A survey of 174 deans revealed that budget management, communication skills, encouragement of faculty development, communication with the dean, and rewarding faculty achievement are high priority skills for English department heads. Regardless of discipline, chairs must have a range of sophisticated managerial skills for which they may need…

Describes the art of effective English departmental administration in a difficult time of budget constraints, calls for accountability, and intellectual turbulence. Considers the effect on departmental management of sustained scholarly interest in oppositional stances, powerlessness, and marginality. (HB)

Describes how the task of leading an English department has changed over the past 25 years. Considers the delicate yet essential task of the department head to provide leadership and vision for an entire department. Relates the general problems of English departments and specific problems in graduate education with diversity and difference gone…

Describes the experience of teaching at a community college (Kellogg Community College, Battle Creek, Michigan) and the realities of being the Chair of a community college English department. Concludes that teaching in a community college is for the committed "teacher-citizen" ready to become involved in creating a better institution…

The article illustrates the hopes and challenges evident in my attempt to use action research as an approach to engage student teachers in reflective processes. The data was systematically generated from the student teachers themselves and from the diaries I noted through out the inquiry. The study suggested that while lack of previous experience…

A symposium in the November 2006 issue of "College English" addresses the question, "What should college English be?" In this article, the author presents his answer to this question--it should be a functional approach to English studies. By English studies he means everything that is done in English departments. Most English departments teach…

As Composition Studies has grown as a discipline over the last quarter century, the field has wrestled with defining and naming disciplinary expertise and professional positions. At first glance, issues of naming may not appear worthy of debate, and so whether an individual writing center director identifies as a writing program administrator…

Discriminant functional analysis was used to compare structural variables of department size, institution type, and highest degree awarded with academic discipline to determine which accounts for more variance in biology and English department chairpersons' responses to questions concerning their influence. Generally, structural variables…

Recent departmental-level efforts at general education curriculum reform are surveyed. Discussion is given to English departments, which are well suited to lead general education reform, because they can learn from these experiences. (MSE)

Describes tactics and approaches used by an English department chair in dealing with faculty, administration, and internal faculty strife. (SR)

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)

Describes a successful linguistics program and suggests that linguistics can make a substantial contribution to the college English department. (DD)

Explores how a particular metaphor might help to consider the current situation of higher education and to imagine what might be done about it. Aims to clarify and to represent more accurately what the intellectual work of a university means for students, the faculty, and higher education as a whole. (SG)

Literary criticism no longer aims to appreciate aesthetics, which is to study how humans respond to art. The problem plaguing the literary academy is that literature is reduced to an idea or a moral and theory has become institutionalized in literature departments and continues to be taught.

To determine how deans as a group perceive the role of the English department chair, a study surveyed the deans of Arts and Sciences of 350 randomly selected universities with enrollments over 10,000 students (with a 51% response rate). The questionnaire solicited data about the tasks and qualities of chairmanship, referring both to specific…