Considers the Modern Language Association's 1990 survey of doctorate-granting departments in English and other languages regarding doctoral study. Analyzes the survey results in depth, including institutional characteristics, numbers of applicants, number enrolled, degrees granted, and program trends. (HB)

Considers the role of the English department head in a time of fiscal constraint and retrenchment. Describes the special responsibilities necessitated by lean financial circumstances. Discusses department/administration relations and the public relations aspect of chairing a department. (HB)

Examines the field of professional writing, especially its curricular geography, to define and affect its status. Explores the status of professional writing within English departments. Considers the curricular status to which professional writing might aspire. (HB)

Addresses three concerns regarding beginning secondary English teachers: the shock of entering the real world of public schools; specific ways that postsecondary English departments can ease that transition; and weaknesses the new teachers often bring with them. (RS)

Discusses mission statements from various English departments. Finds that the most successful mission statements move credibly and convincingly between three kinds of rhetoric, using the specialized rhetoric of disciplinary insiders, the rhetoric of academic inquiry that can function across disciplines, and the general public rhetoric that serves…

Offers an overview of the information prepared by the MLA (Modern Language Association) Committee on Academic Freedom and Professional Rights and Responsibilities. Discusses recruitment and application, advising and course work, standards for teaching and other professional experience, and grievances. (CR)

Provides a retrospective update of a 1974 profile of the English Department at St. Louis's Forest Park Community College. Describes the campus, English department, internal governance, courses taught, professional activities, and departmental spirit in relationship to its 1974 profile. (SC)

Suggests that e-mail and the Web can make the hunt for a job in the English profession and the hiring process easier, faster, less expensive, and more effective for everyone involved. Addresses problems using e-mail for the job search. Concludes that the Web functions best as a supplementary source of information for candidates and institutions.…

Claims the literary critical essay does virtually nothing, as it is printed, read by a small number of literary people, and forgotten. Argues that teaching is doing and claims that the English department establishment either ignores or sneers at the kind of scholarship that tries to solve the problems of teaching literature and composition. (NH)

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)

Tells what has happened the last two years at the University of Louisville's English department. Presents a brief explanation of why the University of Louisville's English department decided to redefine their mission--moving all professorial faculty into first-year composition. Offers some general comments about what the author has learned as a…

Examines the relationship between the foremost writing program director at a college or university and the writing center director. Compares the nature and status of the two positions and the background of the people who hold them. Finds program directors enjoy a more privileged place in institutional structures and that the professionalization of…

Reviews Tallahassee Community College's transition from a traditional hierarchical administrative structure to consensus governing, whereby decisions are made through meetings with all faculty members. Reviews specific aspects of this transition, including the role of faculty and the faculty chair, the handling of day-to-day departmental policies…

Sets forth and elaborates on three ways in which an external review can always help an English department. Suggests three principles a chair might keep in mind in trying to fulfill departmental goals by means of an outside review. Examines how a chair and his or her department may facilitate an outside review. (TB)

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…