Argues that faculty vitality is an essential element in all English departments, and asserts that basic changes in the English field over the last two decades can help create that vitality. (MM)

Describes how the task of leading an English department has changed over the past 25 years. Considers the delicate yet essential task of the department head to provide leadership and vision for an entire department. Relates the general problems of English departments and specific problems in graduate education with diversity and difference gone…

Discusses the role of theory in the classroom practices of English professors. Defines the centrality of theory in English instruction and claims that theory is always implicit in any reading of texts. Advocates empowering students to deploy their own theoretical positions in classroom discussion and practice. (HB)

Identifies the slippage that often occurs between graduate school in English and the actual classroom realities of professional life. Suggests six areas of professional development for graduate students in English. Claims that such development might help teachers achieve greater happiness and success in their new surroundings. (HB)

Focuses on what has the potential to get lost - for both faculty members and students - in working in an environment that does not see undergraduate education as its first priority. Explores in more depth the challenges and pleasures of working in a college whose primary focus is the teaching of undergraduates. Describes four classroom examples of…

Addresses learning and teaching in the context of the new kinds of collaborative research made possible by "Romantic Circles," a distributed, networked project. Notes that many educators in the humanities would do well to continue the conversation about what is being done and what might be done on the Net. (SG)