“SIZE MATTERS”: SHOULD THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT BE THE COLLEGE OF LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, & LITERACY?

ENGLISH IS THE LARGEST DEPARTMENT AT KSU Comparison of Full-time Faculty

FACULTY SIZE IF WE WERE A COLLEGE IN FALL 2004 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE21 COLLEGE OF THE ARTS33 COLLEGE OF LLL46 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION51 COLLEGE OF H & HS63 COLLEGE OF BUSINESS98 COLLEGE OF SCIENCE & MATH109 COLLEGE OF H & SS116

WHAT IF FOREIGN LANGUAGES JOINED THE LLL COLLEGE? Faculty size would be 60, not 46. That would make LLL bigger than Education (51) and slightly smaller than Health & Human Services (63). The remaining College of Humanities & Social Sciences would then be 102, making it the next to the largest college, which would be Science & Math (109).

ENGLISH IS THE LARGEST GENERATOR OF WEIGHTED SEMESTER HOURS Fiscal Year Weighted Credit Hour Report By College and Department FY 2005 Fiscal Year Weighted Credit Hour Report By College and Department FY 2005 In weighted hours, each lower-division credit hour is multiplied by 1, upper-division is multiplied by 1.5, graduate-level is multiplied by 2. The state uses this system of weighted hours to determine funding.

WEIGHTED CREDIT HOURS IF WE WERE A COLLEGE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE10,370 COLLEGE OF ARTS24,971 H & HS41,032 LLL45,535 EDUCATION48,583 BUSINESS118,224 SCIENCE & MATH120,433 H & SS134,216

LARGE INCREASE IN DECLARED MAJORS Growth of English and English Education Majors Growth of English and English Education Majors We may not have the most majors or the largest increase in majors in the College, but the total number of majors in all of our programs is 575 and the average increase in our programs is 100%.

BUT ENGLISH AND HSS ARE LARGELY UNDERFUNDED DISTRIBUTION OF WEIGHTED CREDIT HOURS BY COLLEGE: FY 2004 DISTRIBUTION OF WEIGHTED CREDIT HOURS BY COLLEGE: FY 2004

INSTRUCTIONAL EXPENSES/WEIGHTED CREDIT HOURS IF WE WERE A COLLEGE ARTS$133 HEALTH & HS$117 UNIVERSITY $102 EDUCATION$88 BUSINESS$82 LLL$82 SCIENCE & MATH$75 HUMANITIES & SS$70

A COMPARISON BETWEEN ENGLISH AT KSU AND AT GEORGIA SOUTHERN

WHY COMPARE THESE TWO? KSU has just become a second tier institution, joining Georgia Southern and Valdosta State. The two are somewhat close in size: KSU has 17,961 students, Georgia Southern has 16,100, Valdosta has 10,400. And Georgia Southern has a Fact Book online as we do (Valdosta does not).

SIZE OF FACULTY AND MAJORS Georgia Southern: 22 literature professors + 57 writing professors = 79 professors KSU has 46 professors who teach literature, writing, and English Education (placed in the College of Education at Georgia Southern). Georgia Southern: 115 English majors + 42 Writing/Linguistics majors + 23 MA majors = 180 KSU: 266 English majors English Ed + 97 MAPW = 575

STRUCTURE AND CURRICULUM Georgia Southern: 1 department of literature and philosophy, 1 department of writing and linguistics, English education is separate KSU: 1 department that houses writing, literature, and English education Georgia Southern: 38 ENGL major courses, 16 WRIT & 11 LING major courses, 16 M.A. ENGL courses = 81 KSU: 40 ENGL major courses + 29 MAPW = 69 (English Ed excluded)

ADVANTAGES OF A COLLEGE OF LLL

STRUCTURE English can remain unified by belonging to the same college and sharing a mission that focuses upon language, literature, literacy. Yet at the same time each unit can focus upon its own distinct curricular direction. So there could be in the college the 3 departments of literature, writing & language, and English education.

MANAGING SIZE Three departments in one college can help manage size for meetings for administrative work (i.e., the English chair must write 46 annual reviews, the chairs of Special Ed and Human Services write only 6)

TO INCREASE RESOURCES Colleges, as opposed to departments, receive Business managers Technology specialists Summer revenue

INFORMATION SOURCES KSU Fact Book online and Institututional Research website KSU undergraduate and graduate catalogs Georgia Southern University website