DRAFT

English Department Meeting

May 6, 2009, 432 Wimberly

Meeting convened at 3:49pm

In Attendance: Barillas, Butterfield, Canon, Cashion, Crank, Crutchfield, Eschenbaum,

Friesen, Gappa, Graham, Gray, Hart, Jessee, Jett, Konas, Kopp, Lan, Hogan (Pandit),
Pribek, Scholze, Stuart, Sullivan, Thoune

Chairs Report (Sullivan):

-Missing leave reports need to be turned in by August 15 to avoid losing sick leave. HR
will contact if you have missing forms.
-Outside activities reports need to be filled out.
-Textbook Rental has new guidelines that go into effect J-Term/Spring semester 2010.
They are looking to outsource to national vendors. Need to pay attention to ordering
cycles because late orders will no longer be considered.
-We are drafting the Spring schedule of classes early to make sure books can be ordered
on time.
-Reminder to submit annual reports to Digital Measures by June 1.
-SEIs need to be completed before Finals.
-Literature searches have been authorized.
-Requested discussion on possible Havening topics.
-There will be an Executive Committee Election to replace Susan as at-large member.
-China Program has been secured.

Motions from Executive Committee:

I. English Department All-Purpose Fund. Include in our By-laws a new policy
establishing an All-Purpose Fund to cover expenses associated with
occasional gifts to faculty for retirement, immediate family emergencies,
illness, condolence, etc.
-The sliding scale of donations was amended to read IAS and Classified $5 each.
Based on revision, motion was voted on and unanimously passed.

II. The Executive Committee recommends that we request authorization to

continue the Professional Writing Position search 2009-2010. The search
should be advertised to close in Fall or J-Term, with interviews via
video/phone/professional writing associations other than the MLA and the
focus of the criteria revised to emphasize professional writing associated with
Eng 307 (overlap with digital/new media position eliminated).
Motion to accept the recommendations from the Executive Committee for the
Professional Writing Position Search was voted on and passed unanimously.

Assessment:
-Discussion about the results of the 110 and 200-level assessment. How did it work for
us? Do we have any preliminary ideas about how we can improve?
-Eng110: Discussion centered on how students had trouble incorporating their “inquiry
process” into final papers. Also, we discussed the process of the assessment itself.
-Eng 200: Discussion centered on whether or not to change the prompt and the overall
effectiveness of the prompt when it is exactly the same in each class. Some
suggestions/comments: We need a prompt that reflects day-to-day activities rather than
an artificial prompt; Departments should get together to discuss the SLOs they share.

-Eng110/200 discussion: Assessment should not be top down but should emerge from the
instructors—What do we want to know about 110 or 200?

Assessment discussion to continue at the Havening.

Meeting adjourned.

Notes Compiled by Karen Stuart