Discusses the shortcomings of one college English department and suggests ways the department can be improved. (AEA)

Provides a working definition for assessment as it relates to higher education. Contrasts what assessment should be with what it should not be. Gives several suggestions for administrators just beginning assessment activities. (HB)

Argues that faculty evaluation procedures undertaken to improve instruction need to be separate from those used to reward excellence. (SRT)

Presents guidelines that deal with digital media and the hiring, reappointment, tenure, and promotion processes. Notes that these guidelines are designed to help departments and faculty members implement effective evaluation procedures. Concludes when institutions seek work with digital media, and faculty members express interest in it, the…

Stresses the need for English department chairpersons to gather and present information about teaching, to see that some consistent form of faculty evaluation is maintained, and to work at identifying teaching competence and supporting teaching excellence throughout the year. (GW)

Suggests two principles for successful evaluation of college faculty members: chairs should know their departments; and "always, always pay attention." Describes how the chair of the English department at Michigan State University developed and implemented these suggestions. (RS)

Offers a critique of a recent report by the Association of American Colleges, "Integrity in the College Curriculum: A Report to the Academic Community," which mainly criticizes specialization in academic disciplines. (SRT)

Discusses the "ADE Statement of Good Practice: Teaching, Evaluation, and Scholarship" and the related issue of peer evaluation and the deprivatization of the classroom. Outlines the benefits of peer review of teaching. Argues for increased attention to the documentation of teaching. Appends the "Statement." (HB)

Calls attention to some of the psychological dimensions of English department chairs' responsibilities to mentor and evaluate faculty members. Notes an estrangement effect between chairs and faculty; the importance of making the right initial appointments; usefulness of written performance evaluations; and the importance of mentoring junior…

Argues that the academic profession needs to monitor the establishment of posttenure-review systems very closely, even in their apparently most benign form. Suggests that resources poured into a blanket posttenure-review policy would be better spent in rewarding truly productive faculty members. (RS)

Offers a practical voice from an English department chair in the trenches at Arizona State University where posttenure review was mandated. Focuses on how the chair's job was transformed by this new personnel process in terms of workload and university support or lack of it. (RS)

Faculty debate preceding the introduction of a visitation program designed to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of the instructors and professors of the Carnegie-Mellon University English department examines the advisability of initiating such a program and the machinery used to assure its introduction. Comprising the major portion of the…