The Department of English,听the President鈥檚 Fund for the Humanities, and the Center for Western Civilization present听"The Symposium on the Undergraduate English Curriculum: New Approaches to English Studies" on March 2, 2018 in the Center for British and Irish Studies, Norlin Library.
Join the faculty and their invited participants in discussing the future of the English curriculum at two roundtable discussion sessions:
10:00-12:00 -听Reenvisioning the English Curriculum
12:00-1:00 - catered lunch听
1:30-3:30 -听Enrollments and Other Practical Concerns
Invited Speakers:
Kent Cartwright, University of Maryland, College Park
Graham Foust, University of Denver
Marissa Lopez, University of California, Los Angeles
Louis Menand, Harvard University
Colette Moore, University of Washington
Amy Murray Twyning, University of Pittsburgh
Karen Tei Yamashita, University of California, Santa Cruz
Hosted by the Department of English, CU Boulder
with funding from the Department of English, the President鈥檚 Fund for the Humanities, and the Center for Western Civilization.
Results
In the first roundtable, held from 10:00-12:00, speakers discussed revisions that their institutions had made to their English curriculum: this ranged from creating individual concentrations that students could pursue within the major to standardizing introductory courses to abolishing literary-historical requirements to increasing offerings in creative writing. Participants then broke for lunch and reconvened for a second roundtable, held from 1:30-3:30 pm, where they discussed strategies that their respective departments had adopted to increase enrollments. This included more personal advising and contact hours between faculty and students, creating larger team-taught lecture courses that attract students across the humanities, creating closer ties with career services, and so forth.
The two roundtables generated lively discussion and the event was extremely well attended, with nearly 80% (between 35-40) of the English faculty present. Also present were graduate students from English interested in questions of pedagogy, and some undergraduate majors well. Indeed, one undergraduate in attendance, Durango Jenkins, decided to write a feature story on this event for the Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine, which can be found here:听 /asmagazine/2018/05/04/english-faculty-cu-boulder-elsewhere-eye-curricular-change
The event has contributed in significant ways to our ongoing discussion as to how to revise the English major here at CU Boulder. An undergraduate ad-hoc committee has been formed to follow up on the ideas emerging from the two roundtables. We hope to propose a plan to the department for a revised major by Spring 2019.听
The Center for Western Civilization, Thought and Policy funds research and educational initiatives that contribute to critical reflection on the development of Western civilization. All CU Boulder faculty and students are eligible to apply. If you are interested in applying for a CWCTP faculty grant, deadlines are rolling throughout the year.
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