Two education professors conducting research on the curriculum planning at a high school near Boise (Idaho) found that their status as observer and/or participant in discussions among teachers, administrators and parents made things more difficult. Usually in ethnography it is assumed that the hard part is to achieve insider status--to be accepted…

For instructors in college writing centers, doing research is crucial, both for understanding what they do and authorizing who they are. A dialogic relationship between the research undertaken and current theory is particularly crucial. The goal of this research needs to be understanding the relationship between the writing center and the larger…

If there is to be communication and mutual assistance between community colleges and universities, three myths about community colleges need to be dispelled: that they teach almost nothing but basic or remedial English, that no research is possible for those university people who study community college English programs or for community college…

Describes the English program and the role it plays at Doane College, Nebraska. (JK)

In a response to the Minnesota Conference on the Future of Doctoral Study in English, states that the consensus to embrace rhetoric as a unifying focus would undercut small colleges. (MM)

Discusses the role of ideology in discourse theory. Suggests that an informed self-consciousness about the complex sources of thinking and writing can inspire involvement and willingness to share discursive power in the English department's conversation. (MS)

Provides an interim report on the present state of the undergraduate English curriculum and the English major. (SRT)

Outlines the most effective ways of conducting a search for new English department faculty on the college level. (SRT)

Details some of the advantages provided by a testing service that evaluates student writing. (NKA)

Contrasts scholarship in technical communication with that in literary studies. (HOD)

Urges the Association of Departments of English (ADE) to issue position statements on promotion and tenure, on teaching composition, and on becoming more active politically. (AEA)

Suggests some of the roles required of English department heads and gives a few practical tips on how to cope with them. (AEA)

Concludes that the humanities cannot be reduced to the teaching of specific, depersonalized skills (such as editing) and that they must maintain the link between reading and writing. (AEA)

Discusses the role of college libraries in the teaching of library skills to undergraduates, and describes a program in which an English department cooperated with library staff in sharing the responsibility for instruction. (FM)

Discusses several developing trends that limit the effectiveness of English teachers and departments and that must be taken into account when planning for the future of English education. (FL)