Describes program proposals submitted by college English departments to the National Endowment for the Humanities and recommends that future programs provide for building relationships between higher education and the public, commerce, and elementary/secondary schools. (AEA)

Advocates a "trust relation" between English department chairpersons and the English teaching profession, examined in light of the composition-literature tension, cultural appreciation, literacy, student diversity, meetings and associations, English teacher education, course improvement, graduate education, reentering adult students, English…

Describes a "writer's hotline" telephone program operated at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, in which English faculty address community members' writing problems. Benefits have included increased publicity for the department, improved relationships with the community, and gains in expertise in handling questions of English usage. (DF)

Describes two college programs for writing across the curriculum that involve faculty workshops. The workshops are primarily designed to dispel misconceptions faculty have about writing and to teach them more critical methods of writing evaluation and grading. Includes an appendix with a workshop exercise for spotting plagiarism. (HTH)

Argues that the practices of English studies are defined not only by the obvious variety of objects and methods of inquiry but also by competing divisions of service. Calls for a reconfiguration of the geography of the discipline's service functions with the goal of developing new ways of reaching extra-disciplinary student and community…

Relates the experiences of a white academic teaching in a black rural state college--a plunge into the world of black experience which shocked the academic. States that everything was different--students' names, their manner of dress, their reaction to the O.J. Simpson verdict. Finds that leaving the ivory tower was not easy, but the job exceeded…

Remarks on the future of the profession of English. Suggests that the broadening of the discipline, or even the formation of new ones that will study the new media that work these days to make citizens what they are, is necessary and good. Argues that the literary subjectivity is, in the electronic age, more and more a "minor form,""not quite of…

Presents six narratives from teachers including: "VCE English at Lilydale High School" (Valerie Mayer); "Should 'I' Be Their Teacher" (Mark Matcott); "Teaching Poetry to Year 7 English Students" (Janet Lyons); "Creative Art Therapy and Mandalas" (Demi Flessa); "Would the 'Real' Teacher Please Stand…

Presents guidelines that specify the kinds of information that will assist modern language faculties to identify and rectify problems in their graduate programs before it is necessary to justify the size or existence of those programs. Focuses on programs leading to the PhD degree, although questions relating to master's degrees are included where…

Argues that the interaction among the various sub-discourses that collectively constitute English as a discipline can keep alive a vision of English teachers not simply as critics, composition people, or even poets, but as men and women of letters. (RAE)

Explores contextual differences between writing courses in two-year colleges and courses in four-year colleges and universities. Attempts to promote understanding of two-year college contexts in order to foster improved dialogue among teachers at all types of institutions. (MS)

Argues that tenured English teachers at small liberal arts colleges want several things from prospective new faculty members, including the capacity to share authority among equals, and the ability to give up some radical intellectual independence in order to collaborate (not compromise or capitulate) professionally. (RS)

Argues that few modern English departments promote communal scholarship and that collegial interaction focuses more on contemporary literary culture than on shared scholarship. Describes a collaborative publication project in which 10 professors wrote a book introducing undergraduate English majors to literary studies. (RS)

Sketches a picture of how different institutions of learning engender different working and business environments for department heads. Discusses various departmental activities and how the departmental environment affects their success or failure. (HB)

Discusses the particular challenges of budgeting facing English department heads. Analyzes political and psychological issues related to department budget management. (HB)