Self-Study: English Department

English-1 Departmental/Program Self-Study Cover Sheet 24 January 2009 Department of English, Programs in Creative Writing and Literature Natania Rosenfeld and Monica Berlin, Co-Coordinators Participants include both permanent and visiting members of the English Department, in alphabetical order: E. Anderson, G. Franco, L. Haslem, R. Hellenga, C. Kitchen, E. Marzoni, R. Metz, N. Regiacorte, C. Simpson, R. Smith, B. Tannert-Smith Contents: I. Faculty II. The Last Decade III. The Future IV. Goals V. Assessment VI. Other (questions regarding the “New” Knox) VII. Questions Regarding the College as a Whole Appendix A: Mission Statement Appendix B: Post-Baccalaureate placements (2003-08) Appendix C: Critical Thinking (from Teagle work) Appendix D: Civic Engagement (from Teagle work) Appendix E: Catalog Copy of Course Descriptions/Requirements Appendix F: Enrollment Stats Appendix G: Advanced Study (Honors Projects & Independent Studies) Appendix H: Chart for Assessing Department Goals Appendix I: Student Survey English-2 I. THE FACULTY The English Department consists of 8.83 FTE tenured or tenure- track faculty, as well as two full-time continuing multi-year appointments and a Writer-in-Residence (compared to 8.0 FTE in 1998-9, 7.0 FTE in 1988-9, 9.0 in 1978, 12.0 in 1968 (it is worth noting here, however, that the number of faculty tallied in 1978 and in 1968 may not be referring to FTE but to actual number of people employed in the English Department). Tenured members of the English Department include Professors Haslem, Metz, Rosenfeld and Smith. Junior faculty on tenure-tracks include Professors Anderson, Berlin, Franco, Regiacorte, and Tannert-Smith. Continuing appointments for Professors Kitchen and Simpson are as a result of ongoing enrollment pressures in Creative Writing. Professor Hellenga serves as our Writer-in-Residence for one or two terms a year. As well, the English Department is regularly supported by one or two visiting positions for sabbatical or leave replacements, or in the event of other enrollment pressures. Emily Anderson (PhD, University of California at Berkley) Enlightenment literature, Romantic literature, Victorian prose, literary theory, film studies, the gothic Monica Berlin (MFA, Vermont College) Creative writing: poetry, fiction, creative non- fiction; modern and contemporary literature, composition Gina Franco (ABD PhD, MFA Cornell University) Creative writing: poetry; British Romantic poetry and prose, Victorian literature, modern and contemporary American poetry, Chicana/Chicano writing, translation Lori Haslem, Chair, Department of English (PhD, University of Denver) Shakespeare, Renaissance literature and culture, early modern literature and gender studies, Chaucer, literary theory, fairy tale Robin Metz, Director, The Program in Creative Writing (MFA, University of Iowa) Creative writing: fiction, playwriting; modern and contemporary literature, Hemingway, Woolf, Beckett, multidisciplinary arts, environmental literature and arts Nick Regiacorte (MFA, University of Iowa) Creative Writing: poetry, creative non- fiction; modern and contemporary poetry, prosody Natania Rosenfeld (PhD, Princeton University) Modern and contemporary literature, Woolf, Joyce, postcolonial literature, Jewish literature, poetry, creative writing Rob Smith (PhD, University of Massachusetts) American literature, The American Renaissance, literary theory, film studies Barbara Tannert-Smith (MFA, University of Massachusetts) Creative writing, fiction, creative non-fiction, children's literature Continuing Full-Time Faculty Cyn Kitchen (MFA, Spalding University) Creative Writing: Fiction, Creative Non- Fiction English-3 Chad Simpson (MFA, Southern Illinois University) Creative Writing: Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction; Writer-in-Residence Robert Hellenga (PhD, Princeton University) Creative Writing: Fiction; Renaissance Literature. All faculty teach introductory courses, as well as 200 and 300-level offerings. Additionally, the Department is committed to offering at least one section of First Year Preceptorial each fall, as well as special topics courses once taught under the Advanced Preceptorial designation. Special, one-time courses offerings taught by visiting writers and scholars in the field (Kuo, Levin, Vassani, etc.), are designed to supplement our offerings by expecting such faculty bring to the table courses we cannot teach (whether due to lack of expertise or by way of other demands on enrollments). II. THE LAST DECADE Key developments, critical moments, significant changes, biggest challenges, biggest successes: • revised requirements to majors and minors in 2002 to align with new college- wide curricular changes; • new courses developed and taught (or to be taught this year), since 1998-9: Ways of Reading (Eng 200) English Prosody (Eng 327), Creative Non-Fiction Workshop (Eng 306), Fairy Tale: Historical Roots and Cultural Development (Eng 320), Introduction to Children’s Literature (Eng 223), Literature and Power (Eng 245), as well as special topics courses (Eng 295/395) including Women in Film, History and Structure of the English Language, Young Adult Literature; • courses lost as a result of staffing changes, “Myths of Sex and Creation” (Eng 246); Toni Morrison (Eng 380); Slavery (AP); • courses changed or combined with another: Introduction to Poetry and Introduction to Fiction (Eng 121 and 122) became Introduction to Literature (Eng 120); “Women in Literature” (Eng 221) became “Gender in Literature” and is now taught almost exclusively by faculty in the GWST program; “Film Approaches: Genre and Auteur” (Eng 263) became “Film Theories” (Eng 363); other changes have been mostly language-based adjustments to course titles (see Eng 335, 336, 346, 347); • faculty turnover included the retirements of Ed Niehus (Enlightenment and Victorian literature, film), Robert Hellenga (Romantic literature, classical mythology, fiction writing); the departures of Sheryl St. Germain (poetry, women’s studies, environmental literature, translation), Audrey Petty (creative English-4 writing, African-American literature, women studies), David Wright (creative writing, African-American literature, the Harlem Renaissance), Beth Ann Fennelly (creative writing, women’s studies), Tom Franklin (creative writing, Southern literature); multi-year visiting faculty, Sue Olin (Victorian literature), Herman Carrillo (Writer-in-Resident), Melissa Adams; the arrivals of Emily Anderson, Monica Berlin, Gina Franco, Cyn Kitchen, Nick Regiacorte, Chad Simpson (first as a writer-in-resident and later in a three year contract), Barbara Tannert-Smith, and the appointment of Writer-in- Resident, Robert Hellenga; • success of our English 380, Studies in English and American Literature, seminars (Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Richard Yates, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, William Blake, The Shelley Circle, Jane Austen); • development of Literature Senior Seminar and Symposium (now fulfills oral proficiency requirement); • return of student reading series, Writers’ Forum, and its re-development to address departmental and college-wide goals (now fulfills oral proficiency requirement); • stabilization of FTE in Creative Writing Program; ongoing stability in faculty, department-wide since 2003; • continued strength of co-curricular programming, in part due to the fiscal support of the Fellowes Fund; • a diverse, talented faculty who are deeply engaged with their own scholarship and creative agenda, while being equally committed to their work in the classroom; a flexible faculty, many of whom are willing and able to teach outside of their original field of specialization; a group who, in the most exciting ways, keep re-inventing themselves, exploring new aspects of the discipline(s) and/or new interests within the discipline(s); • clearly articulated goals and corresponding curricula on both sides of the department (i.e., a sense that we as a group of colleagues in the Dept. know what we’re doing and why); • significant growth in number of majors; approximately 10% of student body now majors in English; struggles with faculty stability (could we count on leave replacements? how many adjuncts could/should we have when unable to convert/reestablish tenure lines? how do we staff courses with high enrollment demands when our continuing faculty are all at capacity? etc.); continued advising pressures as a result of the number of majors; demand on the capstone courses (now we offer two sections of 398 each winter, two 399 each spring (three in the spring of 2008); significant increase in independent studies and honors projects in light of increase in majors. English-5 III. THE FUTURE strengths • the increased and increasing organization of information about our programs and our students (including a plan, now, for annual assessment through a student survey); • the collegiality and shared sense of mission among faculty in the Department; • the adaptation of our instruction, to define and challenge individual student’s needs; • the modeling of a writing community (through workshops and, perhaps, our own collegial interaction, as it relates to larger communities); • diverse faculty interests, flexibility in areas of teaching; diverse curricular offerings; • engagement with other departments/programs; • continued excellence in programming made possibly by the Fellowes Fund; • the stability of the current makeup of our department faculty; • synergy between the two major programs and the faculty behind them. on-going and potential challenges • better articulation

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