Outlines current critiques of U.S. higher education. Describes the activities and findings of the Illinois state task force on assessment of language arts in the 1980s. Describes how Illinois State University's English department defined the goals of English majors and dramatically altered the curriculum. (HB)

Attempts to identify what makes a recommendation letter effective (and what does not). Presents several guidelines for different conditions and circumstances under which recommendations are frequently written. Concludes by suggesting not to write a letter if the writer cannot put him/herself in the place of the candidate, because the writer's…

Defends the data from the author's previously published study (v2 n1) against the criticisms offered by Renee T. Betz (this issue). Further defends the hybrid study of both literature and composition. (JAD)

Briefly reviews personal experiences as an English department chair and compares the relative advantages of two systems of department administration: long-standing and short-term headships. (AEA)

Three key areas of confusion in the English department--composition, curriculum, and humanism--can be resolved by marshaling ideas from social dramatism, games theory, and sociobiology. (DD)

Describes seven things the author would do, were he chairing an English department, to solve some of the problems that go with the post. (DD)

A former English department chairman looks back with optimism at the state of English education since 1930 and discusses how it might be of use in developing future curricula. (HTH)

Suggests that to be hired usually means that one happens to be the right person at the right place at the right time. Considers that none of the factors that lead to being hired is really in a job candidate's control. Suggests that when interviewing for a position "you just have to be yourself." (SG)

Suggests that educational trends indicate that English departments should redefine faculty recruiting away from competing with other departments and toward competing with the other interests that seek public funding. (RS)

Offers advice to potential interviewees attending an MLA conference. Cautions the interviewee to arrive for the appointment early, but not to knock until the time of the appointment. Advises interviewees to answer questions briefly and to let the committee set the pace of the interview. (PA)

States that keeping a cool head when job interviewing on campus is a powerful bonus. Encourages the applicant to analyze the process in rhetorical terms. Discusses the purpose of the interview and the applicant as author and performer. Advises remembering who the audience is. Suggests applicants should carry a credit card for emergencies. (PA)

Presents six responses to an article in the same issue of this journal. Recommends closer contact between baccalaureate institutions and doctoral programs. Expresses a "hope for the new" in the form of more inventive candidates for assistant professorships. States that the conventional admissions process does not work as well for…

Offers some perspectives drawn from a recent experience in making a transition from faculty to dean in the hope it will be of some help to other chairs considering crossing the "great divide." Discusses the decision, the preparation, the application, the search itself, the "rules of the road," and the results. (SG)

Suggests that the valorization of Emerson in English departments has been behind the split between fiction and nonfiction, and between creative writing and composition. Suggests further that the values Emerson places on contemplation versus action degrade argument and persuasion. (TB)

Offers a utopian vision of what the place of rhetoric should be in a department that thinks of itself as literary. Argues that a Ph.D. in English that encompasses both literature and rhetoric works because it is really a degree in rhetoric. (TB)