Examines the dilemmas of mid-career feminist professors, including: escalating demands on their time; pressures of work and family; high casualty rates among women hired; friction between generations and among feminists; and doubts about what professionalism means to the collective participants in the feminist venture. Discusses strains of this…

Discusses the challenges of teaching English at two-year colleges, devising new methods of teaching composition and literature to reluctant writers and readers. Suggests that much of the important intellectual work from two-year colleges has been produced in the form of textbooks, and is also shown in curriculum development, interdisciplinary…

Offers the opinions of faculty, lecturers, and graduate teaching associates on the use of electronic technology in the teaching of English. Suggests that most faculty members are receptive to considering new ways of enhancing teaching, and that the faculty needs training for this new responsibility. (CR)

Defends the exclusion of Shakespeare course requirements for the English Department at Indiana University by explaining that "Shakespeare can take care of himself"--students will sign up for as many Shakespeare classes as offered. Presents opposing obstacles and objectives to this curricular decision. (SC)

Considers the direction of literature curricula and asks why the study of literature and language is an essential part of culture. Explains the curriculum's educational value and intellectual purposes to those who allocate resources. Raises fundamental questions about the political and spiritual aspects of teaching literature. (SC)

Uses the example of service learning to examine connections between and definitions of public and private as they are deployed in writing, literacy studies, and the field of English. Argues that, done effectively, service learning fits well into an English Studies that is reconsidering its own boundaries and internal relationships. (RS)

Describes a one-unit job placement course that offers candidates for jobs in English departments realistic, intensive, and responsible preparation for academic or nonacademic careers. Appends the course description for the job placement seminar. (RS)

Analyzes the hierarchies that have defined college English. Reviews two models for how literacy programs can contribute to public learning. Suggests that if educators adopt a civic stance on graduate studies, they may be able to place graduates in positions where they can use their leadership skills beyond as well as within departments of English.…

Summarizes findings for English studies from the latest MLA survey of jobs held by recent graduates of modern language doctoral programs. Compares findings with results of earlier surveys. Notes that the percentage of new doctorate recipients obtaining tenure-track positions in 1993-94 is lower than it was in the 1991-92 and 1986-87 surveys. (RS)

Examines the possibility of a university based on dissensus, disagreement, and diversity. Deconstructs the traditional English major, noting the inappropriateness of studying British literature as a substitute for a national cultural whole. Notes that the United States has never really had cultural unity and has always looked to the future for it.…

Describes a survey conducted by the Modern Language Association of English and foreign language departments' use of tenured and tenure-track, full-time non-tenure-track, and part-time faculty members and graduate teaching assistants in colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Reports on professional support, benefits, and…

Teachers and administrators can help make sustainable educational improvements in high schools. By being systematically reflective about teaching and learning and seeing themselves collectively as agents of change in the interest of academic quality and excellence. The English teachers at Trenton Public School District, New Jersey, have created…

In recent years, traditional teacher training programs for graduate teaching assistants which value a rather narrow definition of academic work have produced a limiting path of professionalization. The problem can no longer be figured as a matter of emphasis--should more training resources be directed toward pedagogy instead of content area…

The English department at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is trying to create an environment where all voices are heard and respected, both those of the literarists and compositionists. Where it is probably more customary to think of curriculum as a reflection of faculty values, the guiding principle at LMU has been that curriculum can influence…

The use of portfolio assessment by composition instructors in the Department of English at the University of Missouri-Kansas City is described. Based on a survey of instructors, conducted in the spring of 1994, the paper examines: (1) who determines what goes into the portfolio, (2) how students are assessed throughout the term, (3) features…