed for, and dominated by native speakers. However, it appears that ESL students are best served by placing them in classes specially designed for their needs, rather than mainstreaming them or placing…