<p> North Dakota State University Program Review Report DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH February 9, 2007</p><p>I. The Department</p><p>A. Mission Statement The mission of the English Department at North Dakota State University is to inspire an appreciation for the English language and its literatures, and to cultivate its effective use in creative expression and day-to- day life. Staying current with trends in the field and meeting students’ needs, the faculty of the English Department is transforming the traditional English curriculum into an English Studies curriculum. This change gives students opportunities to explore such subjects as British, American, and World literature; rhetoric, composition, literacy acquisition; professional writing; and creative writing.</p><p>B. Overview of the Program Currently the English Department offers five degrees: o B.A. in English (Liberal Arts) o B.S. in English (Liberal Arts) o B.A. in English Education o B.S. in English Education o M.A. in English, with two tracks: literature and composition. The department has three full professors, three associate professors, and seven assistant professors. In addition, the department has one full-time instructor, four senior lecturers, eight full-time lecturers, and two part-time lecturers. Departmental offices are on the third floor of Minard Hall, with additional facilities in South Engineering, comprising offices for lecturers and a soon-to-be-established computer lab in collaboration with ITS..</p><p>C. Brief History Over the past ten years, the English Department has undergone substantial change, with less emphasis on literature and greater emphasis on composition, rhetoric, and technical communication: </p><p>Specialization Number of Faculty 1995 2006 Literature 10 8 Composition/rhetoric 2 6 Linguistics 1 0</p><p>In 2002, the department initiated a proposal for a Ph.D. in English, later to be revised as a Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture. The proposal for this degree is currently on hold due to objections raised by the University of North Dakota, and is pending a resubmission to the State Board of Higher Education. Also in 2002, the department assumed responsibility for the Center for Writers. In 2005, the department received University Senate approval to develop a program for the vertical writing curriculum in general education, to be implemented in Fall 2007. The intent of these changes was to re-position the English Department away from a primary mission as a service department with a small number of majors, to </p><p>1 focus on reshaping general education writing as well as writing across the curriculum, and to provide majors greater career opportunities and become known nationally among Ph.D. programs in rhetoric and writing.</p><p>D. Short and Long Range Goals Following are the short- and long-range goals set by the English Department:</p><p>Short-Range Goals 1) Secure final approval of the Ph.D. program in Rhetoric, Writing and Culture 2) Develop full catalog description and handbook for the Ph.D. program. 3) Enhance library resources. 4) Revise departmental website. 5) Find release time for an alumni director and newsletter editor. 6) Develop a department advisory board. 7) Recruit public school teachers for graduate classes. 8) Recruit high school students directly. 9) Establish a 3/2 teaching load for tenure-track faculty (instead of a 3/3 load). 10) Establish a 4/3 teaching load for lecturers (instead of a 4/4 load) 11) Increase office staff to 2 or 2.5 full-time positions (up from the current 10-month office administrator and a full-time secretary shared with Modern Languages). 12) Give administrative releases for undergraduate director, graduate director, upper-division writing director. 13) Raise more scholarship money.</p><p>Long-Range Goals 1) Increase field experience and co-op program and participation. 2) Increase participation in Governor’s School 3) Double the number of English majors 4) Find funding and permission to build a second wireless lab or classroom. 5) Increase office space, especially for lecturers and teaching assistants. 6) Create a Community Literacy Center 7) Garner funding to give administrative assistantships for some graduate teaching assistants.</p><p>E. Changes in Response to the Last Program Review Most recently the Department of English was reviewed in 1999. The program review report from that year made seven recommendations that are listed below, followed by the resulting changes implemented by the department: 1) Increase support staff and operating budget. o This issue has not been remedied. Support staff remains the same, but work load has increased in the form of greater service loads due to conference planning, incorporation of technology, and development of the Ph.D. proposal. 2) Increase office space for instructors to meet with students and carry out activities associated with their teaching obligations. o Office space square footage has not increased. Internal rearrangements now guarantee every full-time faculty member an office with a window. Teaching assistants have laptops and can meet with students in any wireless environment on campus. 3) Develop a clear vision and objectives for the graduate program. o The department has a clear vision for the proposed Ph.D. program and defined objectives for </p><p>2 the M.A. program. 4) Maintain and regularly update assessment reports and student evaluation reports. o Since the last program review, the department’s assessment committee has instituted a portfolio system and has begun evaluating portfolios for different outcomes each year. 5) Increase faculty rates of scholarly publication and grant writing. o Publication in refereed journals is increasing:</p><p>Refereed articles, book chapters and 2003 2004 2005 proceedings 9 12 21</p><p>6) Ease the teaching responsibilities of graduate teaching assistants. o No progress has been made; teaching assistants still teach four sections per year under the formula “two courses taken, two courses taught.” However, for students with a previous graduate degree already in hand, graduate student stipends have been raised from $8,100 to $12,000 for nine months. 7) Plan for future growth and set long-term goals in light of pending faculty retirements. o The department has developed a list of long-term goals.</p><p>II. Comments on the Data Base</p><p>A. Students Served Credit hour production of the English Department in the past three years has been 16,804 in 2003-04, 18,078 in 2004-05, and 17,170 in 2005-06. This is the highest number of all departments in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and, in fact, is the third highest of all departments at NDSU, exceeded only by Mathematics (21,359 SCH) and Biological Sciences (18,215 SCH).</p><p>Department 2005-06 SCH English 17,170 Sociology/Anthropology 12,704 Communication 11,669 History 8,010 Criminal Justice and Political Science 7,259 Music 4,350 Art 3,087 Modern Languages 3,086 Theatre Arts 1,678</p><p>B. Cost of Program Cost per student credit hour is $75, toward the low end among the departments in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences:</p><p>Department 2005-06 SCH Cost Theatre Arts $ 153 Music $ 134 Modern Languages $ 110 History $ 92</p><p>3 Communication $ 90 English $ 75 Art $ 70 Criminal Justice and Political Science $ 69 Sociology/Anthropology $ 60</p><p>C. Student Evaluations Student Rating of Instruction scores for the English Department fall close to the college and university averages:</p><p>English Dept. at English Dept. College of NDSU Overall 100-200 Level Overall AHSS Question 2: Teacher as 4.134 4.136 4.303 4.146 Instructor Question 4: Quality of the 3.909 3.919 4.082 3.970 Course</p><p>English Dept. at English Dept. College of NDSU Overall 300-400 Level Overall AHSS Question 2: Teacher as 4.101 4.136 4.303 4.146 Instructor Question 4: Quality of the 3.911 3.919 4.082 3.970 Course</p><p>English Dept. at English Dept. College of NDSU Overall 600-700 Level Overall AHSS Question 2: Teacher as 4.768 4.136 4.303 4.146 Instructor Question 4: Quality of the 4.643 3.919 4.082 3.970 Course</p><p>D. External Funding Although external funding is not a major component of English as a discipline, the NDSU English faculty have demonstrated a commitment to pursue funding where possible. Four English faculty members have received external funding through Remele Fellowships from the North Dakota Humanities Council in the past several years. Implementation of the Ph.D. program should place the English Department faculty in a more competitive position for external funding, provided that teaching loads can be reduced to two courses per semester.</p><p>E. Success of Graduates The English Department has tracked graduates of the B.A. in English and B.S. in English Education for the past several years. Of 15 English graduates, two went on to law school, seven are graduate students in various disciplines, and one is a technical writer. Of 16English Education graduates, 13 have gained professional positions as English teachers and one is in a Ph.D. program. </p><p>4 III. Graduate Program</p><p>A. Overview Students can earn a Master of Arts degree with emphases in literature or composition and rhetoric. A Ph.D. program is in the proposal stage.</p><p>B. Success of Graduates Data from Fall 1999 to Spring 2006 suggest that the graduate program in English is successful in placing students professionally and in Ph.D. programs upon completion of their master’s degree studies:</p><p>Fall 1999 to Spring 2006 Graduate Student Data Students admitted 56 Completed degrees 17 Still active 26 Part-time 2 Left program 3 Transferred to other programs 5 Accepted to Ph.D. programs 8 Average time of completion 3.2 years Total graduates placed 15 Placement rate (15 of 17 students 88% with completed degrees)</p><p>Professional positions into which graduates have been placed include: o Teaching ESL at NDSU and MSUM o Teaching at Concordia College o Tenure track at NDSCS, Wahpeton o Yosemite Community College, Modesto, Calif. o Walden University, academic advisor o Technical writer (3 students) o Writer for Texas Lutheran University Director of Annual Giving</p><p>Ph.D. programs to which graduates have transferred include: o Literature program at the University of North Dakota (2 students) o Literature program at the University of Kansas o Composition and rhetoric program at Iowa State University o Literature program at University of Nebraska o Literature program at Kent State University o Rhetoric and composition program at Texas Christian University o Rhetoric and composition program at Florida State University</p><p>IV. Quality of the Program</p><p>A. Teaching Student Rating of Instruction scores for the English Department fall close to the college and university </p><p>5 averages. This level of evaluation scores is particularly noteworthy because the English Department teaches a substantial number of general education classes. Three faculty members have won teaching awards in the past three years: In 2005, Jo Cavins won the College Teaching Award; in 2004, Bill Cosgrove won the Outstanding Educator Award; and in 2004 Betsy Birmingham won the College Teaching Award. The master’s program appears to be functioning well, with increased retention and faster completion rates. Wireless laptops for graduate students is an advantage.</p><p>B. Research and Creative Activity English faculty members have increased their productivity in publication over the past several years. Four faculty have won Remele Fellowships from the North Dakota Humanities Council in the past three years.</p><p>C. Service The department’s annual report indicates a full commitment to service to the university, profession, and community.</p><p>V. Comments</p><p>A. Program Strengths o The department’s mission statement is well-conceived. It specifically notes a change from a “traditional English curriculum” to an “English studies curriculum,” which appears to indicate a healthy and developing program in line with current trends in the field and changing in directions helpful to the university. o Goals appear clear and reasonable. There are repeated references to various goals through the rest of the document, indicating that the department has a clear sense of direction. The department’s attention to both short-term and long-term goals is admirable. o Student ratings of instruction are relatively high, given the department’s substantial contribution to general education courses. Teaching awards demonstrate the quality of the teaching faculty. o The department shows an active appreciation for technology, demonstrated by issuing wireless laptops to the TAs, establishing the instrumented classroom, and encouragement to use desktop publishing and Blackboard. o Further, the vertical writing initiative is commendable because it promises to help students become more proficient writers. o Administratively, the department’s assessment work is excellent, and the PTE policy is well- thought-out, to include a policy for lecturers. o Collegiality in the department is evident.</p><p>B. Program Needs o Office space is a first major need. The department has worked to alleviate the space problem by rearranging and subdividing available space. Offices are split among Minard (faculty and TAs), South Engineering (lecturers and adjuncts), and the Center for Writers (one faculty and one lecturer). Each faculty member now has an office with a window (except in the Center for Writers), but TAs are very seriously short of space. In Minard, 6, 4, and 4 TAs are crammed into three single bays with 8 TAs in one double bay. Some desks must be shared. Conferencing with students is severely impeded (some has been moved to tables in the outside hallway). The department has helped to some extent by providing all graduate students with laptops. Office space for TAs is particularly critical in English because the TAs teach four class sections per </p><p>6 year, more than similar positions in other departments. Lecturers are also seriously short of space. In South Engineering, lecturers are doubled up in tiny offices and, in one instance, two share a desk. The department's new instrumented classroom/wireless lab is not, of course, an increase in office space, but the plan is to use it as a space for the undergraduate majors. o Sufficient support staff is a second major need. The present arrangement of one person for English and a second shared with Modern Languages is inadequate, given the department’s increased activity. o Faculty teaching and service loads are excessive for a research university. The current 3/3 load, coupled with major activities such as establishing the vertical writing program, could hinder the success of the Ph.D. program, and should be reduced to a 2/2 load. Currently the director of graduate studies has no release time to pursue the duties of that position.</p><p>VI. Recommendations The English Department is to be commended for its attention to short term and long term planning and the spirit of collegiality that makes such planning possible, its efforts to make the best use of available resources (e.g. rearrangements of available office space, use of technology to augment support staff), and its openness to innovation (e.g. wireless laptops for all TAs, establishment of an instrumented classroom). Specific recommendations include:</p><p>1) Approval of the Ph.D. program. The department rewrote its initial proposal, changing it from English Studies to Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture, to avoid duplication of programs at NDSU and UND. The proposal was approved by NDSU and passed initial approval stages at the SBHE. However, approval has been held up for reasons beyond the power of the English Department to address. Departmental planning and scheduling has included the expectation that the Ph.D. program would be in place this year. The delay is a serious impediment.</p><p>2) More office space. This is a longstanding need still unaddressed from the previous program review. The department has clearly worked to do what it could with the space available. The lack of space for lecturers and TAs is severe enough to impede their ability to work with students. The lack of space will be even more severe with the start of the Ph.D. program. Ph.D. students and master’s TAs need spaces with reasonable privacy in order to conduct their research and meet with the students they teach. Further, a small student lounge for English majors would enhance the cohesion among students. Space is a critical and urgent need that should be addressed as soon as possible.</p><p>3) The department should look to place greater emphasis on research and publication, but greater research productivity can be tied only to a decrease in the current teaching load of three courses per semester to two courses per semester. </p><p>4) The ratio of teaching assistants to tenure-track faculty is high, and the department employs a number of lecturers on annual contract. The number of tenure-track faculty lines should be increased from the current 13 to 19 or 20 to reflect the actual role of the department, as per paragraphs 1 and 3 above.</p><p>5) Support staff should be increased to adequately staff the department, with additional space provided to accommodate them.</p><p>7</p>