Mission

Vision

• Maintain and enhance excellence in research and creative scholarship;
• Maintain excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching;
• Mentor students to contribute to their disciplines regionally and nationally;
• Prepare students for the world’s challenges by imparting to them skills in critical thinking and analysis, problem-solving, and written communication; and
• Share and promote the literary and cinematic arts and linguistic and rhetorical understanding within the community.

Core Values

Excellence in teaching, research, and service

Academic integrity

Intellectual freedom

Diversity of ideas and of our student population, faculty, and staff

Service to the university community and the larger local, state, and regional communities

Stewardship of Resources

Goals, Critical Success Factors, Objectives, and Strategies

Goal 1: Environment: Enhance for the production of high quality research, scholarship, and creative activity.

Critical Success Factors:

• Faculty salaries at or above the average of the Big 12.
• University contributions to TIAA-CREF increased by 3%.
• Increase university contributions to employee health costs.
• Restore frozen Professional Writing line.
• Retain faculty size of 30 faculty lines (plus the 1 frozen line) and target increase of 8 new lines.
• Average one national or international conference presentation per faculty each year.
• Average 20 refereed journal articles & book chapters (average length 15 pages each), and creative publications a year.
• 10 books every 5 years.
• 5 external research proposals submitted per year.
• Increase staff development opportunities.

Objectives:

• Petition upper administration to increase faculty and staff salaries.
• Petition upper administration to improve retirement benefits.
• Compile data on health care expenses to support request for additional university funding.

• Continue internal faculty research release program and explore its expansion.
• Continue departmental support of national conference participation.
• Continue departmental funding of competitive proposals for research travel.
• Continue mentoring program for untenured faculty.
• Continue departmental colloquium series and advertise these more widely.

• Compile data on faculty conference participation and the amount of unreimbursed research travel expenses in order to support request to upper administration for increased funding.
• Compile report on faculty use of college and university research funds to support request for continuing funding.
• Promote continued use of sabbatical leaves.

• Encourage faculty participation in national and international conferences.
• Maintain a departmental record of ongoing faculty research projects.
• Encourage continued placement of articles in high-quality publications.
• Develop departmental programs for recognizing faculty achievements.

• Maintain up to date information on the departmental website of ongoing research and publication.
• Place articles in local press on faculty achievements.
• Encourage faculty involvement at local and national conferences.

• Discuss training needs and opportunities with staff during annual evaluations.
• Provide departmental funding and offer release time to staff members who wish to participate in targeted development opportunities.

Goal 2: Undergraduate and graduate programs: Expand breadth and depth of undergraduate and graduate programs to better meet student needs and to enhance the national and regional reputation of the department.

Critical Success Factors:

• 3 new Stillwater-based faculty hires.
• Effective mentoring of all faculty and graduate assistants to ensure excellent teaching.
• Increase diversity of undergraduate course offerings.
• Improve student satisfaction on exit and alumni surveys.
• 5-8 undergraduate students participating in Wentz research and various scholarship opportunities.
• Increase graduate student publication & participation in national conferences.
• Increase undergraduate participation in leadership opportunities.

Objectives:

• Petition upper administration to fund three new tenure-track lines in TESL/Linguistics, modern literature and/or film studies, and creative non-fiction.

• Continue faculty mentoring program for untenured faculty members.
• Continue teaching orientation programs and mentoring programs for graduate students.
• Increase opportunities for graduate students to teach courses beyond composition.
• Encourage faculty and graduate student participation in campus-wide teaching forums.
• Encourage graduate students to apply for teaching awards offered by the Graduate College and the College of Arts and Sciences.
• Support nominations of faculty and graduate students for university and college teaching awards.

• Establish a periodic review of graduate curricula by program to address changes in faculty, field, and student needs.
• Institute exit interviews for graduate students to solicit feedback on programs.
• Review alumni survey data for possible program revisions.
• Explore creation of a TESL certificate program.
• Explore creation of an M.F.A. program.

• Create ad hoc committee to review curriculum and propose revisions.
• Have general faculty review proposal and implement improvements.
• Review exit surveys and alumni surveys for possible program revisions.

• Have Graduate Director solicit input from faculty regarding potential groupings of researchers with shared interests.
• Advertise points of research emphasis in graduate program fliers and online, and use in recruiting graduate students.

• Petition upper administration for more funding for graduate student travel to collections and professional conferences.
• Explore and promote opportunities for graduate student internships with department publications and organizations.
• Invite graduate students to present research through department colloquium series.
• Encourage graduate student involvement with faculty research projects.

• Promote the activities of departmental clubs and organizations (e.g. English Club, CWA) that provide opportunities for student leadership roles.
• Offer training and employment for undergraduate peer tutors in the Writing Center.
• Promote student involvement with undergraduate publication Papyrus.
• Explore internship opportunities for undergraduate majors.

Goal 3: Undergraduate and graduate student body: Increase quality and diversity of graduate and undergraduate student body.

Critical Success Factors:

• Maintain an enrollment of approximately 200 qualified undergraduate majors.
• 20-25 students in undergraduate honors program.
• Increase diversity of undergraduate student body.
• Increase diversity of graduate student body.
• Increase applications to department Graduate Programs by 10%.
• Increase enrollment in department graduate programs by 5%.
• Increase graduate assistantships to $12,000 for M.A. students and $15,000 for doctoral students per academic year.
• 5-10 graduate student scholarships or full-waivers per year.

Objectives:

• Continue and improve departmental involvement with recruiting activities associated with Scholars’ Day.
• Establish closer working relationships with the University Office of High School Relations.
• Develop connections with selected high schools with diverse populations through workshops and OSU Writing Project connections to encourage applications from a more diverse student body.
• Petition upper administration for funding to maintain a strong website that highlights the English department’s undergraduate programs.

• Petition Office of Diversity to create incentive packages for perspective graduate students from underrepresented student populations.
• Maintain and improve advertising for graduate program through fliers and website that highlight the department’s programs and research strengths.
• Advertise the OSU graduate program at the annual convention of Sigma Tau Delta, the National Honors Society for English majors, and other similar events.
• Feature selected graduate student achievements on the departmental website.

• Maintain first year Ph.D. Teaching Fellowship and the Dissertation Fellowship, and explore opportunities for additional funding for research support in the form of teaching load reductions.
• Encourage graduate students to apply for research fellowships offered by the graduate college, such as the Robberson Award.
• Maintain and support current writing program teacher-training and cross-visitation.
• Petition for continued funding of the no-rookies-on-rookies program that allows for effective teacher training.

Goal 4: OSU-Tulsa: Promote growth of selected programs.

Critical Success Factors:

• Expand TESL graduate program at OSU-Tulsa over 5 years.
• Create a B.A. in English at OSU-Tulsa over 5 years.
• Increased acquisition of OSU-Tulsa library holdings in the humanities, including monographs, films, and improved access to on-line databases.
• 5 Tulsa-based faculty hires in targeted areas: British, American, Film, Creative Writing, Technical Writing.
• Establishment of OSU-Tulsa Writing Center.
• Hire of qualified faculty director for writing center.

Objectives:

• Expand graduate course offerings in TESL.
• Increase course offerings in other complementary areas, including composition, rhetoric, and technical writing.
• Work with OSU-Tulsa marketing representatives to better advertise program.
• Hire a permanent Tulsa-based faculty member in TESL/Linguistics.
• Compile list and request that the OSU-Tulsa library acquire journals in the area.

• Expand undergraduate English course offerings in Tulsa.
• Offer more junior- and senior-level courses in literature, film, and creative writing.
• Encourage Tulsa student participation in extra-curricular activities such as sumbissions to Papyrus, participation in Society for Technical Communication events and contests, and Creative Writing readings.
• Encourage service-learning and internship courses to increase prominence of OSU-Tulsa English degrees.
• Explore offering M.A. in Technical Writing in Tulsa.

• Create a feasible course rotation offering all courses necessary for B.A. in English over the next 5 years.
• Once funding has been approved, search for and hire five qualified faculty members in British literature, American literature, film, creative writing, and rhetoric and/or technical and professional writing.

• Compile report on current high demand for OSU-Tulsa Writing Center services to support request to the administration for increased funding.
• Establish stable budget for OSU-Tulsa Writing Center.
• Develop staffing plan, including requests for a qualified director and graduate student tutors.

Goal 5: Resources and facilities: Improve resources and facilities for research and teaching.

Critical Success Factors:

• 3-5 offices to accommodate projected faculty hires.
• 3-4 offices for up to 8 Visiting Assistant Professors.
• 2-3 large offices with access to computers and printers to be shared by graduate TAs.
• 4 multi-media equipped rooms with state -of -the art technology available in Morrill Hall for teaching in all programs.
• Increased use of educational technology such as Blackboard, ezboard, Web CT, and other web-based applications.

Objectives:

• Have current users of educational technology give presentations to faculty on the benefits of doing so.
• Provide scheduled workshops in using Blackboard, ezboard, and Web CT.
• Work with A&S Extension office to develop selected on-line courses.

• Request funding for a new film room with dubbing equipment for editing, reproduction equipment for making clips, and computers to assist in the training of computer generated technology.
• Request a second electronic classroom to which English department students and faculty may have regular access.

• Develop report on current space use and unmet needs in support of request to administration for additional space.
• Request additional space in Morrill Hall for English Department use.
• Request renovation and use of more office space in Thatcher Hall.
• Request remodel of one classroom in Morrill Hall for office space.

• Acquire ½ time T.A. position as webmaster with responsibilities for departmental and program websites.
• Train support staff member to update website content.

Goal 6: Educational and cultural development of Oklahoma: Enhance the educational and cultural development of Oklahoma through continued community outreach.

Critical Success Factors:

• 1-2 community/continuing education offerings per year.
• 5-8 nationally prestigious invited speakers/visiting writers per year.
• 8 community-wide film screenings per year.
• Increase circulation of and sumbissions to Cimarron Review.
• Develop TESL Internship opportunities overseas.
• 1-2 OSU Writing Project summer scholarships per year.

Objectives:

• Petition administration and/or relevant foundations for additional, specifically dedicated, renewable funding for visiting writer/reading/film series.
• Continue to apply for available Norris Foundation funds for visiting scholars and writers to lecture and read.
• Develop additional workshops or course offerings to serve community.
• Publicize readings, lectures, and film screenings on a community-wide basis.

• Improve communication with writing projects through regular meetings between writing program directors and directors of the OSU Writing Project and National Writing Project.
• Encourage more faculty participation in Writing Project workshops.
• Encourage Writing Project teachers to take graduate course work in English.
• Enhance articulation of programs by applying for external grant from International Writing Center Association to research the relationship between tutoring and teacher preparation.

• Compile and circulate to local schools a list of English department faculty and their specialties to encourage secondary school visits.
• Investigate available funding and opportunities for Writers in the Schools programs.

• Petition administration for expansion of Big Twelve visiting faculty program.
• Investigate possibilities for exchanged advertising between Cimarron Review and literary magazines at other university writing programs.
• Explore international exchange and internship programs.