Explores how a particular metaphor might help to consider the current situation of higher education and to imagine what might be done about it. Aims to clarify and to represent more accurately what the intellectual work of a university means for students, the faculty, and higher education as a whole. (SG)

Discusses faculty development and the role of the English department chairperson in that area. (FL)

States that interdisciplinary studies have a long history in North American universities, but that those who teach in American and English literature departments have been accused of colonizing in the name of cultural studies. Distinguishes between interdisciplinary "tourism" and interdiscursivity. (PA)

Notes that the question of whether English departments had a future was asked 17 years ago when the author first became a department chair as it is asked now upon her retirement. Discusses things about the profession that have changed, for good or ill. Suggests that the profession's penchant for self-examination has not changed. (RS)

Addresses budget issues in terms of "getting" and "spending." Notes that educators should not lay waste their powers in exchange for getting and spending. Notes that careful budget management is a necessary virtue, but it is not a sufficient virtue to win additional support. Suggests what to take to an annual budget hearing. (SG)

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)

Describes the author's own perceptions and experiences as a woman chair, claiming that having a feminist chair (male or female) makes a positive difference in a department, for both women and men. (JK)

In a response to the Minnesota Conference on the Future of Doctoral Study in English, argues that literary theory has redirected attention to the medieval liberal arts of grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic. (JK)

Suggests that verbal and visual literacy are interdependent and that English departments should take on the task of heightening visual literacy. (AEA)

Discusses the responsibilities of serving as English department head. Two main duties identified are (1) to preserve and expand knowledge and (2) to ensure the success of the educational mission of the department. The administrator is encouraged to maintain scholarly activities while being a student of departmental and institutional affairs. (DF)

Describes three criteria used by a college administrator to allocate faculty positions. Discusses ways for English departments to enhance their chances for faculty positions. Suggests that departments that can significantly enhance undergraduate education have the best claim on faculty positions. (RS)

Presents 10 concrete strategies for retaining faculty lines, strategies that respond to the new economic realities shaping institutions and at the same time preserve the vital heart of the academy. (RS)

Suggests that the increasing prevalence of the two-career couple on university campuses should be viewed as an exhilarating challenge rather than an unmanageable mess of contending views. (RS)

Argues that curricular revision (in the direction implied by widespread adoption of terms such as "canon" and "theory") has been accomplished with little overhauling, in large part by adding non-White, nonmale, nonclassical writers to traditional courses. Argues that reading new works is not the same as arriving at new…

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)