Analyzes recent trends in the placement of English PhDs as professional teachers and university personnel. Provides data from the Modern Language Association's study of the 1991-92 placement activities at member institutions. (HB)

Discusses research regarding two-career couples working within college English departments. Reports that institutions in large metropolitan areas are more hopeful about spousal placement. Observes that few colleges still have antinepotism laws forbidding spousal hiring. Notes that institutions are devising strategies for specific situations.…

Describes how computers are being integrated into the English department of Utah State University to support the "writing track," the production of texts, and teacher training. (PRA)

Describes how the English department at Roger Williams University set out to revise and revive the English major under difficult circumstances during the 1988-89 school year. Shows how the faculty redesigned the curriculum, recruited new majors, and established support programs. (HB)

Considers the profound impact of severe budget cuts on the English department at Portland State University. Describes some of the surprising and peculiar types of behavior among faculty members resulting from intense departmental changes. Provides advice for chairs facing similar budget restrictions. (HB)

Discusses the seemingly contradictory nature of chairing an English department by highlighting the opposing impulses faced, especially as related to funding. Presents the situation in the form of a parable similar to a work by Franz Kafka. (HB)

Considers the rewards and sufferings of English department heads. Offers advice aimed particularly at those who have newly been appointed as department chairs. Describes the major challenges faced by department chairs. Provides a list of "dos and don'ts" for new department heads. (HB)

Considers the ways by which English departments might begin the process of revitalization. Provides suggestions in eight areas of concern: record keeping, teaching, scheduling, advertising, handling workloads, revising the curriculum, funding, and hiring. (HB)

Describes steps taken by the English department at Washington State University to deal with the double bind of overproduction of PhDs and the situation of temporary instructors. Addresses the forces pushing against these efforts and the department chair's difficulties in dealing with those forces. (RS)

Proposes, in general terms, three interrelated actions to begin to address the problems facing higher education English departments: (1) an enhanced public relations campaign for higher education; (2) greater collaboration with secondary schools and community colleges; and (3) an elevation of self-image and healing of the internecine stresses…

Suggests two principles for successful evaluation of college faculty members: chairs should know their departments; and "always, always pay attention." Describes how the chair of the English department at Michigan State University developed and implemented these suggestions. (RS)

Suggests that W. Ross Winterowd's most significant and influential contribution to the field of rhetoric and composition is the Rhetoric-Linguistics-Literature Program (RLL), started in 1972 as a program in the Department of English at the University of Southern California. Presents a history of the program, noting its "virtual demise"…

Argues that the IRA/NCTE (International Reading Association/National Council of Teachers of English) standards should provide a starting point for both local and national discussions of what it means to have standards, what effects standards can have, and how to go about developing them. Offers a set of questions that teachers might consider…

Offers statistics on employment placement as reported by PhD-granting English departments in United States universities. Discusses the departments surveyed and number of doctoral recipients reported, their placement in and outside higher education, numbers of PhDs awarded to men and women and their placement, numbers and placements of minorities,…

Provides a retrospective update of a 1974 profile of the English department at Hinds Community College, Raymond, Mississippi. Discusses the major changes for the school: (1) it is no longer a "junior college"; and (2) it has expanded its campus. Describes the faculty, activities, curriculum, extracurricular activities, school changes,…