English Program

ENGLISH PROGRAM Academic Program Review 2000-2001 The Office of Instruction The Office of Institutional Planning, Research, and Assessment ENGLISH PROGRAM Academic Program Review 2000-2001 Committee Chairs: Keith Haynes, Terence Pratt English Department Faculty: Ginny Chanda, Linda Dove, Jill Fitzgerald, Gennie Fuemmeler, Kay Gaffney, Moses Glidden, Carol Hammond, John Johnston, Susan Lang, Nick Nownes, Mary Verbout, Jim Webb Assistance Provided By: Karen Norris, Kirsten Adaniya, Eric Eikenberry, David Graser, Lee Mickelson, John Quinley, Chris Abbate, John Golden, Mary Shenefield, John Haynes (ret.), Jackie Delaveaga, Connie Gilmore, Marilyn Michelson, Donn Rawlings (ret.) Robert O. Salmon, Vice President and District Provost Barbara Wing, Dean of Instruction and Curriculum Angie Fairchilds, Dean of Instruction, Verde Valley Campus Dr. John W. Quinley, Director of Institutional Planning, Research, and Assessment Table of Contents Mission, Goals and Planning…………………………………………………………..…… 1 Student, Class, and FTSE Profile/Trends………………………………….………………… 10 Curriculum Analysis……………………………………………………………..……...…… 14 Program Faculty and Personnel …………………………………………………….…...…... 15 Facilities, Equipment, and Materials …………………………………………………..……. 19 Program/Student Outcomes ………………………………………………………….……… 20 Future Trends………………………………………………………………………...………. 23 Strengths and Concerns ……………………………………………………………………… 24 Recommendations …………………………………………………………………………… 27 Overall Program Status ………………………………………………………………………29 Mission, Goals, and Planning The Yavapai College English Program Mission, Value Statement, Vision, and Purposes: Mission: The English Program seeks to achieve excellence in teaching reading and writing in an effective learning environment. Value Statement: The English Program, with the strength of its collegial diversity, plays a crucial, foundational role at Yavapai College. Because the written word is the medium for most academic discourse, high-quality writing and reading instruction enables students not only to succeed in academic pursuits but to pursue independent and lifelong inquiry. Moreover, the English Program believes that literate citizens are the heart of a civil and empathic society. Knowledge of the political, historical, social, and aesthetic aspects of language offers human beings the ability to ascribe meaning to their complex individual and cultural experiences, to form reasoned values, and to promote principles of democracy and equality. Vision: At the time of its next program review (in 2006), the English Department envisions both continuity and change, with the emphasis centered upon planning for and assessment of learning. · The program will build upon processes such as the exemplary writing portfolio project to maintain a continuous cycle of planning, appropriate learner placement, assessment, and implementation. · With the cooperation of other programs, the role of the program will be clarified through carefully sequenced developmental and skills support offerings. · Through careful articulation other institutions, the program will continue to provide seamless transfer opportunities for students. · In collaboration with other college units, the program will demonstrate improved market research, marketing and enrollment management and service to the retirement / enrichment population. 1 · Through course offerings, partnerships, and the sponsorship of events, the program will enhance the cultural opportunities of the district community and our students’ participation in that community. · The program will continue to plan and implement professional development for all department faculty, with special emphasis on the needs of adjunct faculty. · Expansion of technology will improve the delivery of technology-assisted instruction, on- line courses, and opportunities for self-directed research and learning. · The program will continue to elicit and assess service for its students from support units such as the library, the learning center, and ITS. · Faculty in the program will continue a strong tradition of participation in interdisciplinary instruction and committee involvement. · Perhaps most important of all, the program will provide the high quality learning environment made possible by a strong, diverse, collegial faculty. Purposes: Learning Emphasis Purposes: The English Program seeks to: 1) Instill in students care for the meaning of words, precision in their writing and thinking, and awareness of the power and variety of language. 2) Guide students to use reading and writing as a mode of discovery, reflection, understanding, and sustained, disciplined reasoning. 3) Encourage open inquiry and free exchange of ideas with mutual respect among cultures, ethnic groups, and genders. 4) Facilitate experiences in which students develop an ethos of community service. 5) Foster informed skepticism and independent thinking that allow the student to evaluate discourse. 6) Introduce students to works of imagination that enrich experience, develop a sense of cultural richness, and link the present to valuable traditions. 2 7) Provide a sequence of reading and writing courses that builds upon previous learning, that includes greater complexity and sophistication of assignments, and that transfers to baccalaureate institutions. 8) Offer courses and programs that provide for study of a variety of literary periods and genres, national literatures, and literary issues. 9) Provide a variety of opportunities to develop creative writing skills. 10) Offer significant cultural opportunities to the district community by hosting readings and seminars with important writers. 11) Contribute to regional awareness by exploring connections between literature and a sense of place. Program Emphasis Purposes: The English Program seeks to: 12) Contribute to district workforce development not only through transfer-oriented reading and writing courses, but also through timely and appropriate offerings in applied communications and specific workplace English skills. 13) Assess and flexibly address the needs of a variety of learners, including the underprepared, the disadvantaged, and the unusually talented. 14) Ensure that entering students are placed in courses commensurate with their abilities. 15) Uphold rigorous standards which ensure that students can successfully perform upper division writing tasks, transfer to baccalaureate institutions, and contribute meaningfully in civic and economic capacities. 16) Articulate course offerings and program methodology to assure the best fit with public school instruction, the workplace, and transfer institutions. 17) Integrate and support excellence in reading and writing in other academic disciplines and technical areas throughout the college. 3 18) Pursue effective faculty and staff orientation and development in order to maintain standards. 19) Anticipate and respond to technological, cultural, and social changes, which influence the teaching of reading and writing and which alter the nature of communication itself. 20) Actively explore comparative advantages for the program in the district and develop appropriate innovations in delivery methods. 21) Provide an atmosphere of collegiality in which faculty, staff, and students can learn from each other and support each other in maintaining the physical and psychological well-being that must be a primary concern of an effective learning community. 22) Assess learning regularly to ensure that program and course outcomes are being met. 23) Revisit the program mission, vision, purpose statements, and program review action plan on a five-year cycle in response to assessment data. Historical Sketch Since the last program review in 1991, the English Department has evolved in many ways. In terms of its faculty, the Prescott Campus English Department is changing. In addition to key faculty who retired or resigned in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, and 2000, the department also faced a change in leadership with the retirement of Donn Rawlings in June, 2001 and the assignment of Keith Haynes as Division Assistant Dean. The department is roughly balanced between full-time probationary and continuing faculty. In addition, throughout the district the program depends upon the expertise and involvement of experienced adjunct instructors, several of whom have been with the college for more than ten years. In 1994, the Verde Campus added a second full-time faculty member, Terence Pratt, who recently assumed the duties of Division Assistant Dean. In the fall of 2001, a Learning Center Director/English Instructor was hired. The English program has provided leadership in the college, and in the community, by pioneering several important changes in instructional methodology. Among these changes is the portfolio program, initiated by John Haynes and Carol Hammond in 1995 in response to developments in the field of composition theory. Not only has the portfolio program, now under 4 the auspices of Mary Verbout and Jackie DeLaveaga, influenced the teaching of composition, it has contributed significantly to the Outcomes Assessment movement throughout the college. The Verde Campus recently initiated a pilot portfolio project under the direction of adjunct faculty member Cindy Feree-Dean. The curriculum continues to expand (with over 40 new courses developed since 1996). Several new film courses receive strong enrollments, and the Living through Literature class, created by Moses Glidden and first offered in 1998 in partnership with Yavapai County Adult Probation, has brought additional

Load more