Presents suggestions on how to talk about scholarship: (1) recall the history of the dissertation subject that was chosen; (2) review both areas of knowledge and ignorance; (3) find words to describe the direction of the dissertation; and (4) ruminate on what things are loved about the enterprise--defining the literary style of another, for…

Advocates the use of wide-area networking systems (WANS) by English departments to bring the whole world's public discourse into classrooms. Maintains English departments need people who speak the language of networking technology to understand how it can support or defeat pedagogical goals, and to garner computing resources. Offers a brief…

Describes how college instructors might make the move toward building community and fostering collaboration rather than working in isolation. Provides an autobiographical account of how two English teachers began such a journey. (HB)

Makes the case for teacher research in the academy. Hopes that English department faculty will become willing and active coconstructors of connections between the work of sociolinguists and their own worlds. Suggests that teaching at any level is fundamentally about worlds and stories in contact--worlds which are made and remade through language.…

Offers advice about interviewing at the Modern Language Association (MLA) convention: practice or rehearse issues; allow enthusiasm about teaching to show; model good teaching practices in the interview; and listen thoughtfully and resist the temptation to talk too much. (RS)

Defends literary education by describing what is distinctive and central and valuable about the collective enterprise. Offers some negative prescriptions--some important ways not to respond to the challenges facing the profession--and some positive suggestions as well. (SC)

Shares observations about factors critical in the outcomes of the review of Ohio's state-supported doctoral programs in English. Details some of the responsibilities and challenges that both the departments and review panel faced in developing extensive self-studies. Argues that departments should address mismatches or anomalies in their programs.…

Contends that the academy has forgotten the origin of the dissertation and has turned it from a substantive contribution of scholarship to an instrument of evaluation. Argues that continuing to treat the dissertation in this way maintains an unequal power hierarchy of "masters" and initiates--it should be seen as the first serious scholarly…

Argues that, in the Southwestern U.S. colonial domination continues, especially through exclusionary practices in educational institutions like departments of English. Shows the dynamics of exclusion historically existing for ethnic minority groups within the U.S.-Mexico contact zone; and how Texas Mexicans have responded in a transcultural manner…

Discusses how English departments, which employ a substantial number of teaching assistants and adjuncts, will make progress toward solving some of their problems by recognizing that students can major in English and the humanities as they have been traditionally conceived and find professionally and financially rewarding employment. Suggests that…

Suggests it is commonplace among rhetoric and composition faculty to expect those who assume discipline-related administrative positions to become vulnerable at tenure time. Looks closely at the problem of gaining tenure in English departments when one is not a literary specialist. Suggests several possible approaches to establishing a successful…

Suggest junior English department faculty may be setting themselves up for failure by identifying more with the values of the computers and writing community than those of their home institutions. Argues that junior faculty should not consider seeking value for work unless it impacts pedagogy, service, or publication. Cites various guidelines for…

Notes the author's experiences that led him to gravitate toward educational partnerships. Notes that partnerships signal an answer to the discontinuities in curriculum planning and in general awareness within and among institutions; and hint at the absence of communication (let alone planning) between educators at the university and college level…

Considers the wide variation of first-year composition programs and if they do indeed vary so widely. Considers what the programs have in common. Asks if it would be possible to articulate a general curricular framework for first-year composition, regardless of institutional home, student demographics, and instructor characteristics. Presents a…

Suggests that when the university devotes itself to "excellence," it substitutes, for a vision of what should be taught, a contentless measure, a bureaucratic concept that extends the range of managerial control without presuming to make judgments about content. Suggests that English departments should try to design sequences of courses that are…