Summarizes the current state of the English curriculum and calls for a renewed emphasis on rhetoric and student writing for its own sake. (HTH)

Reports on a survey that sought data on three major kinds of variables with respect to English department heads: those contributing to administrative workload, those tending to reduce it or compensate in kind, and those compensating monetarily. (Author/GT)

Argues that the pragmatism of community college programs is having a favorable effect on the English programs at four-year and graduate institutions. (RB)

Relates the declining literacy among college students to institutional factors and traditions in English departments which devalue undergraduate composition instruction. Available from: Harper's Magazine Company, Two Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016, Subscriptions; $8.97 per year. (AA)

Describes how the English Department at Loyola University of Chicago, adopted assessment measures beneficial to the department's program and acceptable to administrators, faculty, and students. (TB)

Examines the reason for the tight job market for full-time positions in English departments, suggesting that the blame lies with the departments themselves in that they hire part-time or adjunct faculty to do most of the teaching. (TB)

Argues that students offer English departments a way of bypassing the tangle of theoretical disagreements and of gluing the fragmented pieces of the discipline back together again. Proposes that agreeing about principles of pedagogy is more urgent than agreeing about literary theory. Argues that English departments need to at least agree about…

Describes "academentia," the delusion that disciplines are intellectually powerful as a result of their specialization. Prescribes "neighborliness"--intellectual and practical work done from the perspective of critical consciousness--as the antidote to academentia. Suggests that writing projects have great potential as…

Describes the distinction between the National Endowment for the Arts, which funds artists, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds those who talk about art. Examines the similar distinction in alliances between writers and scholars in English departments, focusing on their effects on writing programs. (MM)

Maintains that the humanities get "screwed" in the academy because they are feminized. Explores this process of "feminization," focusing on college English departments. Offers a different view of the relationship between "soft" humanities and "hard" disciplines, reconceived from a feminist perspective. (SR)

Argues that literary history and estimations of literary value are inseparable and that their connection has import for debate on the contents of the literary canon. Suggests possible requirements for developing a feminist theory and practice of evaluation. (SR)

Discusses problems with first-year composition in higher education, primarily the marginality and the tenuous hold writing maintains within the academy. Reconsiders the English department's role in serving the general curriculum. (SR)

Explains the dynamics of the interaction between the English department and Freshman Writing at the University of Southern California (USC). Asserts that the ideal relationship between Freshman Writing and the English department would be an academic partnership that acknowledges their differing priorities but accommodates these differences by…

Discusses the separation of the Freshman Writing and English department at the University of Southern California (USC). Advocates reengaging the English department with first-year students and with writing. Suggests a move from amicable separation toward reunion, but a reunion defined as reengagement, not remarriage. (PRA)

Discusses how to seek resources within the home institutions--from deans, vice presidents, provosts, and the like. Suggests that department chairs draw up an inventory of the department's strengths and weaknesses. Suggests that, when asking for more resources, department chairs offer administrators something instead of just asking for more. (PRA)