Examines differences between a department chairperson and a department head, changes in the author's English department since he became department chairperson, ways a chairperson can gain departmental support for proposals, and problems and gratifications of being a department chairperson. (GT)

Argues that faculty vitality is an essential element in all English departments, and asserts that basic changes in the English field over the last two decades can help create that vitality. (MM)

Describes steps taken by the English department at Washington State University to deal with the double bind of overproduction of PhDs and the situation of temporary instructors. Addresses the forces pushing against these efforts and the department chair's difficulties in dealing with those forces. (RS)

Considers the potential use that English teachers might make of the discussions ensuing from curricular reform initiatives. Argues that the debates generated by the process of program reform are usually far better than the curricular results of those debates. Shows how assessment debates have great educational potential for curricular changes. (HB)

Reviews the history of a college English department from the 1960s through the mid-1980s. (MM)

Spotlights one site where the new curriculum calls the English department at Louisiana State University toward further change: the juncture between the undergraduate and graduate curricula. Illustrates the benefits of adopting a document that articulates curricular goals. Describes a five-year curriculum revision process. Attaches excerpts from a…

Discusses how the University of Chicago is one of the institutions clinging most tenaciously to the monastic ideal, and the new administration's "focus on budgets and bottom lines was a sign of unwelcome worldiness." Suggests that more leadership from humanists is needed. (SG)

Offers a case study in curriculum change that reveals a very different experience--one that demonstrates a discipline more alive than ever. Presents a story of how the lively canon debates prompted the English department at Montclair State University to restructure the English major. Finds that the culture wars, critical theory, poststructuralism,…

Describes the changes and problems of the English department in adjusting to a new core curriculum at a liberal arts college. Discusses assumptions about planning, course requirements, and course content beneficial to the department. (EL)

Considers how in most small undergraduate English departments the people in a department are its curricular future. Suggests that a department would do well to examine itself as a sociological community. Describes how the catalyst for change in Dickinson College's English department was the increasing pressure from the college's faculty personnel…

Identifies 10 challenges facing public-research universities in the next century and reflects on their consequences for English departments. Discusses how this set of challenges affects English departments and how the issues to be faced in the next decade take their shape from these challenges. (CR)

Presents some different angles to the humanists opposition to corporatization. Notes three different vectors of change pushing to a greater involvement with what might be called marketplace issues. Notes that chairs and other administrators have a particularly important role to play in disseminating a greater understanding of the challenges and…

Examines the role of the English department chairman as a spokeman for his faculty and a representative of the university. (RB)

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

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)