Each year our program is asked to complete a short assessment process and report on one aspect of our program requirements and activities. We have already looked at our first exam, and the dissertation process.
At the GC, assessment is refreshingly faculty-driven, and the Provost’s Office asks us to define our own process for completing assessment—and it has proved helpful in the past in helping us examine our policies and procedures.
This year, we have an opportunity to revisit our 2007 Self Study/ External Periodic review, to see how we are doing in terms of our own goals emerging from that study and the external reviewer’s recommendations (those reports were sent to students and faculty in the program earlier this week). Above all, we will be asked to answer the question: “What are the program’s primary goals for the next five years?”
That is clearly a question that requires a wide conversation involving all members of the program, and one that relies on engaged participation from everyone. I have been working with the ESA Co-chairs, Paul Fess and Justin Van Wormer, to start this conversation.
We’re excited to receive “Open Letters” on any aspect of the future direction of the program. We are particularly interested in hearing thoughts about how to build on our common program culture while not eliding or glossing over differences of opinion and approach. While we are all very committed to, and immersed in, our own methodologies and literary periods, this is a chance for us to think about common strands of inquiry across periods and methodologies, and to speak with each other about our collective identity and vision. What are the current strengths of the program, and how should we build on them? Can we envision ways to connect our program more fully to the life of the city, and ways of connecting our program to other CUNY schools, and embody CUNY’s historic mission of diversity and access? How do we conceive the purpose the English Program as in conversation with 21st-century disciplinary trends and critical methods? Are there arguments to be made for foregrounding the distinctiveness of how we structure and practice “English” (i.e., periodization, national formation, formalism, literary history, etc.)? What are the qualities of our program and our collective scholarly work that will draw applicants to our program? What are we (and what should we be) “known for” nationally? Should the program develop around a single concentration of strength, or along multiple strands? How can our curriculum, program events, and mentorship best serve our students?
The deadline for contributing an “Open Letter” will be January 25th.
From those “Open Letters” Mario, Paul, Justin and Carrie will bring members of the program into conversation on two panels, held on Feb 14th at 2 PM and March 7th at 2 PM. The concerns of those panels will be based on patters we see emerging from the “Open Letters.” We will be endeavoring to represent as many points of view as possible, and to place members of the program in conversation with each other.
The Open Letters can be found here:
https://openletters.commons.gc.cuny.edu/open-letters/
