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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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 of our current “World Literature” requirement in creative writing major and both minors; considering how and if to adapt this requirement for our literature majors; • enrollment pressures and the ways in which those pressures alter our ability to introduce new courses or to regularize offerings; keeping up with the student demand for our courses—we are perpetually understaffed. Relying too heavily on adjunct faculty to fill in as-needed to teach into level courses, which has consequences for our advanced courses—understanding what our students view as the fundamental points of learning in the two majors; • understanding better how our various courses are in conversation with one another, how they work together within the trajectory of each major curriculum; • assuming the constant pressure of contemporary pedagogical and social issues, the most significant ongoing challenge is to maintain the intensity of our curriculum (as expressed through the strengths listed above) while maintaining the space for our own professional development; • much of this depends upon the balance we strike between teaching and advising, suggestion and prescription; our ongoing task is to promote students’ self-reliance, so that they take possession of their artistic development more fully and more swiftly; • increasing, if and where possible, the interdisciplinarity of our foci;
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• the death of the book and what is happening to publishers, more and more readers moving books online (kindle et al); students who in recent years have claimed not to have the patience to watch a film; a potentially postmodern postliterate culture; • the paradox of the department having to adapt to new technologies of “literacy” while secretly believing that those same technologies are destroying the content (and form) of what we teach; • potential difficulty for this department to continue to grow or to expand in the future given that we may already be operating at full capacity; • learning more about how to teach (or support teaching) writing with the aid of new technologies; how to make use of technologies without sacrificing the valuable personal interactions; • while we’ve be making progress on this front, the most pressing issue may be how to sustain and/or hem in the expansion of our program; as the number of majors and extra-curricular events/media may multiply, we will need to cultivate a core of responsibility—that is, the list of duties or tasks which we will claim as ours, allowing that a number of things may (and should) fall outside of our purview. possible agenda items for the next decade • continued examination of ways to integrate student research into our curriculum; clearer identification of how students meet “the information literacy and informed use of technology competency” • ways to navigate the ever-growing demand for Independent Studies and Honors Projects; • technology: books moving online, students with computers in class, the possible need for specialist in film production and/or internet text; • ensuring the value of our curriculum for the education of 21st century students; • what, if anything, to do by way of establishing a comparative literature program; • the continued growth of and/or expansion of the programs (or the problem of possibly limiting the number of majors we have); • staffing: the creation of renewable contract positions and/or tenure track positions; • the changing landscape of creative writing and publication markets—which are becoming increasingly specialized—and which could determine the size and shape of the program in the future; • the need to devise ways to keep the programs “current,” which may mean more contact with other institutions, or greater foresight in terms of the people
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we bring in as visiting instructors or resident writers; it should involve some mechanism for keeping up with alumni (an e-newsletter, if not a message board connected to our department website); • a desire, among many on the faculty, to establish something like an annual writers’ conference or a poetry center, or some kind of professional outreach/outlet, but we recognize that we might never have the labor power (even if we found the funding) to do it.
IV. GOALS A. Our Mission (see attached Mission Statement; appendix A) B. Fundamental Goals of The English Department
1. To encourage empathy for others and the world; 2. To guide students toward articulacy and authority in arguing an interpretation or point of view; 3. To demonstrate, through literature and creative writing, the full range of the human capacity for expression and communication; 4. To help students develop an understanding of the fundamental cultural roles of literature and the arts;
C. Elements of the Knox Mission as it relates to English Department Curriculum
Looking at the Elements of the Mission Statement, how do your department's goals mesh (or not) with this list?
Our Curriculum: Inquiry in traditional as well as newer disciplines Our Modern and/or Contemporary Poetry and Modern and/or Contemporary Fiction classes focus primarily on contemporary literature. The writing workshops teach cutting-edge work and the writing faculty are constantly bringing in contemporary authors, as the literature faculty bring in contemporary scholars. We have introduced several film courses in recent years, and one of our colleagues—Professor Anderson—has pioneered the new Film Studies program, which is now officially a minor at the college. We also teach literary theory at both the 200 and the 300 levels, and it is a considerable component of the senior seminar.
Our survey classes cover historical periods in English and American literature, as well we offer “period” courses at the 300-level in nearly every literary period, movement and genre.
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The integrative perspective of interdisciplinary work Creative Writing majors are required to study an allied art; Literature majors study either creative writing or journalism, both intended as efforts towards “interdisciplinarity.”
One of the cores of the reading experiences, we believe, in part, is an exploration of the historical, political, sociological, scientific, artistic contexts out of which periods/movements/genres are born. We believe, too, that neither literature nor the practice of writing happens in a cultural vacuum, thus at stake in the experience of engaging with a text (whether analysis or making) is always consideration of the larger theoretical and cultural frames through which we understand the world (i.e. ways of reading, ways of seeing).
We note that, at times, the department is too insular: many of our students take more than the required number of English courses. We wonder what we can do to push them outside the department a bit more.
On the other hand, we do have a couple of valuable courses, taught by Robin Metz, that can be considered interdisciplinary: London Arts Alive and Death & Dying, both of which draw students from across campus as well as from within the Department (and we’ll want to keep these courses when he retires, if possible).
Beginning Creative Writing courses draw students from across the campus, in part because the courses fulfill a “foundation” in the Arts. As a result, we encourage interdisciplinarity quite a bit in their approach to the subject of student writing.
Skills of writing, reading, calculating [we’d say “synthesizing”] and critical analysis These skills are at the heart of everything we do (see Appendix C)
Sophisticated research and creative expression While these are key elements in nearly all of our classes, the culmination of this Knox Mission is best demonstrated by our capstone courses, Senior Seminar and Senior Portfolio.
We support a number of honors projects and independent studies annually, all of which further this aspect of the Knox Mission (see Appendix G).
We support a number of students in their work with the McNair and Ford Fellowship Programs.
The Character of Our Learning Environment critical exchange of ideas Yes, as demonstrated by our courses, most of which are discussion-based.
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high expectations and persistent demands for rigorous thinking Yes, as demonstrated by the quality of our courses, and proven by our course materials, student outcomes (both internal and external). supportive and egalitarian environment Yes, as demonstrated through workshop, peer-review, discussion-based courses, and the strength of our growing programs. informality and openness that mirror our Midwestern surroundings Yes, as demonstrated by the faculty, our students, our collegiality, and remarked on by visitors regularly.
Our Residential Campus Culture encouraging personal, cultural and intellectual growth Yes. (See Appendix D) a reflective, tolerant and engaged campus community Yes. (See Appendix D) supportive residential opportunities N/A numerous student organizations Indeed, many are affiliated with the English Department, some formally and some informally. (See Appendix D) wide array of creative activities and cultural programming Yes. Again, thanks in part to the Fellowes Fund. (See Appendix D) intercollegiate and recreational sports N/A
Our Community shared mission and values Yes. a diverse community of students, faculty and staff Yes. commitment to make learning matter at the level of the individual, the college and local communities, and the world beyond Yes.
D. Consider what you might learn from the comparison of departmental and college missions. Are there ways in which the mission of your department is illuminated by the college’s? Are there elements present in your department mission but absent from the college mission that you think could be more widely applied?
In the year or so that we’ve been drafting our mission statement, we have looked to other department’s missions and to the college’s for guidance and as models. We now believe our department mission statement is aligned with the college’s and with other department quite well.
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V. ASSESSMENT
A. Plan
1. Student surveys given at the close of our capstone courses, senior year (see Appendix I);
2. Review and discussion of student survey responses, and faculty impressions on the experiences over the previous year, now a regular feature of the department’s September meeting;
3. Program specific retreats, as the Creative Writing faculty has done the last two summers, specifically focused on reviewing the year and looking ahead, recommendations for other agenda items and adjustments/changes to programming;
4. Each faculty member will review syllabi, course materials over the remainder of the year and attempt to offer data regarding which of their course might meet particular goals (see Appendix H).
B. Other Thoughts on Assessment
How do you know whether the goals of your department are being achieved? What evidence/indicators do you look to? Is any regular method of review carried out? If so, how often?
As a result of the Teagle work, the English Department put in place the senior survey (see Appendix I), which is now tied to the capstone courses in the major, and will be completed by every student prior to finishing coursework. The breadth and depth of the survey has, without a doubt, offered the Department the opportunity each year to focus our attention on one or two areas of concern, based on student responses at the end of their Knox careers, and in doing so, allows us to develop a means to address one or two aspects of our curricular charge each year. Because the survey asks questions that address all three components of the Teagle work (Critical Thinking, Civic Engagement, Quantitative Reasoning), in addition to other elements of our work in the English Department, its regularization will afford us the opportunity, at the close of each year, to consider the most pressing concerns as they come up, and in such a way as to enable us to see trends developing. One Department meeting each fall has been set aside to review and discuss the surveys from the previous spring. As well, we’d like to be able to use our designed faculty survey (see Appendix B) for visiting faculty members and to return to it every few years, in hopes that it allows for more focused, candid conversations.
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As well, we use the Senior Symposium, one of the key components of our capstone class for Literature Majors, and Writers’ Forum, as an opportunity to gauge how well our goals are being achieved. In larger Departmental conversations and in more private, one-on-one exchanges among the faculty, we are able to assess the ways in which our goals are being achieved, as well as to look toward the ways in which we might better prepare the students for what we see as clear, assessable outcomes of our majors. We turn our attention to the publication of Catch, The Common Room, and our four other campus publications as a means to assess the quality of work in its direct relation to our stated course goals, and we discuss the ways in which we can continue to challenge our students and ourselves through curricular and co-curricular means.
Finally, we keep track of our students’ post-graduate plans, to the best of our abilities, and find confirmation of our stated mission and academic goals in their successes post-graduation (see Appendix B). Finally, we believe most of all in the assessability of our direct and indirect outcomes. Above anything else, we would hand you our six publications, invite you to join us for a term of readings and lectures, ask you to join us for our Senior Symposium or for Writers’ Forum or to celebrate the success of our Portfolio classes accomplishments at the end of Spring Term. We would read off the list of graduate programs our students are attending or have recently completed, or lend you the publications of our former students, or bring you with us to the MLA and AWP conferences where they present their work. We’d make a list of the English majors who returned to Knox to teach or to read or to judge one of our contests. We’d tell you all about the range of careers and the success of their lives where our graduates find themselves, and we’d invite you to ask them for yourself what the English Department at Knox College succeeded most in teaching them.
VI. OTHER (QUESTIONS REGARDING THE “NEW” KNOX)
1. One issue we’re planning to discuss in the self-study is that the Knox curriculum is at base a traditional liberal arts curriculum, but that we are also responsive to student desire/need for more explicit pathways to specific careers (e.g., having designated pre-law and pre-med advisors, our new minors in Business & Management , Social Service, and Journalism). Tell us about any ways in which your department may be addressing this same concern. Specific courses? Career information provided? Speakers? Field trips? Other? (for section on curriculum-5Aii)
a. In conjunction with the college-wide Fall Institute, for the last three years the English Department has been hosting a panel for students interested in post-graduate paths in the field, and which admittedly, becomes a discussion about graduate school options for both creative writers and literature majors; in the fall of 2008, we also ran a panel for students newer to the department, called, “So, you want to be an English major…”
b. As part of the senior portfolio (English 399), we regularly hold discussions on graduate school, publishing, and ways to maintain a writing community once outside of school
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c. Our courses in creative non-fiction are cross listed with journalism, and over the years, a number of journalism minors have also been English majors; we aim to support student interest in journalism, allowing one course in journalism to count toward both CW major requirements and the Literature major requirements;
d. Creative writing majors are provided with an annual, complimentary subscription to The Writer’s Chronicle, one of the key publications for practioners of writing; as well, our department membership of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) affords us up to ten student passes to their annual conference each year and we attempt to help support students efforts to attend
e. Our chair and the associate director of Creative Writing pass along opportunities for publication, conferences, etc., to students via email as they come across our desk;
f. we encourage our students to submit papers for consideration in literary conferences (MUSE, IPA, etc.) and attend with them whenever possible;
g. We attempt to convey information to students regarding possible internships, conferences, residencies, and/or other opportunities quickly and systematically, whenever possible;
h. We have redesigned the content of our department website to include specific information on graduate school
2. A central part of the institutional self-study will be a discussion of the new graduation requirements. What has been the impact of the new graduation requirements on your department/program? For example, the impact of: the writing competency (5C), the speaking competency (5C), the information literacy and informed use of technology competency (5C), a second QL course (5C), the requirement of a minor (5Ai).
a. On paper, the impact has been quite significant in so much as the majority of our courses now fulfill the writing competency requirement. Courses that meet this competency are: English 120, 123, 206, 207, 208, 270, 307, 308, 311, 330, 335, 336, 342, 343, 344, 345, 347, 370, 371, 375, 376, 398; that said, the majority of our courses were already writing intensive courses, and it was a natural progression for us to count these courses as “W” given what they were already accomplishing;
b. The speaking competency in literature is met by completion of the senior symposium, one aspect of the senior seminar (eng 398); in creative writing, students meet this competency 1) introducing a peer at Writers’ Forum, 2) by giving a reading of their own work at Writers’ Forum, and by completing these tasks in conjunction with an upper level workshop; Both of these features were in
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place for our students before the new graduation requirements were solidified, but our tying them to the oral competency has allowed us to strengthen our focus on and commitment to these aspects of our students’ work;
c. Certainly, our 300-level literature courses (required in both majors) have always made use of existing information literacy and technology, but the requirement as well as other changes in the field(s) has made more pressing our own need to better integrate these aspects into our courses; our most significant problem about this competency is in our being able to alert students to the ways in which they are actually (or not) becoming competent, dare we say successful users of informational and technological pathways in their studies beyond wikipedia and googling.
d. No direct impact of the second QL course on the English Department curriculum, to the best of our knowledge (we did study Quantitative Reasoning as part of our work with the Teagle grant, and are happy to make that information available if desired)
e. The now required minor means that we have seen some increased enrollment pressures in courses; we’ve also seen a growing number of major/minor combinations in the Department, including film, which puts more pressure, again, on enrollments; in spring 2008, we had 16 minors in Creative Writing and 23 minors in Literature; in spring 2004, we had 18 minors in Creative Writing and 21 minors in Literature; in spring 2000, we had 5 minors in Creative Writing and 1 minor in Literature. Over the last four years, as well, there have been 8 declared independent minors in Film Studies, and as of this writing, there are 3 declared minors in the new Film Studies program, with approximately 4 independent minors in Film yet to declare the new minor.
3. The Knox mission statement mentions the goal of teaching skills of writing, reading, calculating, and critical analysis. Writing and calculating have been addressed specifically in the college-wide key competency requirements. What about reading and critical analysis? It would be helpful if your self-study could include some information about and/or assessment of how you teach these skills. (for section on curriculum-5C)
Because the English Department looked at “Critical Thinking” as part of our work on the Teagle Project, I include the portion on “Critical Thinking” from our final document in Appendix C.
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VII. FOR THE COLLEGE AS A WHOLE A. THE LAST TEN YEARS of the college's history. What were: a) key markers (critical moments or events, good or bad) The new curriculum, increased transparency in the workings of the College, the ways in which everyone “stepped up” to meet the many challenges of this decade b) significant changes The new curriculum, changes in the faculty (retirements, departures, new arrivals) c) biggest challenges (and how were the met, or not) Attempting to implement all levels of the “New Knox,” including experiential learning, educational plans, increased advising responsibilities, meeting demand for classes d) biggest successes Our stronger “national” profile, the continued strength and rigor of our academic and co- curricular programming B. Consider the college's MISSION STATEMENT. e) Where are we doing well? Most things, actually. f) What elements need more attention? More opportunity for interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary interaction in the classroom— something all but lost without Advanced Preceptorial, and most departments are struggling to keep up with demand that there’s little opportunity to reach across disciplines to try something new g) On a scale of 1 to 10, how well does the college's mission statement express your understanding of the college's mission? (10 is very well, 1 is not at all) 7 or 8 h) What changes, if any, would you recommend in the college's mission statement? None.
C. THE FUTURE i) What are the strengths of the college that you think we will most rely on in the next ten years? The faculty, our educational experience, the quality learning environment in all its complexities j) What are ongoing challenges that we face? Well, financial ones, obviously—faculty salaries, Alumni Hall, an aging infrastructure, sustainability, technology, rising costs of everything—and then the others, that could also be tied to finances: the ever-increasing demands on everyone’s time (advising, advanced study, admissions and alumni development, etc.) k) What new challenges may be on the horizon?
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Beyond global, financial ones? Hard to say. One never know what the next challenge may be, although I think we can and should expect some of our future students to be Veterans who have returned from fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and wonder, a bit how well are prepared to deal with their particular needs, whatever they may be (health related, especially) l) What important agenda items would you like to see the college address in the next couple of years? in the next five-ten years? On-going discussions the particular challenges of the New Knox requirements (educational plans, experiential learning), a push towards more interdisciplinary opportunities, development of plans for secure art gallery, ways to protect that faculty’s scholarly and artistic agendas even as more and more demands are placed on us.
I’d also like to see us come back to discussing December/January term options, ones with more financial incentives for the students to participate and ones that might allow faculty’s teaching schedules to allow for some more flexibility. Too, it’s time to figure out how to compensate faculty for independent study and honors projects; if payment is not likely, isn’t it possible to figure out some way that these can be banked toward course reduction or extension of leave-time?
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APPENDIX A: MISSION STATEMENT
The Knox College English Department maintains two separate majors, Creative Writing and Literature. While embracing the relationship between the disciplines, both programs maintain their own distinct curricula, major and minor requirements, disciplinary objectives and pedagogical goals, as well as co-curricular programming that often speaks to both disciplines. The two majors live amicably side-by-side, and professors who teach in one area also teach in the other. The department is committed to creative expression, to informed interpretation, and to the study of literature’s global and historical dimensions.
In each major, our mission can be divided into four categories, Reading, Interpretation, Writing, and Speaking.
Literature: The mission of the Literature Program is to encourage, support, and direct students’ active engagement with and exploration of literature as expressed through our major requirements, our minor requirements, our individual courses, and our curriculum, through which we endeavor
• to teach students close reading and other interpretive approaches, as embodied through literary theory; • to impart to students an understanding of literary history; of how literary movements, periods and genres have evolved over time; • to emphasize intersections of literature and history, literature and other arts, Anglophone and other literatures; • to equip students with tools of analysis that will serve them in all aspects of life and allow them to be critics of their culture and society; • to teach correctness, and the cultivation of an authoritative, clear and eloquent style, in writing; • to teach students how to construct and articulate an argument, and to contend with multiple other arguments; • to emphasize the importance of research in the writing of ambitious interpretive papers; • to stress the necessity of revision; • to emphasize literature as a window on the larger sociopolitical and historical world; • to consider the political and ethical values of literature and of literary criticism; • to cultivate spoken participation through oral presentations, class discussion and our capstone course.
Our mission culminates in the capstone experience, Senior Seminar, in which students read and analyze a group of texts united under a particular rubric, usually a contemporary issue in literary study, then organize and stage an academic symposium open to the entire department and the general public. Their final project is to extend and revise this paper, taking questions raised at the symposium into account.
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Creative Writing: The mission of the Program in Creative Writing is to encourage, support, and direct students’ active engagement with and exploration of the creative process as expressed through our major requirements, our minor requirements, our individual courses, and our curriculum, through which we endeavor
• to establish an environment of respect in which students regard themselves and their peers as literary practitioners; • to offer students workshop experiences in multiple genres (creative non-fiction, fiction, playwriting, poetry, screenwriting, translation), wherein they can explore and experiment with the conventions of these genres; • to explore the manifestations of the creative process in an additional visual or performing art; • to emphasize formal and thematic literary concerns of historical and contemporary English- speaking cultures, and of diverse world cultures; • to teach close reading and other interpretive approaches to literature, as embodied in our beginning writing courses; • to develop intuitive, creative, and critical skills that will serve students in all aspects of life; • to explore and enhance the relationship of memory and imagination to the creative process; • to teach the practical, emotional, and ethical values of writing and creative endeavor; • to stress the necessity of revision as process, and process as fundamental to artistic vision and production; • to cultivate students’ active engagement and participation in a community of writers and artists, representative of a wide array of aesthetic and critical positions; • to encourage spoken participation through oral presentations, workshops, class discussion, our student reading series, and our capstone course.
Our mission culminates in the capstone experience, Senior Portfolio, in which students trace the development of their voice and vision through the collection and revision of their entire oeuvre of creative writing. In a required critical introduction to their manuscripts, students explore their influences and aesthetic sources, situate themselves within the literary tradition, and consider current challenges and future prospects for their work.
The department is also committed to co-curricular offerings that enhance our students’ interpretive and writing abilities, as well as engaging them in a vibrant literary and artistic community. Such offerings include: • our semi-annual, award-winning literary journal, Catch; • our online journal of literary-criticism, The Common Room; • numerous lectures, readings and performances by visiting scholars, writers and artists • Writers’ Forum, a series of formal public readings by students of their own work • opportunities to attend and present work at off-campus literary conferences, readings and symposia, and to participate in the larger community dialogue (as represented by complimentary subscriptions to The Writer’s Chronicle); • student-initiated ventures such as magazines, both print and online (Cellar Door, Diminished Capacity, The Third Level, Wynken, Blynken and Nod), art exhibits and
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performances (including readings), and civic contributions (such as visits to schools, prisons, and other local venues). APPENDIX B: POST-BACCALAUREATE PLACEMENTS (2003-08)
2008 English Department Graduate News
Recent Graduates (2003-7) Stephen Pihlaja (2002 Creative Writing): PhD in in Conceptual Metaphor Theory/ Applied Linguistics, University of Leeds (U.K.) and Open University in Milton Keynes. Fellowship.
Al Keefe (2006, CW major; Journalism minor); Full Fellowship at Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University
Elizabeth Jones (2006, Double major in CW & Literature)—MFA program at Old Dominion (deferred)
Caroline Claiborn (2007, Lit major)—University of Oregon, PhD in Film Studies; teaching assistantship. Also accepted into Northeastern and USC film studies graduate programs; and wait-listed at Loyola Chicago film studies program.
Jacqueline Jutting (2000, English Writing and Theatre): MFA in Directing, Northwestern
Mary Kiolbasa (CW 2006) Javitz Fellowship ( attending Art Institute/Chicago, MFA in Poetry)
Chris Astwood (CW 2007) U of East Anglia (M.A. in UK), U of Florida (15K fellowship); accepted East Anglia
Jake Marcet (CW 2007) M.A. @ Exeter (UK) in Screenwriting; U of Glasgow in Poetry; and is now at U of East Anglia in Screenwriting
Erik DeLapp (CW 2007) MFA at Hamline
Lisa Goetz (CW 2007) Accepted: National Taiwan University's Chinese program
Andy Scott (CW 2007) John Marshall Law
Stacia Falat (CW 2002) will be attending Michigan State University on a full fellowship studying agricultural policy and rural development in East Africa and Swahili. It's an MS with an option for PhD, I believe.
Heather Frankland (Creative Writing major 02; ENVS minor) MFA in Poetry, New Mexico State University
2008 Graduates Myra Thomson (CW major): Fulbright, studying in Russia; Also the first place winner of the annual ACM Nick Adams Short Story Contest.
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Kate Glen: (Lit major) Masters of Social Work program at Loyola Univ., Chicago, accepted; MSW at Ohio State, accepted; Masters in Special Education, Purdue University
Katie Snider: (Double major in CW and French/double major in French) Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison, accepted, PhD program in French; University of Washington, accepted PhD program in French; full funding. She has accepted U of Washington.
Emily Mutchler (Lit major) University of Mississippi, M.A. in Literature
Lucas Street (CW major) MFA in Creative Writing; University of Wyoming with assistantship. He has accepted this offer. Was also accepted into MFA programs at Oregon State University (also w/ assistantship); University of New Hampshire; Eastern Washington University; and Colorado State
Alice Holbrook (CW major) MFA in Creative Writing at Syracuse University, full-funded Teaching Assistantship. She has accepted.
Jordan Mumma (CW major) MFA program in Screenwriting at Northwestern with funding of some sort. She has accepted. Also offered MFA in fiction writing at Columbia University, New York for MFA. No funding. She declined.
Pat Dodge (CW major) M.A. George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University, 10K fellowship (deferred)
Steve Smaczniak (CW major) Accepted, Columbia-Chicago—some fellowship support; also at Roosevelt-Chicago
Hilary Grimes (CW major) MLS-UCLA (with Dean’s Scholar Award); also at UT-Austin.
Jessey Nickells (CW major) Accepted: Naropa (Writing Program)
Stefen Showers (CW major, Honors) will be teaching English in Moscow through a program called "LanguageLink"
Jennifer Wolf (Lit major); Accepted (and will attend) the Master of Library and Information Science Program at the University of Washington
2007 Graduate News Recent Graduates (2003-6)
Micah Rieker--MFA acceptances at University of Illinois Urbana, School of the Art Institute/Chicago and University of Pittsburgh. Accepted University of Illinois with Fellowship. (creative writing)
Marc Schuman: MA/PHD acceptance at University of Washington (English)
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Rebecca Halonen: MFA acceptance at Eastern Washington University (with fellowship)
Adam Krause: MFA acceptances at University of Iowa and Syracuse University (creative writing fellowship at latter). Accepted Iowa (with unspecified support).
Mary Kiolobasa: MFA acceptances at Emerson and School of the Art Institute/Chicago. Accepted School of the Art Institute (creative writing)
George (Walker) Weyerhauser: University of Illinois Urbana, acceptance into Masters of Library/Information Science Program.
Rebecca Paxson: M.A. acceptance University of Nottingham (English) Kelly Anicich: M.A. acceptance Loyola Chicago, Masters of Education.
Jen Tynes: PHD, University of Denver (Fellowship). Also acceptances at Nebraska, Western Michigan, Missouri. (English)
Rubiyaat Khan: MFA acceptances at New School (New York) and Rutgers. Accepted New York (creative writing)
David Karczynski: Zell post-MFA Fellowship from the University of Michigan (fiction)
2007 Graduates
JoAnna Novak: MFA Washington University St. Louis (with fellowship)
Sarah Magin: Ma/PHD University of Massachussets and University of Illinois-Chicago (accepted UMass with Assistantship)
Sarah Wylder: MFA University of Maryland (status unclear)
BJ Hollars: MFA, University of Alabama (with fellowship). Also accepted at Missouri, St Louis, Western Michigan.
Jake Marcet, De Paul School of Law (deferred)
Ann Margolis, Pace University (editing/publishing MA).
Other Current Graduate News
B.J. Hollars' story, "The Pumpkin Patch," was one of five national finalists for the 2007 Mid- American Review's Sherwood Anderson Fiction Prize, judged by Aimee Bender.
JoAnna Novak's story, "Assignments," was a finalist for DIAGRAM's Fiction Prize, judged by Michael Martone. Novak's story appears in the June 2007 issue of DIAGRAM.
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Kate Schlachter's "Outside Johannesburg" and Sarah Jane Wylder's "The Book of Indian Birds" were named finalists in the 2007 Nick Adams Short Story Contest..
Sarah Ellis and Annie Vernon, Denver Publishing Institute
2006 Graduate News Recent Graduates (2003-6) Shannon Latimer (English Writing ‘01) MFA program at University of Southern California with Fellowship in Film and TV Production/Scripting MFA
Heather Frankland (Creative Writing major 02; ENVS minor) (After several years in the Peace Corps in South America…) New Mexico State University Masters Program in Public Health in Community Health Education.
Maggie Queeney (Creative Writing 04) Michigan, Syracuse (MFA in Poetry)
Laura Adamczyk (Creative Writing 03) Northwestern, MA in Fiction Writing
Thomas Cook (Creative Writing 05; post-bacc at Knox 05-06) MFA in Poetry, University of Minnesota Bethany Reece (Creative Writing 05; post-bacc at Knox 05-06) MFA in fiction, Washington U (St. Louis); awarded $16,500 a year, plus tuition, for two years with a possible third (to stay and teach). Also accepted by Vanderbilt, Montana, Emerson College, Eastern Washington U, and Penn State with assistantships or fellowships (some partial, some contingent) at most.
Jon Crylen (06 English Lit.) University of Chicago's Master of Arts Program in the Humanities (MAPH); awarded half-tuition.
Kate Garklavs (06 Creative Writing and German) University of Massachusetts MFA program with a Teaching Associateship covering all tuition/fees (the offer she has accepted). Was also awarded (but declined) the following: Washington University in St. Louis, a full university fellowship; University of Texas at Austin (MA program) with a TAship covering first year expenses and a Michener Fellowship second year.
Kathryn Goldthwaite (06 Creative Writing and History); accepted into the Masters of Divinity program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; is choosing to defer for a year but will be beginning there the fall of 2007.
Kate Langridge (06 English Lit.) Masters Program in English at Bradley University; has received the one and only GRASP II award, a research scholarship given to an incoming graduate student in English that includes a full tuition waiver and a stipend of $11,000 to learn the business end of grant research and grant writing in the Arts and Humanities and to participate in grant-writing in support of various programs at Bradley as well as programs in the Peoria arts community.
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Laura Hinken (06 English Lit.) Bradley University, Masters in English Program. Rec’d and will accept TAship starting fall 2006. Miranda Higdon (2004 CW) University of Indiana, Journalism
2005 Graduate News David Karczynski: 2002 English Writing major; Accepted: Indiana (MFA), U of Michigan (MFA), Wash U (MFA) Offered Fellowship & TAship at all, going to Michigan.
Elizabeth Marzoni (2004 grad) Accepted: Indiana (Lit., PhD program); W. Michigan (Lit., PhD program); Offered Doctoral Fellowships at both, which included teaching. She accepted at Western Michigan.
Rebeccah Bechtold (2005 grad) Accepted: Penn State (English Lit.), U of Illinois, U of Iowa, U of Wisconsin; Offered Fellowships/Assistantships at Penn State, Illinois, and Iowa; Going to Illinois (Teaching Assistantship)
Hannah Bowen (2004 CW) Accepted: Emerson (with scholarship) (program?)
Darin Dunphy (2005 CW) Accepted: MFA Southern Illinois
Ross Kelly (2003) Accepted: California Institute of the Arts (MFA in interdisciplinary major— creative writing/theatre/filmmaking); Fellowship there as well (deferred)
Eileen G’Sell (recent grad) Accepted (and attending): Washington University (MFA)
Rebecca Halonen (2005 grad) Accepted: MA program (Literature in Spanish and Italian) in the Romance Language Department at the University of Oregon (Eugene). Also awarded and is accepting a Teaching Assistantship.
Jaclyn Wells (Eng. Lit. 2003)—Masters program at S. Illinois/ Writing/Rhetoric program
Kelsey Keyes (Eng. Lit. 2003)—Masters program in English Literature at Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Teaching Fellowship
Alison Looney (Eng. Lit. 2003)—Masters in Library Science at University of Missouri and Columbia
Shalini Krishan (Eng. Lit. 2003)—Masters program in English at U of Illinois at Chicago
Ali Birnbach (Eng. Lit. 2005)—going on to Masters program in Library Science
2004 Graduate News No record of this year seems to exist.
2003 Graduate News Katya McDonald: (MFA Fiction) USC, Southwest Texas State
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Elaine Farrugia: (MFA Fiction) George Mason University David Michelson: (Lit) SUNY Binghamton Mark Baumgartner: (MFA Fiction) Bowling Green State, University of Illinois—Urbana, University of New Orleans Will Boast: (MFA Fiction) University of Mississippi, University of Indiana, Florida State, University of Michigan Cynthia Barounis: (PhD Literature) U Illnois/Chicago Amy Lawin: (Women’s and Gender Studies) University of Missouri-St. Louis Jen Tynes: (MFA Poetry) Brown University, University of Oregon/Eugene, Vermont College, University of Michigan/Ann Arbor, University of North Carolina/Wilmington Maria Filippone: (MFA Fiction) Eastern Washington University, NYU Riddhi Sandil: University of Iowa (PhD program in Psychology Counseling) Carolyn Popovich: Northwestern (Higher Education Administration) Leah Chamberlain: (MA, Fiction) Cardiff University (Wales, UK) Ruby Khan: (MFA Fiction) Columbia College (deferred) Cynthia Kitchen: (MFA Poetry) Vermont College, Spalding University Mike Boyd: (MFA Fiction) Long Island University Insiyah Saeed: Columbia School of Journalism
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APPENDIX C: CRITICAL THINKING (FROM TEAGLE WORK)
CRITICAL THINKING
“T. S. Eliot remarked famously that critical thinking is ‘as inevitable as breathing.’ As with breathing, we are not always conscious of thinking critically, that is, engaging with texts to assess both for their value and their meaning. To assess a text for value and for meaning requires marshalling evidence from the text itself, employing logical reasoning, being attentive to the emotional and psychological charges of the text, and considering relevant connections between the text and the larger world in which it is produced. Our main goal in teaching critical thinking is to raise the level of consciousness at which our students engage in this inevitable practice, thereby improving their own thinking and writing skills” (Haslem).
We considered the means by which our curricula further critical thinking in a number of ways, although this is the area where we found we made the most assumptions and took the most for granted, given that we believe this concept to be at the very heart of every single thing toward which the English Department strives. That said, we reviewed outcomes from several courses, including samples of writing from several courses designated Writing Intensive (nearly all our offerings except 200-level literature courses) in order to identify demonstrated critical thinking, with an eye towards making some discoveries about similarities and differences in the modes of these achieved learning goals in our two distinct disciplines. We explored how the Writing Intensive designation works to advance critical thinking, in particular, and quantitative reasoning, peripherally, by examining not only outcomes from such courses, but also through student and faculty response to particular questions about the Department’s emphasis on generating ideas, revision, discussion, and the relationship between content-based analysis and skills-based learning. Both colleague and student feedback on surveys highlighted the relationship between “work in progress” critiques, conferences, and workshops, and the “portfolio” or final paper as key component to developing critical thinking.
The Common Room, our online journal for literary criticism, and Catch serve as showcases for outcomes in critical thinking in the English Department, while our fledgling publications (Cellar Door and three electronic genre journals) also function to this end although they lack the historic quality necessary to gauge such success. We have begun to track our students plans and achievements, post-baccalaureate, and suspect there is a strong connection between the number of English majors who go on to Graduate School and the value added from the critical thinking in which they are engaged. As well, Senior Symposium, the culminating experience of Senior Seminar for Literature Majors asks student presenters to respond, on the spot, to tough questions from an audience of faculty and students. The nature of discussion-based courses, as our 300 level literature and workshop classes tend to be, insists upon critical thinking at nearly every level.
In our faculty survey, we asked our colleagues to address the extent to which their courses further the English Department’s emphasis on revising critical and creative work, and whether or not they believed that the two English major curricula are well balanced
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between teaching content and teaching skills, and to what extent. In our student survey, we asked students to discuss the value and/or success of the following, and to comment on the value added of each aspect: The Department’s emphasis on generating ideas, on critical thinking, on revision, on workshops, on discussion. We also asked the following:
In terms of content, what did you expect to learn from your English Major? What aspects of the major met these expectations, fell short, or surprised you?
In terms of specific skills, what did you expect to learn from majoring in English? What aspects of the major met these expectations, fell short, or surprised you?
In the end, however, though we focused our energies on Civic Engagement and Quantitative Reasoning, we have put in place the tools to return to issues of Critical Thinking in the coming year or two. Results from surveys and from discussions among us, as well as from reviewing outcomes from such courses lead us to suggest further exploration of the role of revision throughout the English curricula and the culminating experience revision plays in English 398 and 399, our capstone courses. We suggest further examination, for example, of the essential role of narratives and/or evaluations of process in Creative Writing courses as part of final portfolio (or as separate paper “in defense” of the making of art), which might better prepare students for the work ahead in Senior Portfolio. Similarly, we are interested in exploring ways in which revision might become a more central feature of the Literature Senior Seminar.
At the heart of what we do, close reading, textual analysis, and synthesis (of ideas across time periods, genres, literary movements, and subjects) speak to the Department’s commitment to and success of the role of critical thinking in our learning goals. From the classroom to the lecture or reading, from editorial participation with one of our journals to serving as an organizer of one of our events, from attending cultural events across campus or fulfilling the requirements for our courses, our students are asked to consider connectivity between the text and the larger world. As a result of their coursework and the myriad of co-curricular opportunities made possible through the English Department, we believe our majors are “equipped to feel comfortable with complexity, and able to sort through and integrate multiple perspectives, revise their own thinking, and articulate a well-informed and original argument” (Regiacorte).
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APPENDIX D: CIVIC ENGAGEMENT (FROM TEAGLE WORK)
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
“One goal of a liberal arts education is to cultivate a sense of responsibility in students for the world around them. Our classes ask students to think about themselves, literature and writing in relation to their environment, and to the extent that our courses are small, we can create a community in the classroom that, one hopes, models a productive relationship between oneself and the larger group. Literature and writing are ways of representing various communities, so any meaningful interaction with language would, by extension, be an interaction with the world around us” (Anderson). “The English Department values coming together as community members and learning as a community. Our classrooms do this too, and students engage in civic- minded behavior there” (Haslem). Part of what we teach is how to respect the opinions and emotions, the thoughts and articulations of others, thus preparing students for broader engagement at the civic and moral level. While, certainly, the English Department members do not see a fixed social agenda as part of our curricular or co-curricular task, we believe that by “emphasizing literature as an art of compassion and all art as fundamentally opposed to injustice and inequality, we might move our students into action or activism, or at least alert them to injustice, oppression, [and otherness,] as well as to beauty” (Rosenfeld).
The English Department is fortunate to house six publications, three reading series, and several other venues for possible co-curricular civic engagement, all of which are run by students, supported by faculty in the English Department, and open to the public. Additionally, Knox is a hotbed of intellectual and artistic activity, offering our students weekly, if not daily, opportunities to engage in a larger community of artists and scholars beyond the classroom. Many of our classes require or encourage attendance at such events, highlighting our commitment to the ways in which writers and scholars of literature must be thoughtful and engaged in the world. Being a patron of the arts, for example, begins first through support of the literary and arts events in our own community. It is our belief, in part, that if we can teach our students to respect and even love participating in the rich cultural world Knox offers them, we will have instilled in them a lifelong appreciation and desire for being civic, moral, and culturally minded. Finally, two particular elements of our major curricula, both of which fulfill the College wide Oral Competency requirement, reinforce the notions of “community” as it pertains to instilling in our students the need to civically engage with the world around them by giving back: Senior Symposium (the culminating achievement of our Literature Major’s capstone experience) and Writers’ Forum (a student reading series for Creative Writing majors). At the Symposium, students are responsible for every level of the organizational as well as the actual content itself; in essence, they host a two-day literary conference. Writers’ Forum is run by a smaller group of students and occurs about ten times a year; a faculty member introduces each reader, and the students are responsible for bringing in the audience and presenting their work in lively, articulate, and valid ways.
In addition to sending out surveys to graduating seniors in May of 2007, which asked questions about participation in Department sponsored co-curricula, in the pre-enrollment period during the fall, we asked our majors to respond briefly to the following three questions:
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In what particular ways do you contribute to the world through civic engagement? To what particular community or communities do you lend your talents or resources? Has this commitment in any way derived from or re-enforced by your English Major? If so, how?
Nearly all who responded reported performing community service (in the Knox Community, the Galesburg Community, and in the larger world) ranging from various work with literacy and reading programs to political activism, from building houses with Habitat for Humanity to working in food pantries and shelters. We hope to have a better grasp on our students’ sense of civic engagement in the coming years, with the implementing of the senior survey, and with the Center for Community Service now in place on campus. As well, we reviewed information gathered from the Center for Community Service and from our advising files on experiential learning to uncover other ways our students contributed to the community, both on and off campus. In all, we believe our students are active in their contributions to Civic Engagement through Community Service and/or Campus Service, and believe the majority of those self- reporting do, in fact, see connections—sometimes intuitive, sometimes highly conscious, sometimes tenuous and ethereal—between the work they do in larger communities and the work we perform in the classrooms of the English Department. (Data from these sources is available upon request, as it is difficult to summarize in an appendix.)
We were particularly interested in responses from our graduating majors in ’07, who led us, in the first place, to consider Civic Engagement beyond the realm of volunteerism. Their reflections on their classroom experiences, in particular, shed light on other possible readings of Civic Engagement: the ways in which our courses and our curricular/co-curricular opportunities ask and/or expect them to be responsible to the Knox community, the Galesburg community, the community of the world, and/or the community of literary scholars and writers, of artists and thinkers. As well, their reflections on the value added from co-curricular activities related to the Department (Caxton, Off Knox, Catch, Cellar Door, TKS, The Common Room, Writers’ Forum...) led us to believe they clearly see a connection between the learning goals of the curricula and the ways such events/activities serve to enhance opportunities of/for critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, and civic engagement.
Faculty responses to similar questions (“How does your curricula encourage students to become actively engaged members of their community during their time at Knox? How does your curricula encourage students to become actively engaged in community work after Knox? How large a component should such encouragement be within the English major curricula?”) showed range and a complexity of the definition itself, which we had not made available to our colleagues in asking the question. It is that very engagement wherein resides our nuanced sense of Civic Engagement. Certainly, there is overlap in the means by which we achieve success in Civic Engagement and in Critical Reasoning. To that end, ultimately, one of the missions of this department “is to equip and embolden its majors to engage in a variety of dialogues concerning Western Literature in all its genres, with respect to their means, effects, and relative paradigms/contexts” (Regiacorte). In sum, one colleague put it best:
In class, I am often talking about the news I read earlier in the day—from Galesburg and the “real world” beyond. Inevitably, any mention of these headlines sparks a number of
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responses and comes up again when we get to assigned work. I’m always challenging students to imagine the potency of any given story, poem, essay in a different context— relative to the agency of language outside of our classroom community. (Regiacorte)
In both, we address issues of audience, of culture, and of community. We address issues of public spheres and private realms. In the Literature seminar and the Creative Writing workshop, we encourage and implore our students to take risks, to put their ideas, their beliefs, and their aesthetics out into the world. Similarly, we ask them to be open to the risks others take, to expose themselves to the ideas, beliefs, and aesthetics of others. In doing so, we believe, we are modeling the very notion of community, both on a large scale and a smaller one. In the end, we ask them to take care, not just of themselves and the things they love, but the things all around them, to give back. We instill within them the notion that we do not read or write in a vacuum, nor do we exist in one in the world beyond the college classroom. Through a thorough examination of the multi-faceted ways civic engagement and critical thinking are brought together in the experiences of English majors at Knox, the faculty believes we are educating our students into a lifetime of civic engagement.
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APPENDIX E: CATALOG COPY OF MAJOR REQUIREMENTS & COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Requirements for the Creative Writing major 12 credits as follows • Five writing courses from among: ENG 205, ENG 206, ENG 207, ENG 208, ENG 209, ENG 306, ENG 307, ENG 308, ENG 309, or ENG 311 (At least 3 courses must be at the 300 level; courses must be in at least two genres. One course in Journalism may be substituted with advisor approval and may count for the two genre requirement.) • Four elective courses above the 100 level in literature, film, or theory offered by the English department (at least 3 courses must be at the 300-level; one course must be focused before 1900) • One course in a world literature outside of the Anglo/American tradition, to be taken either in the original language or in translation, as offered by any department, including (but not limited to) Modern Languages, Theatre, Black Studies, Gender and Women's Studies, English, Classics • One studio/allied art course, with an emphasis on the creative process, as offered by the programs in Art, Dance, Music, or Theatre • Senior portfolio for writing majors: ENG 399.
Requirements for the Literature major 12 credits as follows: • Ways of Reading: ENG 200 • One course in creative writing or journalism: ENG 206, ENG 207, ENG 208, ENG 209, or ENG 270 • One survey course in American literature: ENG 231, ENG 232, or ENG 233 • One survey course in English literature: ENG 251, ENG 252, or ENG 253 • One period course: ENG 335, ENG 336, ENG 342, ENG 343, ENG 344, ENG 345, ENG 346, or ENG 347 • One single author course: ENG 330, ENG 331, ENG 332, ENG 380, or ENG 395 • Five elective courses in literature, film, or theory (three of these courses must be at the 300-level; one course may be offered in another department) • Senior seminar for literature majors: ENG 398. No individual course may be taken to satisfy more than one requirement. Two of the courses selected must be focused before 1900, only one of which may be a 200-level survey course. Cross-listed period and single author courses may be substituted with advisor approval.
Requirements for the Creative Writing minor 6 credits as follows: • Introduction to Literature: ENG 120 • Three Creative Writing courses (at least two at the 300-level) • One course in Modern and Contemporary Poetry or Fiction: ENG 346 or ENG 347 • One course in world literature outside of the Anglo/American tradition
Requirements for the English Literature minor 6 credits as follows: • Introduction to Literature: ENG 120 • One survey course in English Literature: ENG 251, ENG 252, or ENG 253 • One survey course in American Literature: ENG 231, ENG 232, or ENG 233 • Two courses at the 300-level in literature
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• One course in world literature outside of the Anglo/American tradition
ENG 101 College Writing I (1) Basic instruction in expository writing. Emphasis on identifying an audience, formulating a thesis, developing an argument, supporting the argument, marshaling evidence, citing authorities, answering possible objections. Students are asked to respond to and analyze a variety of texts and to critique each other's work. ENG 101 includes a brief review of grammar and punctuation. Staff
ENG 102 College Writing II (1) Advanced instruction in expository writing. ENG 102 does not include a review of grammar and punctuation; it does include some library work and a research paper. The course is intended for all writers, weak or strong, who wish to improve their writing and research skills. Staff
ENG 120 Introduction to Literature (1) This course is an introduction to the forms, vocabulary and critical reading strategies associated with the literary genres of fiction, poetry, and, at the instructor's discretion, one other genre--usually either drama or film. HUM; Staff
ENG 123 Introduction to Drama and Theatre (1) Cross Listing : THEA 123; N.Blackadder; R.Whitlatch;
ENG 124 Introduction to Film (1) Film is studied as a distinct art form with its own means and ends. Films are selected that are representative of various periods or major advances and are studied from historical, theoretical, and critical perspectives. HUM; R.Smith; E.Anderson;
ENG 200 Ways of Reading (1) Students analyze and assess their own assumptions about what constitutes the act of "reading." We pursue a detailed investigation of the processes of representation and interpretation in order to consider the many different "ways" of reading texts. Integrating theory and practice, we test the usefulness of the models provided by such movements as New Criticism, Feminism, Reader-Response, Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis, New Historicism, and Queer Theory to the situated analysis of a variety of literary and cultural texts. HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 recommended; Staff
ENG 201 Business and Technical Writing (1) Cross Listing : BUS 201; J.Haslem;
ENG 202 Teaching Writing (1) Cross Listing : CTL 202; J.Haslem;
ENG 205 Beginning Poetry Translation (1) Discussion of theory, contemporary practice, and student work, plus conferences with members of the language faculties. ARTS; Prereq : 103 in a foreign language or equivalent; ENG 120 or permission of the instructor; G.Franco;
ENG 206 Beginning Creative Nonfiction Writing (1) A seminar in the writing of various kinds of contemporary nonfiction. Discussion of published writers and student work, plus individual conferences. ARTS; Prereq : ENG 120 or permission of the instructor; Cross Listing : JOUR 206; N.Rosenfeld; N.Regiacorte; C.Simpson; C.Kitchen;
ENG 207 Beginning Fiction Writing (1) A seminar on contemporary fiction writing. Discussion of published writers and student work, plus conferences. ARTS; Prereq : ENG 120 or permission of the instructor; R.Metz; B.Tannert-Smith; N.Regiacorte; C.Simpson; C.Kitchen;
ENG 208 Beginning Poetry Writing (1)
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A seminar on contemporary poetry writing. Discussion of published writers and student work, plus conferences. ARTS; Prereq : ENG 120 or permission of the instructor; M.Berlin; G.Franco; N.Regiacorte;
ENG 209 Beginning Playwriting (1) Cross Listing : THEA 209; N.Blackadder;
ENG 221 Gender and Literature (1) Cross Listing : GWST 221; Staff
ENG 223 Introduction to Children's Literature (1) This course is designed to familiarize students with various types of children's literature, including folklore, modern fantasy, picture books and realistic fiction. Students will learn how to evaluate the literary standards and pluralistic character of the literature. Authors may include Nodelman, Park, Lowery, Pullman, Taylor and Feiffer. Prereq : ENG 120 strongly recommended; B.Tannert-Smith;
ENG 231 American Literature I (1) A survey of literature from colonization through the major authors of the mid-nineteenth century. We examine the formation of an American literary tradition in the context of cultural, intellectual, political and economic developments. Authors may include de Vaca, Bradstreet, Edwards, Wheatley, Emerson, Melville, Dickinson, Stoddard, Brent, Douglass and Stowe. HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 strongly recommended; R.Smith;
ENG 232 American Literature II (1) A survey of literatures produced in the United States since the Civil War. We examine relationships between cultural and intellectual currents and the political, economic, and social development of the United States during this period, focusing particularly on race, gender and class as analytic categories. Authors may include Howells, Twain, Jewett, Chopin, Cather, Chesnutt, Fitzgerald, Pynchon, Cisneros, Morrison, Harjo, Gibson. HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 strongly recommended; R.Smith;
ENG 233 African-American Literature (1) Cross Listing : BKST 233; F.Hord;
ENG 234 African and Black Caribbean Literature (1) Cross Listing : BKST 234; F.Hord;
ENG 235 African American Women Writers (1) Cross Listing : BKST 235; Staff
ENG 242 Postcolonialism (1) Against the background of socio-political issues like colonialism, nationalism, and race and gender, and in the stream of literary heritages like modernism, this course undertakes an exploration into the prose of Bessie Head and Chinua Achebe (Africa), V. S. Naipaul and Michelle Cliff (the Caribbean), Kamala Markandaya and Raja Rao (India), and the poetry of Wole Soyinka (Africa), Derek Walcott (the Caribbean) and Anita Desai (India), among others, that is supplemented by a consideration of the "colonial" and "postcolonial" theories of Franz Fanon, Aime Cesaire, Homi Bhaba, Benita Parry and Gayatri Spivak. HUM; Prereq : at least sophomore standing; at least one course in music, art, literature, political science or history. Concurrent course in the humanities, history, or social sciences recommended; N.Rosenfeld;
ENG 243 U.S. Latino Literature: Identity and Resistance (1) Cross Listing : AMST 243; M.Roy-Fequiere;
ENG 245 Literature and Power (1) A study of the relationship between literature and power. This course will examine the cultural forces that influence the creation, circulation, and interpretation of texts. Specific offerings may vary from year to year, but in each incarnation, the course will examine literature through the lens of cultural diversity and power.HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 or ENG 200; Staff
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ENG 248 Teaching Assistant (1/2 or 1) Prereq : Permission of instructor; Staff
ENG 250 Independent Study (1/2 or 1) Prereq : sophomore standing and/or a 200-level literature class; Staff
ENG 251 English Literature I (1) A study of English literature in its social, intellectual, and historical contexts in the Anglo-Saxon, Medieval, and Renaissance periods. Emphasis is on literary works by major early writers and on the intellectual, social, and political movements that inform the literature. Authors read may include the Beowulf poet, Chaucer, Spenser, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, and Donne, and works by less frequently canonized writers. HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 strongly recommended; L.Haslem;
ENG 252 English Literature II (1) A study of English literature from the late seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. The emphasis is on major Restoration, Enlightenment, Romantic, and Victorian writers in their historical and cultural contexts. The evolution of literary styles and genres is related to the intellectual, political, social, and religious movements of the respective periods. Authors read may include Behn, Pope, Swift, Johnson, Blake, Wordsworth, Wollstonecraft, Keats, Tennyson, Browning, Bronte, Dickens and Barrett-Browning.HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 strongly recommended; N.Rosenfeld; G.Franco; E.Anderson;
ENG 253 Modern British, Irish and American Literature (1) A study of poetry and fiction from the late nineteenth to the mid twentieth century, with attention to the relationship between the disintegration of traditional moral, social and intellectual values and the development of new literary forms. Authors include Yeats, Forster, Joyce, Woolf, Eliot, and Rhys. HUM; Prereq : ENG 120 strongly recommended; N.Rosenfeld;
ENG 270 News Writing and Reporting (1) Cross Listing : JOUR 270; M.Webb;
ENG 275 Advanced Composition (1) Cross Listing : CTL 275; S.Trotter-Martin;
ENG 295 Special Topics (1/2 or 1) Courses offered occasionally to students in special areas of literature or related topics not covered in the usual curriculum. Staff
ENG 306 Creative Nonfiction Workshop (1) Intensive work in the reading and writing of creative nonfiction; workshops plus individual conferences. Prereq : ENG 206 or written permission of the instructor; Cross Listing : JOUR 306; N.Regiacorte; M.Berlin; N.Rosenfeld;
ENG 307 Fiction Workshop (1) Intensive work in the reading and writing of fiction; workshops plus individual conferences. Prereq : ENG 207 or written permission of the instructor; Staff
ENG 308 Poetry Workshop (1) Intensive work in the reading and writing of poetry; workshops plus individual conferences. Prereq : ENG 208 or written permission of the instructor; M.Berlin; N.Regiacorte; G.Franco;
ENG 309 Playwriting and Screenwriting Workshop (1) Cross Listing : THEA 309; N.Blackadder;
ENG 311 Advanced Writing (1/2 or 1) Individual projects in writing non-fiction, fiction, poetry, or drama. Conducted on a tutorial basis by members of the department. Prereq : Reserved for exceptional students, after consultation, and with written permission of the instructor; Staff
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ENG 320 Fairy Tale: Historical Roots and Cultural Development (1) Focusing mainly on the European fairy tale (Italian, French, German, English), the course seeks understanding of the genre's roots in early modern oral culture; of its transition to fashionable literary circles and to children's bookshelves; of its relationship to issues of class and gender; and of its psychological appeal. Some attention also given to modern and postmodern American and film treatments of the fairy tale.HUM; Prereq : Any 200-level literature course or permission of instructor.; L.Haslem;
ENG 327 English Prosody (1) An intensive study of rhythmic expressivity in poetry written in English, with regular scansion and analyses of various texts from the 14th to the 20th century, from Geoffrey Chaucer to Bob Dylan. Prereq : junior standing or permission of the instructor; N.Regiacorte;
ENG 330 Chaucer (1) Focus on Chaucer's poetry (in the Middle English) with emphasis on The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde and on the cultural and literary contexts in which Chaucer wrote. We read selected Chaucerian sources as well as secondary sources on medieval life, customs, and culture. Prereq : ENG 251 strongly recommended; L.Haslem;
ENG 331 Shakespeare: Histories and Comedies (1) Study of Shakespeare's histories and comedies with combined attention to the plays as rich poetry and as texts for performance. Some discussion of the plays in connection with selected critical essays on them, and some in-class analysis of scenes from filmed productions of the plays. HUM; Cross Listing : THEA 331; L.Haslem;
ENG 332 Shakespeare: Tragedies and Romances (1) Study of Shakespeare's tragedies and romances with combined attention to the plays as rich poetry and as texts for performance. Some discussion of the plays in connection with selected critical essays on them, and some in-class analysis of scenes from filmed productions of the plays. HUM; Cross Listing : THEA 332; L.Haslem;
ENG 334 Literary Criticism (1) This course is a highly focused workshop-seminar designed to facilitate the careful discussion of a few selected literary-critical theories and their application to a range of literary and cultural texts. Theories discussed may include: new historicism; reader-response criticism; feminist criticism; deconstruction; Marxist criticism; Queer theory, etc. Prereq : two 200-level literature courses or permission of the instructor; N.Rosenfeld;
ENG 335 Studies in American Romanticism (1) Specific offerings may vary from year to year. Individual topics of study may include "The American 'Renaissance' Revisited"; "American Women Writers of the 19th-Century"; "Literature and Moral Reform"; "Antebellum Poetics: Poe, Whitman, Dickinson". Prereq : any 200-level literature course or permission of the instructor; R.Smith;
ENG 336 Studies in the Literatures of America (1) A study of the proliferation of American literatures since 1860. Specific offerings vary from year to year but might include: "Fiction of the Gilded Age"; "The Rise of Naturalism"; "The Harlem Renaissance"; "Midwestern Literature"; "Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States"; "American Postmodernism"; and "American Gothic." Prereq : any 200-level literature course or permission of the instructor; R.Smith;
ENG 342 Renaissance Literature and Culture (1) Explores the crossover between a complex cultural issue from the 15th to 17th centuries and a set of literary and/or dramatic texts from the same period. Possible topics: culturally based representations of the body; social constructions of gender and the "gender wars"; class issues and "carnivalesque" literature. Possible authors: Spenser, Marlowe, Jonson, Donne, Webster, Milton, selected female poets; selected male and female pamphleteers. Prereq : ENG 251 strongly recommended; L.Haslem;
ENG 343 Enlightenment Literature (1)
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Studies in English Neoclassical and Pre-Romantic literature with emphasis on satire and the novel. Authors read may include Swift, Defoe, Pope, Fielding, Burney, Sterne, Richardson and Radcliffe. Prereq : ENG 252 strongly recommended; E.Anderson; ENG 344 Romantic Literature (1) Emphasis on the Romantics as the first generation of writers to face a universe that did not have a built-in meaning. The old Medieval-Renaissance world view, which was still operative in Pope's Essay on Man, no longer served the needs of the Romantic writers, who looked elsewhere for new sources of meaning: to Nature, to the inner self, to romantic love, and to the transcendence (real or imaginary) of art itself. Prereq : ENG 252 strongly recommended; G.Franco; E.Anderson;
ENG 345 Victorian Literature (1) Seminar on the major Victorian writers, 1832-1900. Emphasis is either on novelists such as Dickens, Eliot and Bronte, or poets such as Tennyson, Browning and Rossetti. Prereq : ENG 252 strongly recommended; E.Anderson; G.Franco;
ENG 346 Modern and/or Contemporary Poetry (1) A study of modern and contemporary poetry in Great Britain, Ireland, and the United States. Individual authors and emphases vary, but may include confessional poetry, the Beat poets, and other modern and postmodern authors and movements. Prereq : any 200-level literature course or permission of the instructor; M.Berlin; N.Regiacorte; G.Franco;
ENG 347 Modern and/or Contemporary Fiction (1) A study of modern and contemporary fiction in England and/or America. Attention is directed toward various traditions and innovations in narrative art as they reflect and incorporate shifting attitudes toward love, marriage, family, social groups and institutions, nature, technology, war, and the relationship of individuals to fundamental economic and political forces. Prereq : sophomore standing; M.Berlin; R.Metz; N.Rosenfeld; R.Smith;
ENG 348 Teaching Assistant (1/2 or 1) Prereq : Permission of instructor; Staff
ENG 350 Independent Study (1/2 or 1) Prereq : junior standing and/or a 300 level literature course; Staff
ENG 363 Film Theories (1) This course will explore one or more of the main currents in film theory, including formalist, realist, structuralist, psychoanalytic, feminist, poststructuralist, cognitivist, and cultural-contextualist approaches to questions regarding the nature, function and possibilities of cinema. The course is designed as an advanced introduction and assumes no prior exposure to film theory. Specific offerings will vary from year to year. Topics of study may include: "Genre versus Auteur"; "Psychoanalysis and Film"; "Narrative and Film"; and "Experimental Film."HUM; Prereq : ENG 124 or permission of the instructor; R.Smith; E.Anderson;
ENG 370 Editorial Vision: Feature Writing (1) Cross Listing : JOUR 370; M.Webb;
ENG 371 In-Depth Reporting (1) Cross Listing : JOUR 371; M.Webb;
ENG 373 European Drama and Theatre: Renaissance through the 17th Century (1) Cross Listing : THEA 373; N.Blackadder; L.Snyder;
ENG 374 European Drama and Theatre: 18th and 19th Centuries (1) Cross Listing : THEA 374; N.Blackadder; L.Snyder;
ENG 375 European Drama and Theatre: Rise of Realism to 1945 (1) Cross Listing : THEA 375; N.Blackadder;
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ENG 376 Modern Drama: 1945 to the Present (1) Cross Listing : THEA 376; N.Blackadder;
ENG 377 Women Playwrights: The Search for the Female Voice in Contemporary World Theatre (1) Cross Listing : BKST 377; E.Metz;
ENG 378 American Drama and Theatre (1) Cross Listing : THEA 378; N.Blackadder; L.Snyder;
ENG 380 Studies in English and American Literature (1) Concentration on one or two English or American writers, or on a period or genre. Writers vary from term to term. HUM; Prereq : junior standing; Staff
ENG 395 Special Topics (1/2 or 1) Courses offered occasionally to students in special areas of literature or related topics not covered in the usual curriculum. Staff
ENG 398 Senior Seminar for Literature Majors (1) The seminar focuses on issues in literature that are currently being discussed or debated nationally or internationally. The term culminates with a conference at which each student presents a researched paper and answers questions from the audience. Prereq : senior standing; Staff
ENG 399 Senior Portfolio for Writing Majors (1) The Senior Portfolio consists of two parts: an edited selection of the student's writing and an introduction of approximately twenty-five pages. Prereq : senior standing; M.Berlin; R.Metz; N.Regiacorte;
ENG 400 Advanced Studies (1/2 or 1) See College Honors Program. Staff
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APPENDIX F: ENROLLMENT STATS
Total number of Lit. & CW sections Knox staffed by Eng. Dept. Number of Academic Enrollment (reg. faculty plus English majors Year (average) adjuncts) (CW and Lit)
1997-98 1019 33 not avail.
1998-99 1070 35 not avail.
1999-2000 1089 38 not avail.
2000-01 1100 42 not avail. 48 total 2001-02 1074 40 CW-29 Lit-19 61 total 2002-03 1031 43 CW-37 Lit-24 63 total 2003-04 1027 45 CW-39 Lit-24 61 total 2004-05 1044 54 CW-40 Lit-21 79 total 2005-06 1087 54 CW-44 Lit-35 105 total 2006-07 1142 63 CW-61 Lit-44 139 total 2007-08 1242 63 CW-92 Lit-47 118 total 2008-09* 1256 not avail. yet CW-74 Lit-44
*data for 2008-09 only available through January 2009; we’ll update information at year’s end.
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APPENDIX G: ADVANCED STUDY (HONORS PROJECTS & INDEPENDENT STUDIES)
HONORS PROJECTS AFFILIATED WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH (1998-2008)
Fall 2008 • Rebecca King, “How We Are Judged: Stories” (Creative Writing) (Simpson, Chair; Haslem, committee member)
2007-08 • Matthew Andersson, “What a Vessel in a Stem: Poems” (Creative Writing) (Haslem, Simpson committee members) • Alice Holbrook, “The Upper Room Discipline: Stories” (Creative Writing) (Simpson, Chair; Berlin, Metz, committee members) • Jordan Cay Mumma, “Velveteen People” (Creative Writing) (Smith, Chair; Regiacorte, committee member) • Carina Saxon, “New Skin for an Old Ceremony: Female Animality in the Donkeyskin Tales” (Literature) (Haslem, Chair; Anderson, committee member) • D. Stefen Showers, “G.H. HARDY UNAVAILABLE FOR COMMENT: The Mathematics of Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day.” (Literature and Mathematics) (Smith, Chair; Simpson, committee member)
2006-07 • JoAnna Novak, “The Costume Party” (Creative Writing) (Tannert-Smith, Chair, Metz, committee member) • Kate Schlachter, “Observatory” (Creative Writing) (Haslem, Chair; Regiacorte, committee member) • Malissa Kent, “Double Image: A Study in Self-Translation” (Creative Writing and French) (Simpson, Chair; Metz, committee member) Caroline Claiborn, “Discourses of Documentary: An Exploration of Documentary Film’s Theories and Definitions” (Film Studies) (Anderson, Chair; Smith, committee member) • Christopher Astwood, “A Tempestuous Noise” (Creative Writing) (Metz, Chair; Regiacorte, committee member)
2005-06 • Kate Garklavs, “Fungus and Other Stories” (Creative Writing) (Berlin, Chair; Smith, Regiacorte, committee members) • Elizabeth Jones, “Fairy Tales Follow Half-Seen Roads” (Creative Writing) (Haslem, Chair; Tannert-Smith, committee member) • Mary Kiolbasa, “Gallow Makers: Mythic Revisionism and the Marginalized Woman” (Creative Writing) (Franco, Chair; Rosenfeld, committee member) • Adam Krause, “Ululations of the Burbling Uvula” (Creative Writing) (Metz, Chair; Rosenfeld, committee member) • Brendan Todt, “The Angle of Repose” (Creative Writing) (Regiacorte, Chair; Berlin, committee member)
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• Sylvie Davidson, ““From a Spark into the Fire.” (Theatre/Creative Writing) (E. Carlin- Metz, Chair; Berlin, committee member) 2004-05 • Thomas Cook, “This I’d Known of Birds” (Creative Writing) (Regiacorte, Chair; Berlin, committee member) • Helen Kilian, “Viewing the Great Depression: The View from Crestfield, a Musical Play for Children’s Theatre, and an Accompanying Educational Text” (Theatre/Creative Writing) (Blackadder, Chair; Franco, Haslem, Tannert-Smith, committee members) • Bethany Reece, “Bear Hunting” (Creative Writing) (Smith, Chair; Metz, Regiacorte, committee member) • Rebeccah Bechtold, “Gothic Austen” (Literature) (Smith, Chair; Anderson, co- chair/committee member)
2003-04 • Ruth Lane, “Defining Equivalent: An Examination of the Literary Portraiture of Gertrude Stein with the Photography of Alfred Stieglitz” (Literature) (Regiacorte, Chair; Rosenfeld, committee member) • Jasmine Jobe, “Between Creation and Translation: Concept to Story, English to Japanese, Story to Animation.” (Japanese and Creative Writing) (Berlin, committee member)
2002-03 • Stephen Pihlaja, “Omerza Walking and Other Stories” (Creative Writing) (Berlin, Chair; Metz, committee member)
2001-02 • Eileen G’Sell, “Fictions Behind the Mask: Subjectivity, Gender Performance, and 20th Century Japanese Women Artists” (Literature) (Smith, Chair)
2000-01 • Carolyn Popovich, “ESL Theory and Practice” (English) (J. Haslem, Chair) • Melissa Adams, “Quixote in Drag: Queer Desire and Gendered Reading in Eighteenth- Century Burlesque Fiction” (Literature) (Smith, Chair) • Elaine Farrugia, “A Different Kind of Home” (Creative Writing) (Metz, Chair) • Shannon Latimer, “In the Lincoln Bedroom” (Creative Writing/Theatre) (E.Carlin-Metz, Chair; R. Metz, committee member) • Jen Tynes, “Wetlands” (Creative Writing) (Metz, Chair) • Ryan Williams, “There Are Words in Our Bones: A Web Album of Exploration of Alienation and Community” (Interdisciplinary) (Smith, Chair)
1999-00 • Sarah Clair, “A Return to Experience: C.S. Lewis as Reader-Response Critic” (Literature) (Haslem, committee member; Hellenga, Chair) • Sarah Tomsyck, “Desire and the Subversion of Fairy Tale Narrative” (Literature) (Smith, Chair; Haslem, committee member)
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1998-99 • Katya MacDonald, “Capturing Moments: An Exploration of Text and Image” (Studio Art/Creative Writing) (Metz, Chair) INDEPENDENT STUDY
Initials following the course listing represent the faculty who led each student-initiated project. In the case of faculty no longer employed by the College, their full name is given. Before winter term of 2001, transcripts signify independent study only as “Independent Study”; as a result, the accounting of these courses ends with the winter of 2001, although certainly independent study continued in earlier years. Similarly, any independent study from 2001-2009 that appears on the transcript as “Independent Study” has been left off (there are not a lot of these, but a few gaps exist). In the case of English 311, Advanced Writing, we list only the sections of the course taught as independent study, as the course is sometimes offered as an advanced workshop. Before Fall 2002, Teaching Assistantships were designated as 250/350; in the case of those “independent studies” we have left them off this list, as they would now be labeled 248/348. Finally, if faculty led multiple sections of a given independent study in any given term, it is designated by an “x” following their initials and the number of students with whom they worked that term.
Winter 2009 311: Advanced Writing (GFx1) (CSx1) (MBx1) 350: Modern Poetry: Hopkins & Stein (EA) 350: The Unsignified (GF) 350: Shakespeare’s Tragedies Text & Film (LH) 350: Fact & Fiction (CS) 350: Media Research and Journalism (MB)
Fall 2008 250: 10 Films You Pretend You’ve Seen (EA) 250: Novel Drafting (CS) 311: Advanced Writing (MBx3) 350: Contemporary Western Films (EA) 350: Introduction to Children’s Literature (BTS)
Spring 2008 250: Poetry Translation (GF) 250: U.S. Latino Writers: An Anthology (MB) 311: Advanced Writing (CKx4) (RMx1) (MBx1) 350: Contemporary Fiction (RM) 350: 19th Century European History in Fantasy (RM) 350: Meres & Mimesis (NaR) 350: Novel Writing and Criticism (CS) 350: Translating Contemporary Fiction (MB) 350: Consequences of Domesticity (MB) 350: Why We Write (MB)
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350: Amy Hempel (MB) 350: The Long Poem (MB)
Winter 2008 250: Processes of Novel Completion (CS) 311: Advanced Writing (RMx1, MBx4) 350: Russian Formalism (EA) 350: Essaying Eroticism (NaR) 350: Contemporary Fiction (RM) 350: Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus (GF) 350: The Architecture of the Sentence (MB) 350: Consequences of Domesticity (MB) 350: Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales (LH) 350: Malory, Steinbeck, and the King Arthur Tales (LH)
Fall 2007 250: Advanced Study of the Fairy Tale (LH) 311: Advanced Writing (RM) (1) 350: Malory, Steinbeck, and the King Arthur Tales (LH) 350: Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus (GF) 350: Lesbian Literature—On Carole Maso (MBx5) 350: Consequences of Domesticity (MB)
Spring 2007 250: Nonsense Literature (EA) 250: Novella Manuscript (CK) 250: Short Story (CS) 250: Linked Stories (CS) 311: Advanced Writing (CSx1, MBx2) 350: Women in Film (RS) 350: Advanced Fiction Writing (RH) 350: Separate Poetics (NiR) 350: Antes de Anochezca (HC) 350: Non-Fiction (NiR) 350: Poetry Workshop (NiR) 350: Small Press Techniques and History (RM) 350: Creative Writing (BTS) 350: Boundaries in Young Adult Fiction (BTS) 350: Advanced Children’s Literature (BTS) 350: Poetry Translation (GF) 350: The Architecture of the Sentence (MB)
Winter 2007 250: Sports Journalism Internship (RM) 250: Historic Illinois (CK) 250: Contemporary American Fiction (MB)
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311: Advanced Writing (MBx3) 350: The Fairy Tale (LH) 350: Shakespearian Works (LH) 350: Contemporary American Fiction (MBx4) 350: Contemporary Short Fiction (NiR) 350: Non-Fiction Workshop (NiR) 350: Modern Poetry (NiR) 350: Milton’s Paradise Lost (GF) 350: Post Modernism in Lit and Film (RS) 350: 19th/20th Century Erotica (EA)
Fall 2006 250: Extreme Fiction Writing (NiR) 250: Opportunities in Library Science (LH) 311: Advanced Writing (MBx1) 350: Editing and Revision (HC)
Spring 2006 250: Selected Novels by Gregory Maguire (LH) 250: Poetry Study and Composition (GF) 250: Study of Poetry (GF) 250: Collected & Collecting Poems (GF) 311: Advanced Writing (GFx1) (RMx4) (MBx1) 350: History & Art Study of French New Wave Film (RS) 350: Basic Elements of Style and Grammar (MB) 350: Spoken Word & Hop-Hop Generation (GF)
Winter 2006 250: William Carlos Williams (NiR) 250: Cultural Creative Writing (GF) 311: Advanced Writing (MBx2) 350: “Story Strengths: Novel v Film” (RS) 350: Poetry Translation (GF)
Fall 2005 250: Creativity in Process (EA) 311: Advanced Writing (MBx1) 350: The Fairy Tale: Advanced Study (LH) 350: The Fairy Tale: An Advanced Look (LH) 350: Latin American Lit (RS) 350: Experimental Fiction (RS) 350: Research Assistant (NiR) 350: The Life and Work of Jane Austen (EA) 350: Chicana Literature (GF)
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Spring 2005 250: Poetic Techniques (GFx2) 250: Diasporic Literature (NaR) 250: Fairy Tales (BTS) 350: Story-A-Day Experiment (MB) 350: Teaching the Poetry Workshop (NiR) 350: Writing a Collection of Poetry (GF)
Winter 2005 250: Emotional Rescue (GF) 250: Poetry (GF) 350: Poetry (GFx2) 350: Gertrude Stein Works/Interaction (NiR) 350: Shakespeare (LH) 350: Shakespeare’s Women (LH) 350: English Prosody (NiR)
Fall 2004 250: Study & Workshop of Short Fiction (RM) 250: Non-Fiction: Participatory Journalism (NiR) 250: Teaching Poetry Writing (GF) 311: Advanced Writing (GFx1) 350: Rituals in West Africa and Poems (GF) 350: Writing Children’s Historical Theatre (LH)
Spring 2004 250: The Palm in the Bell of Old Main (GF) 250: Mexican-American Folklore (GF) 250: Poetry Writing (MB) 311: Advanced Writing (MBx3) 350: Steinbeck and Populism (NiR) 350: Teaching Early Fantasy (LH)
Winter 2004 250: Contemporary Indian Fiction (NaR) 250: Poetry Writing (MB) 311: Advanced Writing (BTSx1, MBx1) 350: Dark and Dirty: Film Noir (RS) 350: Poetry of the American Patriarch (MB) 350: Modern Indian Literature (NaR) 350: Contemporary Indian Fiction (NaR)
Fall 2003 250: Women and Film (RS) 250: Film Production (RS) 350: Bibliographic Research/Post Colonial? (NaR)
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350: The Language of Our Movement (MB)
Spring 2003 250: Internship in Film Production (RS) 250: Postmodern Literary Theory and Film (RS) 250: Graphic Novels as Literature (RS) 250: Shakespeare’s Problem Comedies (LH) 250: Photo Project Post September 11 (RM) 311: Advanced Writing (MBx1) 350: Contemporary Poems (NiR) 350: Film Production (RS) 350: 20th Century American Novel (RS) 350: Gabriel Garcia Marquez (MB)
Winter 2003 250: Adaptation from Page to Stage (RM) 250: Contemporary Female Authors (BTS) 311: Advanced Writing (MBx1) 350: Explorations in 20th Century World Poetry (MB) 350: Gender in American Literature (RS) 350: Adaptation to Theatre from Novel (RM)
Fall 2002 250: The Noise of Poetry (RM) 311: Advanced Writing (MBx1) 350: Contemporary Literature (RMx3) 350: Kafka (NaR) 350: Elegies and Influence (MB) 350: Poetry as Genre (MB) 350: American Gothic Literature (RS)
Spring 2002 250: Continuing Poetry Studies (MB) 250: Exploring the Contemporary Long Poem (MB) 311: Advanced Writing (MBx3) 350: William Faulkner (MB)
Winter 2002 250: Intermediate Poetry Studies (MB) 250: Journalism Internship (MB) 311: Advanced Writing (MBx2) 350: Advanced Poetry Workshop (RM) 350: Advanced Fiction Workshop (RM) 350: Teaching Literature at College (RS) 350: Environmental Literature (LH) 350: Studies in English Literature (BTS)
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350: Magical Realism (MB)
Fall 2001 311: Advanced Writing (MBx2) 350: Romance Writing & The Publisher (LHx2) 350: Reporting (RM)
Spring 2001 250: Romance Writing and the Reader (Lhx3) 311: Advanced Writing (MBx1) 350: Masculinity in Palahniuk Novels (RS) 350: Spanish Civl War and Anglo-Modernism (RS) 350: Questions of Desire (NaR) 350: Fiction Conference (MB)
Winter 2001 250: Novella Writing (RM) 311: Advanced Writing (Tom Franklin) 350: Contemporary Realists (Tom Franklin) 350: The Novella (Audrey Petty) 350: Modern Short Short Fiction (Audrey Petty)
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APPENDIX H: CHART FOR ASSESSING DEPARTMENT GOALS
A MAPPING GRID (adapted from Marie Baehr, Coe College and from Penny Gold, with thanks)
Fundamental Goals of The English Department as expressed through reading and writing
Goal 1: To encourage empathy for others and the world Goal 2: To guide students toward articulacy and authority in arguing an interpretation or point of view Goal 3: To demonstrate, through literature and writing, the full range of the human capacity for expression and communication; Goal 4: To help students develop an understanding of the fundamental cultural roles of literature and the arts;
(Individual Faculty will only list the courses they teach or have taught within the last decade)
COURSE Goal 1 Goal 2 Goal 3 Goal 4 101 1 1 I 102 R R R 208 R R R R 306 D D D D 307 D D D D 308 D D D D 380F D D D R 399 D D D D
I: Introduce R: Reinforce/practice D: Demonstrate (Or you can just use a simple check mark to indicate attention to that goal in a particular course.)
Mapping out your courses in this way can help you see if there are any goals that are not being widely addressed in the department, or if there are any courses that are not addressing any of the goals. Then comes the interesting part—a discussion as to whether you might want to change the courses, change the goals, or leave things as they are.
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APPENDIX I: SENIOR SURVEY
[A savvy “snap” version of this survey is available at http://deptorg.knox.edu/engdept/survey. Below is the text only version.]
1. What was your major? ___Literature ___Creative Writing
2. What was your second major or minor(s)?
3. How did you meet the College requirements for competency in the following areas:
Writing Oral Presentation Diversity Information Literacy Quantitative Literacy Second Language Experiential Learning
4. What critical and/or creative intersections did you discover between your English major and your second field?
5. How do you view your major’s contribution to the College’s mission of a “liberal arts education”?
6. In terms of content, what did you expect to learn from your English Major? What aspects of the major met these expectations, fell short, or surprised you?
7. In terms of specific skills, what did you expect to learn from majoring in English? What aspects of the major met these expectations, fell short, or surprised you?
8. What classes were the most valuable to you within the major requirements? What classes were the least valuable to you within the major requirements?
9. If you were to make changes to the English curriculum, what would they be?
10. What role has your relationship with your English major advisor played in your education at Knox?
11. What knowledge or experience have you gained as an English major that you might not have gained otherwise?
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Aspects of Major Curriculum:
Please rate the following on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely). Comment on the contribution to your education each aspect may have had.
12. Department’s emphasis on generating ideas Success of Value of How did this aspect contribute to your education?
13. Department’s emphasis on critical thinking Success of Value of How did this aspect contribute to your education?
14. Department’s emphasis on revision Success of Value of How did this aspect contribute to your education?
15. Department’s emphasis on workshops Success of Value of How did this aspect contribute to your education?
16. Department’s emphasis on discussion Success of Value of How did this aspect contribute to your education?
17. Department’s emphasis on mechanics (including form, prosody, logic in argument, and grammar) Success of Value of How did this aspect contribute to your education?
18. Introduction to Literature and/or Ways of Reading as preparation for advanced course work Success of Value of How did this aspect contribute to your education?
19. Attention to literary concerns of under-represented voices Success of Value of How did this aspect contribute to your education?
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20. The allied art requirement as an introduction to process (For creative writers, this is your “studio course”; for literature students, this is your creative writing or journalism course.) Success of Value of How did this aspect contribute to your education?
21. Capstone Course (Senior Seminar or Senior Portfolio) Success of Value of How did this aspect contribute to your education?
Aspects of Specialized Study:
Did you participate in any of the following? Did this work relate List the focus of your work or the name of to your English program/project studies? 22. Independent Study 23. McNair 24. Ford Fellowship 25. Honors Project 26. Internship 27. Off-Campus Study
In which department sponsored co-curricular events/publications did you participate, and in what capacity? Nev Occasiona Frequentl In what capacity? er lly y 28. Caxton Club 29. Writers’ Forum 30. Off-Knox 31. Catch 32. The Common Room 33. Cellar Door 34. Third Level 35. Wynken, Blynken &Nod 36. Diminished Capacity
37. How did these co-curricular events or publications contribute to your education?
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38. If you were to make changes to the co-curricular events/publications referenced in the previous questions, what would they be?
In which non-department events/organizations (on or off-campus) do you participate, and in what capacity? Never Occasionall Frequentl In what capacity? y y 39. Conferences 40. Theatre Productions 41. Art Exhibits 42. Dance Productions 43. Music Productions 44. TKS 45. WVKC 46. Intramural/ Intercollegiate Sports 47. Service Organizations 48. Other on-campus events or organizations 49. Other off-campus events or organizations
50. How did this participation supplement your studies at Knox?
51. In what particular ways do you contribute to the world through civic engagement?
52. In what ways has the English department developed your commitment to larger communities?
Post-graduation plans: Do you plan to do any of the following after graduation? Details 53. Attend a graduate program in Literature 54. Attend a graduate program in Creative Writing 55. Attend a professional graduate program (e.g., law, medical, business, or teaching credential program) 56. Attend a graduate program in another subject 57. Participate in a volunteer program (e.g., Peace Corps or Teach for America) 58. Enter the work force 59. Pursue another opportunity
60. What do you imagine to be the usefulness of your major once you’ve earned your degree?
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Contact Information
Please print this page now. Please print this last page, fill it out, and return it to your Senior Portfolio or Senior Seminar professor. The information you provide below will not be linked to your previous answers.
You must print this page now, before you press "Submit." Turning in this sheet will verify for us that you have completed the survey, and it will help us stay in touch with you after graduation.
Name:
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Mission Statement, Knox College English Department 1/27/2009
The Knox College English Department maintains two separate majors, Creative Writing and Literature. While embracing the relationship between the disciplines, both programs maintain their own distinct curricula, major and minor requirements, disciplinary objectives and pedagogical goals, as well as co-curricular programming that often speaks to both disciplines. The two majors live amicably side-by-side, and professors who teach in one area also teach in the other. The department is committed to creative expression, to informed interpretation, and to the study of literature’s global and historical dimensions.
In each major, our mission can be divided into four categories, Reading, Interpretation, Writing, and Speaking.
Literature: The mission of the Literature Program is to encourage, support, and direct students’ active engagement with and exploration of literature as expressed through our major requirements, our minor requirements, our individual courses, and our curriculum, through which we endeavor
• to teach students close reading and other interpretive approaches, as embodied through literary theory; • to impart to students an understanding of literary history; of how literary movements, periods and genres have evolved over time; • to emphasize intersections of literature and history, literature and other arts, Anglophone and other literatures; • to equip students with tools of analysis that will serve them in all aspects of life and allow them to be critics of their culture and society; • to teach correctness, and the cultivation of an authoritative, clear and eloquent style, in writing; • to teach students how to construct and articulate an argument, and to contend with multiple other arguments; • to emphasize the importance of research in the writing of ambitious interpretive papers; • to stress the necessity of revision; • to emphasize literature as a window on the larger sociopolitical and historical world; • to consider the political and ethical values of literature and of literary criticism; • to cultivate spoken participation through oral presentations, class discussion and our capstone course.
Our mission culminates in the capstone experience, Senior Seminar, in which students read and analyze a group of texts united under a particular rubric, usually a contemporary issue in literary study, then organize and stage an academic symposium open to the entire department and the general public. Their final project is to extend and revise this paper, taking questions raised at the symposium into account.
Creative Writing: The mission of the Program in Creative Writing is to encourage, support, and direct students’ active engagement with and exploration of the creative process as expressed through our major requirements, our minor requirements, our individual courses, and our curriculum, through which we endeavor
• to establish an environment of respect in which students regard themselves and their peers as literary practitioners; • to offer students workshop experiences in multiple genres (creative non-fiction, fiction, playwriting, poetry, screenwriting, translation), wherein they can explore and experiment with the conventions of these genres; • to explore the manifestations of the creative process in an additional visual or performing art; • to emphasize formal and thematic literary concerns of historical and contemporary English-speaking cultures, and of diverse world cultures; • to teach close reading and other interpretive approaches to literature, as embodied in our beginning writing courses; • to develop intuitive, creative, and critical skills that will serve students in all aspects of life; • to explore and enhance the relationship of memory and imagination to the creative process; • to teach the practical, emotional, and ethical values of writing and creative endeavor; • to stress the necessity of revision as process, and process as fundamental to artistic vision and production; • to cultivate students’ active engagement and participation in a community of writers and artists, representative of a wide array of aesthetic and critical positions; • to encourage spoken participation through oral presentations, workshops, class discussion, our student reading series, and our capstone course.
Our mission culminates in the capstone experience, Senior Portfolio, in which students trace the development of their voice and vision through the collection and revision of their entire oeuvre of creative writing. In a required critical introduction to their manuscripts, students explore their influences and aesthetic sources, situate themselves within the literary tradition, and consider current challenges and future prospects for their work.
The department is also committed to co-curricular offerings that enhance our students’ interpretive and writing abilities, as well as engaging them in a vibrant literary and artistic community. Such offerings include:
• our semi-annual, award-winning literary journal, Catch; • our online journal of literary-criticism, The Common Room; • numerous lectures, readings and performances by visiting scholars, writers and artists • Writers’ Forum, a series of formal public readings by students of their own work • opportunities to attend and present work at off-campus literary conferences, readings and symposia, and to participate in the larger community dialogue (as represented by complimentary subscriptions to The Writer’s Chronicle); • student-initiated ventures such as magazines, both print and online (Cellar Door, Diminished Capacity, The Third Level, Wynken, Blynken and Nod), art exhibits and performances (including readings), and civic contributions (such as visits to schools, prisons, and other local venues).