Reviews five years' experience as an English department chairperson to show how a chairperson teeters between administration and faculty, constantly addressing questions of identity and allegiance. ( GW)

Finds sharp and definable differences in faculty attitudes toward and beliefs about the teaching of composition.

Various strategies are listed which an untenured English department faculty member must often employ in seeking a permanent place in his department. (Author/RM)

Discusses the current understandings of the term and position "professional," the intentions of the college English curriculum, and the career opportunities for the English major. (TO)

Discusses the current plight of four-year colleges, especially the English departments, as a result of the economic squeeze. (RB)

Develops several perspectives of the discipline of college English teaching that include local, state, regional, and national levels of involvement as well as viewpoints of others outside the discipline. (AEA)

Explores and puts to rest the misconceptions that faculty members from English as well as other disciplines hold about teaching writing. Makes suggestions that may help English teachers who want to establish an institution-wide program of writing gain the cooperation of other departments. (HTH)

Suggests that the most important piece of advice for the survival of English departments is that all faculty members, especially chairs, learn to collaborate effectively. Discusses the kinds of collaboration required for the retention of faculty lines. (RS)

Looks at various issues set before English departments by recent federal legislation uncapping the mandatory retirement age. Examines the "worst case" scenario of unlimited tenure. Argues that while it is too early to predict the effects of this legislation, preliminary indications show that incentives for early retirement are working.…

Sketches an abstracted and idealized profession of English--a profession that fosters no politics and entails no internal conflicts, and whose members care about language and its uses, about the transmission of knowledge and skills, and a capacity for pleasure in the text. (RS)

The department of English at West Chester University, Pennsylvania provides a laboratory for examining the situation of composition in a department that has documented its dedication to a unified study of English based on attention to reading and writing. The department adopted a "Statement of Coherence" that signals a dialectic: the…

The creative responses of the University of California at Berkeley English Department to changing social and economic conditions are described and recommended as exemplary. (JH)

Teaching in the two-year college, which was once considered to be a stepping-stone to teaching at a four-year college or university, has become a unique profession in itself. In the years ahead, community colleges should be actively involved in cooperating in developing English curricula. Prospective teachers of English at two-year schools need to…

Reports the results of a study to determine why more Ph.D. graduates were not appointed as full-time faculty in arts and humanities. Finds that most often stated reason was that a non-Ph.D. had better qualifications. (AEA)

Lists guidelines to help department administrators reduce their liability and strengthen their position when faced with grievances or lawsuits. (AEA)