Recounts experiences of the first year of teaching in a rural public university, after graduate study in Philadelphia. States that course loads are heavy because departments are small, and the English department teaches literature but also service courses. Finds the greatest difficulty to be in teaching students who just do not read. (PA)

Reports on a survey that sought data on three major kinds of variables with respect to English department heads: those contributing to administrative workload, those tending to reduce it or compensate in kind, and those compensating monetarily. (Author/GT)

Describes how chairs of English departments can help their departments prosper in economic hard times. (SR)

Examines the composition of the faculty and instructional staff in English, 1996-97 and examines the average percentage of undergraduate course sections taught. Analyzes the staffing of undergraduate courses in baccalaureate-, master's-, and doctorate-granting institutions. Considers the use of full-and part-time adjunct faculty members and the…

Describes the major changes made by the English department of the University of Louisville in terms of how they define themselves and their mission. Notes that in exchange for all full-time faculty teaching at least one section of first-year composition annually, the administration allocated seven new tenure-track positions in the English…

Urges that PhD-granting departments consider shrinking their graduate programs, thus reducing overproduction of PhDs and, by reducing the number of sections taught by graduate assistants, perhaps providing new tenure-track positions. Urges also that PhD-granting departments examine staffing practices in lower-level offerings and commit to engaging…

Discusses how chairs might use information from a survey documenting the types of support and compensation that chairs in the Association of Departments of English community receive to negotiate a compensation package that is best for them during their term of office but also takes into account such other considerations as opportunity costs…

Presents guidelines for maximum class size and workload in English. Presents recommendations for the number of students in writing courses and the number of students in literature courses. Considers recommendations for hours of instruction, variety of courses, variable workloads, administrative duties, and part-time and temporary appointments. (SG)

Provides an account of a successful staffing initiative at a PhD-granting institution, the University of Pittsburgh. States that the "Fix English" program aimed to improve the educational quality of undergraduate instruction by increasing full-time faculty involvement, correcting workload inequities, and bringing the English department's…

Relates the experiences of the University of Illinois in establishing a freshman composition program taught by selected secondary school teachers, graduate students from other departments, and senior faculty members. (HOD)

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)

Presents results from a survey to document the types of support and compensation that chairs in the Association of Departments of English (ADE) community receive. Notes that results for the respondents overall are shown in tables 2 through 6, while tables 7 through 15 sort responses by institutional size, type, or sector and tables 16 and 17 by…

Considers how the placement of personal computers in every departmental and faculty members' office has made it possible for faculty and departmental clerical staff members to perform tasks previously performed elsewhere. Describes a department that runs largely by committee, in which newsletters, alumni relations, the web site, and strategic…

Cautions that the economic woes faced by many colleges involve the risk of losing many graduate programs. Describes a scenario in which primarily research-oriented staff are forced to teach, thus forcing the collapse of graduate programs at all but a few institutions. Discusses a typical workload at many universities and its implications. (PA)

The situation of the lecturers in the English Department at the University of Nevada Reno (UNR) is relevant to discussions of the conference on College Composition and Communication's Statement of Principles and Standards for the Postsecondary Teaching of Writing. A "second-tier" solution was implemented in 1981, and in 1993 the…