ARCC English Studies Degree Changes
MOTION 6: That the degree requirements for the Honours Specialization in English Studies be changed as follows:
OLD REQUIREMENTS
“Students must complete 120 credits including 60 credits in the Honours Specialization as follows:
ENGL 1000-level3 credits
Six credits from the following:
ENGL 2006 British Literature before 1800 and ENGL 2007 British Literature After 1800; ENGL 2235 Canadian Literature from the Colonial to the Contemporary; ENGL 2265 American Literature from the Colonial to the Contemporary.
ENGL Group 121 credits
ENGL Group 2 and/or 318 credits
ENGL Group 1, 2 and/or 36 credits
ENGL 4000 level6 credits
Breadth requirements
ACAD 1601
Social Science and/or Professional Studies6 credits
Science6 credits
Note:
Students are limited to a maximum of 6credits of English Studies Topics coursesat the 1000 level.
An average of at least 70% in the subject is required for enrolment in 4000 level courses.
A maximum of 30 credits at the 2000 level may be applied to the Honours Specialization.
A maximum of 6 credits of cross-listed courses may count toward an English Studies Honours Specialization.
Depending on the topic of the Honours Seminars and ENGL 4695 Honours Essay, these courses may be credited toward Group 1, 2, or 3, as approved by the department.
NEW REQUIREMENTS
“Students must complete 120 credits including 60 credits in the Honours Specialization as follows:
ENGL 1000-level3 credits
ENGL 2006 British Literature Before 18003 credits
ENGLLiterary History I9 credits
ENGLLiterary History II9 credits
ENGL courses30 credits
ENGL 4000-level6 credits”
Breadth requirements
ACAD 1601
Social Science and/or Professional Studies6 credits
Science6 credits
Note:
Students are limited to a maximum of 6credits of English Studies Topics coursesat the 1000 level.
An average of at least 70% in the subject is required for enrolment in 4000 level courses.
A maximum of 30 credits at the 2000 level may be applied to the Honours Specialization.
A maximum of 6 credits of cross-listed courses may count toward an English Studies Honours Specialization.
Honours Seminars and ENGL 4695 Honours Essay cannot be counted towards the Literary History requirements.”
Rationale
The proposed changes to the Honours Specialization in English Studies are a response to shrinking faculty complement and to changes in enrolment patterns. In order to offer an appealing range of electives for the broader undergraduate community, English is focusing and paring down its required courses for the Honours Specialization. The principle changes are to specific required courses and grouping requirements. In the proposed change, only 3 credits of second year courses (ENGL 2006) are required for the degree. Currently students are required to take 6 credits from a choice of 18 total. This means the program is committed to offering 18 credits of specific courses at second year, and this reduces our staffing flexibility. The current groupings of English courses provide convenient categories for representing the types of courses we offer, but the requirement for students to take a number of credits from each group generates a lack of staffing flexibility, especially when it comes of offering a healthy variety of English electives. The change to focus the groups on Literary History, leaving the rest of our courses open, is designed to channel students into some of the courses that are traditionally foundational to an English degree.
Other English Honours Programs
Taking into account our limited faculty resources, English Studies at Nipissing offers an Honours Specialization comparable to programs across Ontario at medium-sized institutions (for instance, Guelph, Trent, Brock, Carleton, Laurentian and Wilfred Laurier). The core of the degree typically includes an introduction to the discipline at first year, with at least three credits of English focusing on analysis and argumentation and an introduction to genre or literary forms; a significant literary history or British literature component, typically concentrated in second and third year; specialized seminars in the fourth year; a theory and criticism course, also at third or fourth year. Our current and proposed program retains all these core elements with the exception of the required theory course. We are hoping to add this as a requirement, or a strong recommendation, in future years.
Implications for Resources
No new resources will be needed to accommodate these program changes.
MOTION 7: That the degree requirements for the Specialization in English Studies be changed as follows:
OLD REQUIREMENTS
“Students must complete 120 credits including 54 credits in the Specialization as follows:
ENGL 1000-level3 credits
Six credits from the following:
ENGL 2006 British Literature before 1800 and ENGL 2007 British Literature After 1800; ENGL 2235 Canadian Literature from the Colonial to the Contemporary; ENGL 2265 American Literature from the Colonial to the Contemporary.
ENGL Group 121 credits
ENGL Group 2 and/or 318 credits
ENGL Group 1, 2 and/or 36 credits”
NEW REQUIREMENTS
“Students must complete 120 credits including 54 credits in the Honours Specialization as follows:
ENGL 1000-level3 credits
ENGLLiterary History I9 credits
ENGLLiterary History II9 credits
ENGL courses33 credits”
Rationale
The changes to the Honours program in English apply also to the Specialization with one exception: the Specialization (non-Honours) does not require any particular course at the second-year level while the Honours Specialization requires ENGL 2006. The rationale for this is two-fold. Removing the requirement for a specific second-year historical survey opens the Specialization a little more for students who are more likely to succeed in less history-intensive courses (bearing in mind that the majority of registrants in this degree program are those who do not achieve the minimum 70% average). On a pragmatic note, English needs to reduce its programmatic commitment to offering specific courses every year. The change to the Specialization will reduce enrolment pressure on ENGL 2006, distributing students more widely through ENGL courses.
Other English Programs
Across the province, the Specialization (as opposed to Honours—it goes by different names) typically has the same requirements as Honours programs with the exception of the fourth-year seminar. Hence, our core requirements: first-year introduction to form and practice and a literary history component keep our program comparable with those at other Ontario universities.
Implications for Resources
No new resources are needed to accommodate the proposed program changes.
MOTION 8: That the degree requirements for the Major in English Studies be changed as follows:
OLD REQUIREMENTS
“Students must complete 36 credits in the Major as follows:
ENGL 1000-level3 credits
Six credits from the following:
ENGL 2006 British Literature before 1800 and ENGL 2007 British Literature After 1800
ENGL 2235 Canadian Literature from the Colonial to the Contemporary
ENGL 2265 American Literature from the Colonial to the Contemporary
ENGL Upper-level27 credits.”
NEW REQUIREMENTS
“Students must complete 36 credits in the Major as follows:
ENGL 1000-level3 credits
ENGLLiterary History I3 credits
ENGLLiterary History II3 credits
ENGL courses27 credits.”
Rationale: This change to the Major maintains consistency with the Honours Specialization and the Specialization.