Discusses the psychological impact of chairing an English department in a time of shrinking resources. Provides advice for department heads faced with budget cuts. (HB)

Calls attention to some of the psychological dimensions of English department chairs' responsibilities to mentor and evaluate faculty members. Notes an estrangement effect between chairs and faculty; the importance of making the right initial appointments; usefulness of written performance evaluations; and the importance of mentoring junior…

The authors describe their individual and collective experiences reconstructing their New Orleans-based university composition program in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They emphasize how the concept of "floating foundations" helps account for changes in their students' interests, and they suggest that this idea is applicable to the…

The history between Cheektowaga Central and the University at Buffalo illustrates the benefits of forming long-term collaborative relationships between teacher education programs and local schools. In 1998, the author was approached by Suzanne Miller regarding the possibility of Meg Callahan, then a doctoral student at the University at Buffalo,…

Discussions of English department identity and mission more often center on the undergraduate major curriculum than on classes for general-studies and other non-major students. In such courses, though, educators have an opportunity to touch the intellectual lives of far more people than they do in courses for majors. The author argues in this…

Junior and senior high school English department heads in Massachusetts were surveyed as part of a project to provide a clearer picture of the extent and diversity of the department head's role and responsibilities, to offer recommendations to make the job more manageable and satisfying, and to provoke discussion and positive action. Separate…

Outlines responsibilities of an English department chairperson in many areas, including writing promotion and tenure recommendations, explaining the department's activities to the administration, creating and maintaining an effective environment, creating a sense of individual dignity and worth among faculty members, developing a sense of…

Reflects on several issues confronting an English department chair, including part-time faculty, adequate writing programs, curriculum reform, and resource allocation. (MM)

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)

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)

Perceived influences of biology and English department heads were investigated using a discriminant analysis test of Biglan's model. Attention was directed to the influence of discipline versus the structural variables of department size, type of institution, and highest degree awarded. Questionnaires completed by 586 heads of biology and English…

This research is a narrative analysis based on an investigation into the professional lives of heads of English Departments (HODs) in three New Zealand secondary schools. The main data collection methods of interviews and observations used in this study fall within an interpretive paradigm. While HODs play a pivotal role in secondary schools,…