University of South Carolina Columbia
Act 629 - Summary Reports on Institutional Effectiveness
Fiscal Year 2001 - 2002

English, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

The department continues to refine the undergraduate curriculum to enhance student performance in the areas of linguistic knowledge; critical thinking and expression; knowledge of literature, culture, and critical practices; and professional preparation. This year the department added two new courses (ENGL 360 and ENGL 309) to increase the writing component of the curriculum and eliminated another (ENGL 292) because it did not meet program standards. Advising has long been a weakness in the department, as indicated by responses on alumni surveys. The department has recently addressed this need by spreading the advising load more equitably among the faculty and by funding two advisors (a VAP undergraduate and a retired faculty member). The department faculty plan to make greater use of their website as an information source and guide to advising. Feedback from exit interviews indicates the need to improve career and professional guidance; therefore, faculty are giving greater emphasis to this area.

In response to student requests for more career and academic advising, faculty have designated one member of the Job Placement Committee to serve as the advisor for M.A. students, and have begun assigning first-year M.A. student advisors in their chosen area of study (previously the Graduate Director had served as the advisor for all new graduate students). Faculty and staff are working hard to keep more complete records of the jobs (both academic and non-academic) that the graduates of or M.A. program find so that faculty can use this information to provide better guidance for future students in the program.

In response to student requests for more academic advising, faculty have now begun to assign first-year Ph.D. students advisors in their chosen area of study (previously the Graduate Director had served as the advisor for all new graduate students). Faculty have also moved to increase the required number of graduate seminars in order to encourage Ph.D. students to do more advanced level coursework. Such courses are best suited to producing publishable, full-length scholarly articles.