Several years ago, when his college first financed a writing program administrator (WPA) position--reassigned time and a budget to pay adjunct faculty stipends for program development--the author met with all the most senior adjunct faculty. "Without you," he told them, "this effort to build a better writing program won't work. Participation and…

Discusses the state of English studies, focusing on the literary canon, literature and other disciplines, the function of theory, and the politics of literature. (MM)

Describes "academentia," the delusion that disciplines are intellectually powerful as a result of their specialization. Prescribes "neighborliness"--intellectual and practical work done from the perspective of critical consciousness--as the antidote to academentia. Suggests that writing projects have great potential as…

Describes the distinction between the National Endowment for the Arts, which funds artists, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds those who talk about art. Examines the similar distinction in alliances between writers and scholars in English departments, focusing on their effects on writing programs. (MM)

Outlines the controversies that began as the English Department at Louisiana State University tried to revise the departmental curriculum. Raises important questions for any department to consider as they undertake a similar revision. (HB)

Considers the role of the English department malcontent, who constantly seems to spoil any chance of departmental consensus. Discusses the typical life of the English department. Analyzes departmental disputes with the aid of Jacques Lacan's notion of "jouissance." (HB)

Presents, in dialogue form, reflections on the administration of an English department and a writing program (and the relationship between the two) by colleagues who held those positions for many years. (SR)

Communication among teaching assistants can be as complicated as communication among full time faculty members, so that power relationships influence the rhetoric they use when they talk about being students, teachers, and professionals. Analysis of the political dimensions of teaching assistant interaction in the English department at the…

Sketches a picture of how different institutions of learning engender different working and business environments for department heads. Discusses various departmental activities and how the departmental environment affects their success or failure. (HB)

Discusses the particular challenges of budgeting facing English department heads. Analyzes political and psychological issues related to department budget management. (HB)

Describes the difficulties of defining basic writers and basic writing. Argues that Michel Foucault's concept of the "author function" is applicable to academic and literary discourse and shows how it serves to organize curriculum and define the object of study in English departments. (HB)

Describes how the English department at Merrimack College 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 articulates two strategies marking the successful phases of the process. (HB)

The accomplishments of Janet Emig constitute perhaps the most influential contribution to the study of how humans compose discourse and how teachers should help them. Her background prepared her for her initial goal of becoming a medical doctor, but she determined to study literature because of its enduring interest to her. As a graduate student…

As English departments face the 90s and beyond, the pressure will only rise to define and justify the role of the English professor in the academy. Three current debates suggest the indeterminate future of English departments, which now represent a multi-faceted discipline. First, the canon debate must be resolved; second, the teaching role of the…

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)