Describes faculty recruitment from the perspectives of a department chair and a college dean. Argues that administration and faculty must imagine ways in both recruitment and curriculum whereby interdepartmental alliances that foster interdisciplinary work can be forged. (MM)

Discusses the role of the English department head in a time of educational crisis. Examines the possibility that graduate study in English is losing its moral base. Considers the role of leadership and oppositional politics in the context of the crisis in graduate study. (HB)

Defines and clarifies what a two-year college is. States that the organization of these schools is often misunderstood and maligned. Points out that most two-year colleges have an open admissions policy and are relatively inexpensive. Cautions that the low cost attracts both dedicated learners and students who are unprepared for college-level…

Describes how the English department at Western Washington University set out to revise the English curriculum as a participant in the MLA-FIPSE English Programs Curriculum Review Project. Shows how the faculty redesigned the curriculum, and asks tough questions concerning the best way to undertake such changes. (HB)

Discusses three fundamental questions that figure prominently in any attempt to imagine the future of English departments: What is an English department? What is the goal of an English department? and What is to be done? (HB)

Argues that the academic profession needs to monitor the establishment of posttenure-review systems very closely, even in their apparently most benign form. Suggests that resources poured into a blanket posttenure-review policy would be better spent in rewarding truly productive faculty members. (RS)

Makes a series of recommendations for dealing with the problem of the number of PhD English candidates versus the smaller number of college teaching positions that are available each year. Asserts that far too many new PhD candidates are being admitted. Suggests, for example, guidelines for assessing PhD programs and the use of apprenticeships.…

Notes that the American presence in east central European higher education is considerable and continues to grow. Discusses the ongoing struggles over the shape and the soul of universities in this region. Describes briefly representative teacher and scholar exchanges, teacher-training reforms, and combined East-West programs of study. (RS)

Raises a number of questions about the direction of the English department in light of its fundamental transformations. Asks whether the profession wants to replace the study of literature with the study of culture or critical methodology, i.e., semiotics and semantics. Looks at graduate education and the place of literature in it. (TB)

Describes the strategies and tactics that made the author's search for a tenure-track job in English a success. Describes the tenure-track position at precisely the kind of institution where faculty members were supposedly not open to the kind of work he does: the English Department at Drew University, essentially a small liberal arts college in…

Points out that graduate programs in English should prepare students to meet the actualities of the employment market and the needs of departments that may hire them. (GW)

Discusses the relationship between research in writing (i.e., research in "composition" or "rhetoric and composition") and English departments. Attempts to clarify writing research, asserting that English departments do not understand or approve of this type of research. (MM)

Describes the Washington, D.C. Center's internship program for political science and English majors. (AEA)

A survey of approximately 800 English doctorate recipients for 1981-82 revealed that 59.7 percent had full-time teaching positions, a slight decline from the 61.2 percent in 1976-77, the first year the survey was initiated. Employment outside of teaching was larger than in 1976-77. (AEA)

Argues that composition instruction should not be irreversibly separated from the study of literature in the college English curriculum. (AEA)