College of World Cultures, Literatures, and Languages (WCLL)
Tue, 10/14/2008 - 3:02pm — memcinto
Name of proposed new unit, OR Title of submission:
College of World Cultures, Literatures, and Languages (WCLL)
165 College of World Cultures, Literatures, and Languages.pdf
Name of contact person for this proposal: Mary E. Wildner-Bassett
Contact person title: Interim Dean, College of Humanities
Contact Address:
College of Humanities
Modern Languages Room 345
Mailing address: P.O. Box 210067
Tucson AZ 85721-0067
Contact Phone: (520) 621-1044
Responses from President and Provost
Response #1> Back to List of White Papers
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Comments
The African American
The African American Advisory Council would want to insure that Transformations processes including consolidations and workforce reductions would not erode The University of Arizona's efforts to recruit and retain diverse faculty, students, and staff.
The UA President’s Hispanic
The UA President’s Hispanic Advisory Council (HAC) is pleased to provide its evaluation of this White Paper/Proposal, with the specific goal of relating it to the joint UA/HAC goals concerning diversity and inclusion, recruitment, retention and graduation of Hispanic students and faculty, and on meeting the UA goal of becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution by 2012. Additional criteria used when reviewing this proposal include the following: UA’s land grant institution status and thus its location in the southwest and the changing demographics of this area; innovative program design, including instruction methodologies; and whether the proposal realistically addresses the UA’s business needs. HAC’s mission it to strengthen relationships between the UA and the diverse communities within the State of Arizona by serving as a communications conduit and developing mutually beneficial partnerships.
HAC has reviewed this proposal and rates this as:
A Quality Proposal - this proposal should move forward and be further developed addressing the Hispanic Advisory Council criteria.
This proposal cites,
This proposal cites, correctly, the importance of literacy, critical thought, creative problem solving, and intercultural fluency to a university community. All of these are most directly addressed in a critical writing curriculum, a curriculum that embraces the complexity of the writing process and undertakes a sophisticated approach to challenging students to improve their writing, thinking, and reflective assessment of their roles in a global society.
One of the features I find odd about this proposal is the categorization scheme. It places the English Department, which serves 17,000 students a semester, has five graduate programs, runs a Writing Program that serves all first-year students, and mentors over a hundred graduate teaching assistants, on the same level as the foreign language programs.
It is a "division" of the proposed college, along with Classical Studies and Spanish and Portuguese, among others. The difference in scale alone between English and these other departments defies this kind of categorization. The scope, centrality, and specified mission of English departments in peer institutions would make this proposed structure an incongruous anomaly.
The proposal also cites factors such as existing cost effectiveness and Student Credit Hours ratios. Most of this high rating is due to the Writing Program, which held a 98% enrollment rate across hundreds of sections of First-Year Composition programs at the beginning of the semester and retained that level into mid semester. This program, again is part of the English Department and serves the lions share of students in the proposed college, over six thousand students per semester.
I hope that this proposal does not influence a serious restructuring and reduction of the foundational role our English Department plays here, and that English departments, on general play in peer institutions. Breaking and already productive, efficient, strong, nationally recognized department like the English department down to the level of a division would weaken the University and its attractiveness to both graduate and undergraduate students.
An interesting proposal, but
An interesting proposal, but many of the divisions seem very odd and artificial. Spanish, Portuguese, and English are all European in origin, although they are of course transatlantic; but then, French is also an international language, and many people in that department study Francophone cultures in Africa. Many of these departments are also involved in "Critical Cultural Analysis" yet are not included in that Division. And Near Eastern Studies remains apart, despite the fact that it would seem to be very close to both the Division of Asian, Slavic, & Eurasian studies as well as the Division of Religion and culture.
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