School of Liberal Arts and Sciences / Missouri Western State College

Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism

Annual Unit Report on Implementation of Strategic Plan

April 1, 2005

Prepared by the Faculty and Staff of English, Foreign, Languages, and Journalism

Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism

Degrees/majors offered

  • BA English: Journalism, Literature, Public Relations, Technical Communication, and Writing emphases
  • BA French
  • BA Spanish
  • BSE: English, French, Spanish

Number of faculty

Spring 2004

  • 21 full-time
  • 11 part-time

Fall 2004

  • 25 full-time
  • 23 part-time
  • 2 MOAs

Number of majors

Spring 2004

  • BA English/Journalism: 27
  • BA English/Literature: 26
  • BA English/ Public Relations: 11
  • BA English/Technical Communication: 19
  • BA English/Writing: 3
  • BSE English: 14
  • BA French: 6
  • BA Spanish: 22
  • BSE Spanish: 2

Fall 2004

  • BA English/Journalism: 30
  • BA English/Literature: 25
  • BA English/ Public Relations: 11
  • BA English/Technical Communication: 15
  • BA English/Writing: 1
  • BSE English: 14
  • BA French: 6
  • BA Spanish: 23
  • BSE Spanish: 1

Number of intended/pre-majors

Spring 2004

  • Intd English: 32
  • Pre-BSE English: 24
  • Intd Spanish: 4
  • Pre-BSE Spanish: 4

Fall 2004

  • Intd English: 57
  • Pre-BSE English: 21
  • Intd Spanish: 5
  • Intd French:1
  • Pre-BSE French: 1
  • Pre-BSE Spanish: 4

Number of graduates

Spring 2004 (total: 25)

  • BA English/Journalism: 4
  • BA English/Literature: 4
  • BA English/Public Relations: 1
  • BA English/Technical Communication: 4
  • BA French: 2
  • BA Spanish: 5
  • BSE English: 3
  • BIS English: 1
  • BIS Journalism: 1

Summer 2004 (total: 4)

  • BA English/Literature: 3
  • BA English/Public Relations: 1

Fall 2004 (total: 6)

  • BA English/Journalism: 2
  • BA English/Technical Communication: 1
  • BA Spanish: 1
  • BSE English: 2

Year-by-Year Comparison of Faculty, Majors, and Graduates

2003 / 2004 / 2005
Full-Time Faculty FTE / 24 / 21/23 / 25/25
Half-Time Faculty / 3/2 / 0 / 0/1
Part-Time Faculty / 15/10 / 11/ / 19/--
1 MOA/--
Number of Majors / 169/142 / 129/ / 142/--
Number of Int. Majors / 66/69 / 64/ / 69/--
Number of Graduates / 45 / 25/ / 17/--

Department/Program Mission, Vision, Values

English/Journalism/Technical Communication Unit

English/Journalism/Technical Communication Mission Statement

In its various programs and offerings, the English and Journalism unit works toward these objectives:

  • An improvement of communication skills through practice in diverse types of expository, argumentative, technical, and imaginative writing.
  • A development of critical thinking through exposure to and interpretation of various world views offered in literary works.
  • An increased appreciation of literature, its backgrounds, history, and values through an analysis and discussion of authors and literary works covering a wide range of attitudes, perspectives, and expressions.
  • A familiarity with the technological tools available for the study of writing, language, and literature.
  • A deeper understanding of one’s own culture and tolerance and acceptance of things foreign through a study and appreciation of another language and culture.

English/Journalism/Technical Communication Goals

  • Create separate Foreign Languages Department with an additional full-time secretary.
  • Upgrade half-time secretary to full-time.
  • Resubmit the BA English/Creative Writing emphasis.
  • Review for possible revision the BSE English degree.
  • Develop and implement a BS Technical Communication.
  • Increase numbers of majors in Technical Communication to at least 30.
  • Initiate any needed changes in General Studies offerings.
  • Explore development of a certificate in Technical Communication.
  • Explore development of a multi-disciplinary technologies/Web publishing major.
  • Strengthen connections between education and world of work.
  • Expand and refine department’s Web pages to make them more attractive, user-friendly, and effective.
  • Increase number of English majors by 5 percent.
  • Offer at least one interdisciplinary course and one team-taught course.
  • Increase visibility of literary studies in the department.
  • Return as soon as feasible to the previous cap in number of seats in general studies class sections.
  • Provide adequate funding and support for The Mochila Review.
  • Continue to enhance departmental off-campus learning programs, including Study Abroad and Study On-Site for English majors and Outdoor Semester for interdisciplinary focus.
  • Continue to support the Prairie Lands Writing Project, finding additional ways for that important program to intersect departmental goals and activities.
  • Increase support for departmental recruiting of students.

Foreign Languages Unit

Foreign Languages Mission Statement

Foreign language classes are designed to prepare students for the teaching profession, careers in the business world, and for graduate school in foreign languages and related areas. The skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing in the foreign language, as well as knowledge of the culture of the countries that use the language, are all emphasized. Study of a foreign language in the department strives to lead students to a more intimate knowledge of another culture by:

  • Empowering students to speak and understand another language.
  • Developing the ability to communicate ideas effectively through writing in another language.
  • Familiarizing students with the historical, artistic, social, and ethical aspects of another culture.
  • Recommending that majors have first-hand experience in another culture through study abroad programs and encouraging all foreign language students to participate in study abroad.
  • Providing the opportunity to learn about and use technological tools in the area.
  • Understanding more about themselves and the other culture by reading its literature
  • Learning to use the language in a variety of contexts and for multiple purposes.

Foreign Languages Goals

  • Improve the visibility of foreign languages on campus.
  • Hire a full-time, renewable instructor to teach French and Spanish.
  • Explore cross-disciplinary partnerships with other departments.
  • Continue credit-awarding Study Abroad Programs in France, Germany, Mexico, and Spain.
  • Continue to emphasize the importance of study abroad programs for foreign language students and create ways to make these programs possible for more students.
  • Develop long-term exchange program(s) in Spanish-speaking countries.
  • Solicit study-abroad scholarships.
  • Increase off-campus recruitment of high school students.
  • Continue tweaking format of and activities for Foreign Language Day, with more emphasis on recruitment of students.
  • Continue to improve the quality of major and minor programs.
  • Explore courses or degree programs with other majors.
  • Offer more foreign language courses as part of learning communities.
  • Develop a German Studies major program.
  • Continue and evaluate accuracy of computer testing for language placement.
  • Finalize assessment instrument for majors.
  • Meet with high schools teachers in ongoing improvement of articulation.

Integration of Department and Institution Goals

Western Strategic Plan Goals

Academic Affairs and Enrollment Management

Goal Two: Develop a diverse mix of students with academic potential for completing high-quality programs.

Department response and outcomes (recruitment activity and successes)

The department has conducted a variety of recruitment events designed to position itself in a positive light, particularly with area high school students. The three main events include High School Writing Day, Foreign Language Day, and Fall English Dinner.

High School Writing Day 2004

  • Co-sponsored by Prairie Lands Writing Project and the department.
  • General Session conducted by Kathy Miller, Prairie Lands Writing Project Teacher Consultant.
  • Ten different workshops offered, nine of which were repeated in a second session.
  • Attended by approximately 150 students and 15 high school teachers from 12 area high schools.
  • Closing session conducted by Stephen Kibler, Prairie Lands Writing Project Teacher Consultant.

Foreign Language Day 2004

  • Approximately (100) high school students in10 St. Joseph and area high schools, and (40) MWSC students participated.
  • Activities organized by MWSC French, German, and Spanish clubs and members of Alpha Mu Gamma, MWSC’s chapter of the national foreign language honor society, under the direction of foreign language faculty:
  • Poster contest: “Spring Brings Hope, So Does Understanding. Through Foreign Languages “
  • International Cuisine Contest
  • Scavenger Hunt
  • Ethnic Dancing; MWSC students demonstrated traditional dances and provided dance instruction
  • Placement tests in French, German, and Spanish
  • Student-produced video commercials in a foreign language
  • German Spelling Bee
  • German Poetry Recitation
  • Euro-Trivia Bowl
  • German Film
  • Foreign language teachers joined MWSC faculty and administrators for luncheon.

Fall English Dinner 2004

Approximately 65 St. Joseph School District English teachers, administrators, English faculty, education faculty, and pre-service teachers — officers of SNCTE gathered Sept. 29 for the Fall English Dinner.

Speakers were Maridella Carter, Missouri Writing Projects Network director, who spoke on “Classroom Practice and Missouri’s New Communication Arts Grade-Level Expectations, “ and Western’s Tom Pankiewicz, who spoke on “The Role of Mandatory Reading Assignments: Western’s Common Reading Program. “

Other Departmental Recruiting Activities 2004

The department conducted these additional recruitment-focused activities:

  • Faculty distributed fliers and brochures and feature articles about Summer Study in France, Summer Study in London, Summer Study in Mexico, Summer Study in Quebec, and Summer Study in Spain. The departmental Web site ( includes substantial, current information on each of these programs.
  • Faculty have been actively recruiting for Outdoor Semester 2005. Courses meet on campus during the semester except for the off-campus dates for the northern and southern treks.
  • Faculty in the EFLJ department (Adkins, Bergland, Frick, Hennessy, Thorne) finished implementation of a $1,000 Strategic Planning Implementation Fund Grant for Applied Learning, “Advisory Board and Web Alumni Mentors for the EFLJ Department, “ to assist majors and minors in increasing their opportunities for applied learning at off-campus venues. They created an Advisory Board of area communication specialists — which met once each in spring and the semesters 2004 — with EFLJ faculty and students to exchange information about academic offerings and their applications in the work world; and updated, expanded, and made better use of the Web-based departmental alumni mentoring network (
  • The chair gathered names of the “best and brightest “ students in the department’s general education classes during spring 2004, who then were sent a letter from the chair along with materials about the department’s majors.
  • Departmental staff maintained a Web page for every faculty member, listing current teaching schedule, office hours, course syllabi, links to personal Web pages, and email links.
  • The department hosted a Winter Open House at the end of the fall semester. Faculty provided potluck that was supplemented by several purchased food trays. Current majors and potential majors were invited to partake, with a number of nice door prizes awarded to several students through a sign-in raffle.

In addition, the department is increasing efforts using advisement, department-to-department visits, and campus marketing to encourage students to consider double majors, particularly those that blend well with the department’s foreign language degrees.

Further new recruiting activities are planned for AY 2005.

Individual Faculty Recruiting Activities 2004

  • Metwithfiveprospectiveandincomingstudents,preparedmaterialsformajorsfair
  • The Griffon yearbook is going to begin recruiting students at local high schools by going to the journalism/student publications classes and talking about our yearbook program. Students are already contacting their high school yearbook advisers and recommending our publications program. We are hoping to see some results from this effort. Also, the yearbook is creating a new recruiting brochure for the journalism program.
  • From my classes I recruited several majors and intended majors. I also worked closely with our Admissions office to contact any potential English majors. One success story involves and area honors who, at my invitation, visited our creative writing classes and met with current students. I also volunteered to be our departmental contact person.
  • Spanish faculty/Foreign Language Representative at the Griffon Edge Welcome Fair on August 27, 2004.
  • Spanish Club Advisor
  • Selection and presentation of Cuando vuelvas a mi lado (Spain, 1999) for Foreign Language Film Series
  • German faculty/Foreign Language Representative at the Griffon Edge Welcome Fair on August 27, 2004.
  • German Club Advisor
  • Selection and presentation of Comedian Harmonists (Germany, 1995) for Foreign Language Film Series
  • Selection and presentation of Forget Mozart (Germany, 1992) for Foreign Language Film Series
  • Actively recruited Technical Communications major Jacob Kelly in spring 2004, from my section of English 104.
  • Outdoor Semester, 2004 promoted and publicized on campus with 9 mini-presentations.
  • President’s Speakers Bureau, I presented 3 Lewis & Clark talks at the St. Joseph Museum, DeKalb HS, and at the Achinson Geneological Society.
  • As the Dual Credit Liaison, I have visited each of the Dual Credit classrooms, participated in course activities, and spoke to students about college expectations.

Goal Three: Strengthen existing and develop new academic programs, taking into consideration the educational and career needs of students and the economic, social, and cultural needs of the community.

Department response and outcomes (accreditation)

KEY POINTS

  1. Changes in the BA Literature and BS Education English majors and minors
  1. Revision of the literary studies course offering schedule
  2. Resubmission of the BA Creative Writing Emphasis
  3. Inclusion of Internship in foreign language study
  4. NCTE/DESE program review

SUPPORTING MATERIAL

  1. Changes in the BA Literature and BS Education English majors and minors.

Building on the revision to the English core achieved last year, this year’s proposal changes the literature curriculum so that more major courses are offered in the spring. This will allow any BS Education/English or BA Literature major to complete any missing coursework in the degree during the spring semester (when the bulk of the graduations take place). This heavier major course load in the spring should allow more tenured faculty to teach composition in the fall.

2.Revision of the literary studies course offering schedule

See 1a.

3.Resubmission of the BA Creative Writing Emphasis area

Responding to a request for more data in support of this emphasis (which was originally proposed and passed up through CGAC before being withdrawn because of financial factors four years ago), the department surveyed dual credit students, students from randomly selected Eng 104/108/112 classes and current English majors. The data gathered suggest that the new emphasis would not be diminishing current majors, but rather gaining new majors from other areas of the school. Moreover, many current majors would be interested in adding an emphasis to their present degree programs.

4.Inclusion of Internship in the BA French and Spanish,

In keeping with the strategic goal of applied learning, French and Spanish requested that the internship be allowed to count as one of the electives for the degree.

5.NCTE/DESE program review

English and foreign language faculty met during 2004 with Western’s educational leadership team in preparation for 2005 accreditation report writing. The National Council of Teachers of English approved the college’s English 912 program, based on review of a booklength folio and subsequent folio rejoinder submitted by the department in September 1999 and October 2000, respectively.

The NCTE/DESE review team gave conditional approval to the journalism 9-12 program, given lack of appropriate data to evaluate the program; no recent graduates have sought journalism certification. Reviewers did note that the curriculum for journalism content instruction and teaching methods appears to meet the state requirements for courses and hours required for endorsement in this area.

Goal Four: Strengthen the retention, graduation, and placement outcomes of students.

Department response and outcomes: (retention, graduation, placement rates, licensure/certification pass rates)

Retention rates for English majors are appropriate, especially when compared with other majors programs here that also have no admissions criteria. Since 1998-99 the total number of majors in EFLJ has been fairly consistent. The chart below gives the total enrollment of majors, degrees granted, and percentage of declared majors. While the percentage of degrees awarded vs. number of majors had seen some improvement previously, those numbers dropped for the last academic year. We are unsure why, but in discussions with Communication Studies, we have learned that their numbers have dropped similarly.

Majors declared and degrees granted (data for spring majors/academic-year grads)

Year / 1999-2000 / 2000-01 / 2001-02 / 2002-03 / 2003-04
Majors / 176 / 169 / 148 / 169 / 130
Degrees / 38 / 38 / 44 / 45 / 42
Percentage / 21.6% / 22.5% / 29.7% / 26.6% / 32.3%

The department’s online Alumni Directory, revised and updated in 2004, includes pages of more than 600 graduatessince 1970, listing their degrees, years of graduation, workplaces, descriptions of work activities, and contact information, including e-mail addresses.

A study of EFLJ graduates in AY 1999-2000 completed by the MWSC Division of Professional Studies showed that of nine respondents three reported excellent career counseling from their major advisors, five reported good, and one reported satisfactory. The study also said that 56 percent incorporated the Career Services Office in their career search. Two respondents said the assistance was excellent, four said it was good, one said it was satisfactory, one said it was poor, and one had no response.

In addition, the department chair is able to alert majors to career opportunities using an EFLJ majors list to e-mail information in a timely and cost-effective manner.

The Professional Studies survey of EFLJ graduates showed that of nine respondents eight were employed full time and one part time. Additionally, they reported annual salaries as follows: two at $35,000 to $39,999, one at $30,000 to $34,999, four at $20,000 to $24,999, and two at less than $15,000.

We will make efforts to update these post-graduation results during 2005.

BA English/Literature Exit Testing

Students complete the ETS Major Field Test: Literature in English, a 150-item, multiple-choice exam covering poetry, drama, biography, the essay, criticism, the short story, the novel, and, to a limited extent, the history of the language.

Since 2001, 21 seniors here have completed the examination with reported percentile rankings (normed with college seniors nationally) ranging from the 11th to the 95th percentile and a mean percentile ranking of 53 — i.e., somewhat above the national average.