Molefi Kete Asante, chairman of the Temple University (Pennsylvania) African American studies department, the first doctoral program in the discipline in the country, is stepping down amidst controversy over his leadership. An avowed Afrocentrist, his administration is viewed by some as creating rancor and instability among faculty, and has led…

Even a quick tour through the professional literature of composition and rhetoric reveals that the profession has failed to bring about any real change in first-year college composition. The truth is that today the political and material conditions of first-year composition programs are not much different from that they were over a half century…

This report complements the Mathematical Association of America's curriculum recommendations about the undergraduate program in mathematics with a case studies approach that describes effective practices in undergraduate mathematics programs. The primary focus of this case studies project is not course content, but more general issues in the…

This book recounts the story of the rise and fall of an all-women's department (home economics) at the University of California, Berkeley. Emphasis is on the connection between gender and status in an academic department and the life of one woman scientist, Agnes Fay Morgan, who was instrumental in the department's development. Analysis considers…

An outside evaluator can help an institution open up dialogue and bring about change by focusing the attention of top administrators, faculty, and students on goals seen as important by groups within the institution. Bringing in an outside evaluator to colleges and universities, English departments and writing programs, can be a touchy, often…

Summarizes a set of data designed to cast light on the comparative performance of the academic departments at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the production of graduate degrees and focuses on the methodology involved in developing statistical reports useful for such purposes. (Editor)

Suggests that Ph.D.s in English can find job opportunities in business and tells how to apply for such positions. (RB)

Presents the results of a survey on the salaries paid by English departments with established Ph.D. programs of nationally recognized quality. (RB)

The use of peer review as a way to improve dissertation quality is addressed. A data set involving ratings of 52 dissertations illustrates possible design and analytic choices that may be helpful in using a peer review model. Strategies for evaluating rating consistency and validity are covered, along with analysis of four types of program policy…

Two papers describing and reacting to the proposed abolition of a department of communication are contained in this document. The first paper ("Proposed Abolition of a Department of Communication" by Thorrel B. Fest) describes the factors that led the attack. Environmental factors--distrust of the discipline, decreasing funds, and…

Departments of linguistics in Australian universities and their interdisciplinary characteristics are discussed. (PG)

Presents a personalized account of the difficulties administrators of English departments face in maintaining an effective department and still balancing the budget. (RB)

Examines the administrative and organizational implications that Cleanth Brooks methods of criticism hold for modern English departments. (RB)