29 November 2004

Dean Lauren Adamson

College of Arts and Sciences

Georgia State University

Dear Lauren,

As required by the academic program review process, this is the chair's comment on the Department of English’s self-study document. Under the excellent leadership of Dr. Michael Galchinsky, the department engaged in a year-long participatory process deliberating how we wanted to evolve and improve our program over the next cycle. On October 25, 2004, we unanimously approved this document, detailing what we think we need to do to continue our efforts to make our department even more outstanding.

The self-study addresses the enormous range of activities that our department undertakes: the evolving curricula of our four undergraduate concentrations; our commitment to helping our doctoral students achieve their degrees in a timely manner; the diverse professional development opportunities we provide both graduate and undergraduate students inside the classroom, working with our department publications, and out in the real world; our public outreach contributions to the literary and cultural milieu in Atlanta and far beyond; our faculty members’ continuing production of myriad significant scholarly and creative publications; our increasing involvement in exciting new electronic technologies and media; and the university-wide contributions of our Service Centers.

In this report you will find dozens of ways in which we hope to be able to break new ground, forge new strains of knowledge, and educate students in ways suitable to the twenty-first century. To highlight just three examples: our Literature concentration will develop a new emphasis on global, multicultural, and transnational literatures; our new Lower Division curriculum will help all entering freshmen at GSU gain basic computer literacy as part of their composition requirement; and a greatly expanded internship and service learning program will enhance our commitment to career preparation for all our students. In these ways, and many others, we seek to enhance our program relevance to the Atlanta area, to our students, and to our profession at large.

And of course, while we are embarking on these and other new initiatives, we plan to continue doing, with the same professional diligence we have always embraced, all the fundamental things that an English department must do and that our faculty love to do: teach the thousands of students who enroll in our courses each year to read and write; produce award- and grant-winning scholarship; and serve the needs of the College and University. (Note that we detail 43 links between our Goals and Objectives and the College’s and University’s strategic plans.) The plans and programs that we propose to build over the next seven years reflect our best-considered convictions about how we can uphold and even increase the high standards we have set for ourselves. Please consider the programmatic support that we are requesting as investments toward the advancement of the enterprises for which we regard ourselves as custodians: literature, language, writing, and culture.

Sincerely,

Matthew Roudané, Chair

Randy Malamud, Acting Chair

Cc: David Blumenfeld

29 November 2004

Joan Carson

Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness


Dear Joan:

Enclosed are four copies of CDs containing the English Department’s Self Study.

Thank you so much for all your help throughout this process!

Best –

Randy Malamud

Acting Chair

Department of English