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…

This report outlines the impact of the University of Vermont's writing-across-the-curriculum program on the development of the English major. Included in the report are: (1) a summary of the faculty writing project, with a list of premises and practices; (2) descriptions of four books published collaboratively by members of the English department…

The phenomenon of the graduate assistant grew out of the turn of the century need for larger teaching staffs. A debate was formed that still influences the way teachers are prepared for today's freshman composition courses. This debate arose from philosophical and methodological differences in English departments, which at that time emphasized a…

At present, the composition program at San Diego State is located in two departments. The Academic Skills Center offers pre-baccalaureate courses for basic writers and developmental ESL writers. The Department of English and Comparative Literature offers most of the required general education two-semester sequence, advanced composition courses,…

A 1987 survey of college English departments revealed that only 74 (38%) of the 194 colleges surveyed offered students the opportunity to specialize in some aspect of writing in addition to literature. A 1992 survey showed that 69% of departments had begun to offer this specialization. Respondents outlined possibilities for organizing and…

Part-time college instructors with children are not perceived as professionals, and therefore they often do not advance to full-time status. Their inability to move out of the area limits their possibilities for full-time work and colleges often exploit this. Of the part-time women interviewed by members of a panel at the Conference on College…