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English Department Meeting: Feb. 14, 2022

English Department Meeting Information

“Go forth! Be brave! Be proud! Be true!”

  • IUP English Professor Jane E. Leonard (1840-1925)

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Thanks

  • Thanks to Jean Nienkamp for many years serving as Department Promotions Committee Chair; Jean has decided to step down from that role as she nears the end of her career
  • Thanks to all program directors for working on the required web page advertising copy that was due Feb. 1 (and which we were only told about on Jan. 7): Gloria Park, Veronica Watson, Dan Weinstein, Emily Wender, and Mike Williamson
  • Thanks to Melanie Holm for agreeing to serve with Gloria Park as Co-Directors of CAL from Jan. 2022-Dec. 2023; they will both serve year round but alternate the AWA release by semester

Agenda Items

1. Spring 2022 Updates

  • Two people are on leave for Spring 2022 and Emily Wender is on sabbatical
  • Administration would not hire any Temporary Faculty to cover courses
  • Gian managed to cancel/move/combine enough courses to cover things
  • Chauna Craig spread the Honors College students across multiple courses to help with this
  • The Provost asked that English go for 1 semester without an Assistant Chair
  • The Assistant Chair will return in Fall 2022; The Dean has stressed the need for this with the Provost
  • The Friday before classes, it was discovered that ENGL 208 had never been covered in the midst of all the moves, so Gian got approval for Reena Dube to cover this class on an overload

2. Chair’s Associate: Oksana Moroz

  • In light of the loss of a department-dedicated secretary and Assistant Chair for Spring 2022, Gian will be hiring a doctoral student to provide some assistance to the chair, pending final approval from the Dean
  • Oksana Moroz has served as Teaching Associate in the past
  • She will take minutes at the department meetings for Spring 22
  • She will help schedule Chair Observations
  • She will assist with other Chair related tasks

3. Other Student Worker Help Available for Projects

  • A number of student workers have left, so we have some limited coverage of the English entrance, typically in the mornings
  • All the student workers can help with scanning and other projects
  • If you need help on a specific project, please check with Missy Bair, and she can help get you assistance

4. Fall 2022 Updates

  • Common Hour: MWF 11:30 a.m-12:30 p.m.
  • Department Meetings: Mondays 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
  • Fall Pause: Oct. 24-25 (No IUP classes)
  • IUP In Session But Online If Possible: Nov. 21-22 Mon./Tue.
  • IUP Thanksgiving Break: Nov. 23 Wed.-Nov. 27 Sun.; No IUP Classes

5. N Grades

  • If you want to assist students, it is important to enter N grades
  • Students are charged full tuition and fees and cannot get those bills canceled if they have not received all N grades from their instructor
  • Not entering an N grade does not help students, it potentially hurts them
  • If a student gets an N grade, they are dropped from the course, but they can be added again if they discover this problem
  • It is important to take attendance before the N grade deadline

6. English M.A. Change to En Passant Degree

  • The Literature and Criticism Program has voted to switch the M.A. Programs to an En Passant approach
  • Students will earn an MA as they proceed through the Ph.D. Program
  • If they exit the Ph.D., they will receive an M.A. as long as they have passed 30 credits
  • This curriculum change will go into effect for Fall 2022
  • Thanks to Veronica Watson who coordinated this paperwork
  • Thanks go to Mike Williamson who has served as M.A. Director

7. Faculty Spring 2022 Evaluation Process

  • We have about 5 people up for 5 Year Review
  • Gian will be working to get observations schedule with people
  • Student evaluations are not required for spring, but APSCUF will be looking for volunteers to work on a comparison of online vs. in person collection
  • Evaluation files will be emailed to DEC Chair Curt Porter and to Gian
  • The dean has asked for a 1 page narrative about your work during the 5-year time period
  • There should also be a checklist coming from the dean’s office for the standard required items: narrative, CV, observation reports, student evaluations, DEC evaluation, and Chair evaluation
  • DEC Evaluation is due April 1/Chair Evaluation is due April 8
  • The dean’s office is likely to use MS Teams for uploading of files
  •  All required materials have to be printed, so Missy Bair should be handling that (but it’s a new process, so stay tuned!)

8. English 103: Composition I Accelerated

  • Thanks to Bryna Siegel Finer for creating this course
  • This will be a 4 credit course, 3 hours of class time and 1 hour of lab/conferencing time (so scheduled for 4 hours per week)
  • Students who take this course will get the help they need so they won’t need to take ENGL 100
  • Gian will work with Bryna to adjust the Fall 22 schedule to include ENGL 103 once it is approved
  • Tanya Heflin will be teaching 1 section of ENGL 100 as a Zoom only DE course to accommodate any Northpointe/Punxy students who may need ENGL 100 in Fall 22

9. English 202 Exemptions

  • Liberal Studies has forwarded language to add an exemption to ENGL 202: Composition II for all students in programs that have writing plans
  • This proposal has also passed the APSCUF Undergraduate Curriculum Committee
  • Thanks to Bryna Siegle Finer for speaking in defense of this proposal
  • The health of our department is critically tied to this change

10. B.A. in English Studies Curriculum Revision

  • Thanks to everyone who voted in favor of our new English B.A. Curriculum
    • This revision is going to be very good for both students and faculty
    • Thanks for all the work of the English B.A. Curriculum Revision Committee: Emily Wender, Dan Weinstein, John Branscum, John Marsden, and Heather Powers
    • Thanks to the English Department Elections Committee for handling the vote: Tanya Heflin and Brian Carpenter
  • Dan, Emily, and Gian used the new curriculum design to plan the Fall 22 schedule and also have begun work on the curriculum revision iWiki materials
  • In the process, we have identified some minor adjustments we are recommending
  • February 2022—If approved, revision submitted to IUP Curriculum Approval Process
  • Fall 2022—If approved, new curriculum begins
    • Continuing students would be given the option to continue with the old curriculum or switch to the new one

11. B.A. in English Studies Minor Changes

  • https://iup0.sharepoint.com/:w:/r/teams/grp-english-department/Shared%20Documents/General/Curriculum%20Documents/2022%20English%20Studies%20New%20Curriculum%20Proposal%20Version%202.docx?d=w36ce26a06a014efeabda6fb1499a1aa2&csf=1&web=1&e=oUhv5Y
  • Some useful courses already on the books were inserted into the appropriate new categories
  • ENGL 349 English Bible as Literature will be retained as a Genres and Theories Cours
    • Chris Kuipers has volunteered to update this course
  • New Trends courses are not needed
  • Topics courses will be limited to being taken twice
  • Literature and Culture Specialization (ORIGINAL)
    • Pick 1 more Literature Courses
    • Pick 2 more Genres and Theory Courses
    • Pick 1 more New Media Course
    • Or replace one elective with ENGL 493 Internship
  • Literature and Culture Specialization (REVISED)
    • Pick 3 additional courses from the Literary Studies and Genres and Theories categories 
    • Pick one additional course from any English category 
    • Or replace one elective with ENGL 493 Internship
  • New Media Literacy Specialization (ORIGINAL)
    • Specialization to be offered once this category is more built up
    • Pick 1 more Genres and Theories Course
    • Pick 3 more New Media Courses
    • Or replace one elective with ENGL 493 Internship
  • New Media Literacy Specialization (REVISED)
    • Pick 2 additional courses from the New Media Literacy category 
    • Pick 2 additional courses from any English category 
    • Or replace one elective with ENGL 493 Internship

12. 2022 English Programs Membership DRAFT Policy

13. 2022 CAH DRAFT Mission Statement

APSCUF

  • IUP CAP is non-partisan and will support any candidate that supports the State System and the promise of affordable, quality higher education for the students of Pennsylvania.
  • IUP CAP (political action committee) currently has reached 55% of its chapter goal of $36,324 for this biennium.
  • Payroll deduction is the easiest and most cost-effective way to support CAP. Two dollars a pay, less than 15 cents a day, can make a big difference to our future employment in PASSHE.

Announcements

  • If anyone has announcements, we will use the last few minutes of the meeting to cover these.