June 7, 2021

Back to English

After about a decade and many vicissitudes, I’m literally moving back into the English Department. I have been teaching more courses for English, and the (N)MAC degree is becoming more of a—let’s say “creative”—degree, so my usefulness in that program is less than it once was. After the last curriculum redesign, New Media was removed as a requirement for majors based on my recommendation. Now the only course I teach in the major is WritDM, and it seems that the powers-that-be are annoyed because of the student complaints that I am too demanding. Well, like New Media, this might be true for these latest students. All fine. English is where I belong.

Our middling middle manager explains that “all English Professors . . . teach in the core” which means I’ll have sections of ENGL 1101 and ENGL 1102, again. Fine. That will even be refreshing after a decade of not teaching them. Wow, according to my Course Directory, I have not taught ENGL 1102 since the fall of 2009. That seems about right.

When Chip and I chatted yesterday, he suggested that there are many upper-level courses that I should teach, like a 4000-level world lit and the 20th-century British literature. Yes, please. There's also a great authors survey which Mailer would be perfect for.

While I will miss the old NMAC program in some ways—a program I helped to build and make successful—I’m ready for new challenges. I’m not looking forward to physically moving my office again, but hopefully that will be the only downside.