Program Review
Instructional Program:
Freshman Composition
Document Prepared By:
Megan Coakley
Katie Kalisz
Susan Mowers
Tony VanderArk
Janice Balyeat
Year of Review:
2011 – 2012
The Program Profile
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A. The Mission/Purpose
The Mission/Statement of Purpose
The English Department challenges students to become stronger writers, readers, listeners, speakers, and thinkers, and to cultivate a critical understanding of their own lives, the lives of others, and the world in which they live.
Revised by the English Department 2010.
No action needed
Department web pages/marketing materials: The English department web page was updated in the last year, both for visual consistency with other college pages and for content. The site is clearly organized and easy to navigate, and the information is up-to-date and consistent with the college catalog. The site also includes several helpful resources for students and faculty, such as links to Display magazine, Scholarship offerings, and documents related to Academic Freedom and Academic Honesty.
One issue that should be addressed, however, is that the list of Course Offerings on the web page does not include seminar or pilot courses. Examples of current offerings that don't appear on the web page include EN293 (EcoLit and Activism) and EN293 (Writing & Leadership). The technical reason for this absence is that the list of course offerings is automatically generated on our web page from the current catalog files, which do not include these courses. But leaving out the department’s special offerings does a disservice both to students looking for course options and to faculty who want those courses to fill.
It’s not clear whether this is a content issue that can be remedied by the English department or a technical issue that needs to be solved by IT. One possible solution is to include a submenu on the Course Offerings page that would list and describe seminar and pilot courses along with any other special offerings.
Action Needed YES
B. The Faculty & Staff
Full & Part Time Faculty
Name / Highest Degree / PT / FTBurris, Lyttron / Master’s / FT Faculty
Coakley, Megan / Master’s / FT Faculty
Cope, David / Master’s / FT Faculty
Dykema-VanderArk, Anthony / Doctorate / FT Faculty
Fleming, Shavval / Master’s / FT Faculty
Gani, Roland / Bachelor’s / FT Faculty
Gearns, Joan / Master’s / FT Faculty
Hayes, James / Master’s / FT Faculty
Kalisz, Katrina / Master’s / FT Faculty
Lesert, Maryann / Master’s / FT Faculty
Lussky, Andrew / Master’s / FT Faculty
Mowers, Susan / Master’s / FT Faculty
Muhammad, Mursalata / Master’s / FT Faculty
Neill, Nora / Master’s / FT Faculty
Shannon, Beverly / Master’s / FT Faculty
Swets, Joel / Master’s / FT Faculty
Tower, David / Master’s / FT Faculty
Wyngarden, Kimberly / Master’s / FT Faculty
van Hartesveldt, Frederick / J. D. / FT Faculty
Dix, John / Bachelor’s / Adjunct
Mackey, Sean / Master’s / Adjunct
Rademacher, Thomas / Bachelor’s / Adjunct
Thompson, Haleigh / Bachelor’s / Adjunct
Babulal, Pinky / Master’s / Adjunct
Bailey, Gary / Master’s / Adjunct
Bloedow, Kaari / Master’s / Adjunct
Botruff, Alexis / Master’s / Adjunct
Bradley, Mary / Master’s / Adjunct
Burghardt, Brenna / Master’s / Adjunct
Butler, John / Master’s / Adjunct
Challa, Leanne / Master’s / Adjunct
Cleaver, Alyse / Master’s / Adjunct
Davidson, John / Master’s / Adjunct
DeWilde, Mandy / Master’s / Adjunct
Dubay, Candace / Master’s / Adjunct
Dykgraaf, Christy / Master’s / Adjunct
Friesen, Tammy / Master’s / Adjunct
Gallagher, Karin / Master’s / Adjunct
Garcia, Roel / Master’s / Adjunct
Gathercole, Mitchell / Master’s / Adjunct
Guerriero, Anthony / Master’s / Adjunct
Hall, Kathleen / Master’s / Adjunct
Haviland, Sara / Master’s / Adjunct
Henderson, Diane / Master’s / Adjunct
Isham, Dee / Master’s / Adjunct
Jenkinson, Christopher / Master’s / Adjunct
Jewell, Alyssa / Master’s / Adjunct
Koole, Soonja / Master’s / Adjunct
Larsen, Jeffrey / Master’s / Adjunct
Lee, Jacquelyn / Master’s / Adjunct
Leese, Rhonda / Master’s / Adjunct
Lockard, Megan / Master’s / Adjunct
Longberg, Kaye / Master’s / Adjunct
Lutwick-Deaner, Rachel / Master’s / Adjunct
Lyons, David / Master’s / Adjunct
Mackey, Donley / Master’s / Adjunct
Marsy, Luke / Master’s / Adjunct
Martens, Suzanne / Master’s / Adjunct
Martin, Donald / Master’s / Adjunct
McLean, Andrew / Master’s / Adjunct
Miller, Michael / Master’s / Adjunct
Molloy, Mary / Master’s / Adjunct
Mroz, Judith / Master’s / Adjunct
Mulder, Tom / Master’s / Adjunct
Nickel, Ann Marie / Master’s / Adjunct
Page-Jenkins, Lynnea / Master’s / Adjunct
Palczewski, Lisa / Master’s / Adjunct
Pawlowski, Aimee / Master’s / Adjunct
Persenaire, Kristina / Master’s / Adjunct
Peters, Elizabeth / Master’s / Adjunct
Prieto, Sallee / Master’s / Adjunct
Prince, Lynn / Master’s / Adjunct
Richter, Jessalyn / Master’s / Adjunct
Scalabrino, Frank / Master’s / Adjunct
Schott, Amethyst / Master’s / Adjunct
Settle, David / Master’s / Adjunct
Sikkema, Michael / Master’s / Adjunct
Slomski, Stacy / Master’s / Adjunct
Spahn, Julie / Master’s / Adjunct
Springstubbe, Brandy / Master’s / Adjunct
Swets, Jonathan / Master’s / Adjunct
Syswerda, Margaret / Master’s / Adjunct
Tibbets, Mary / Master’s / Adjunct
Vanarnam, Angela / Master’s / Adjunct
Vangorp, Peter / Master’s / Adjunct
Verbrugge, Patricia / Master’s / Adjunct
Wagner, Cecil / Master’s / Adjunct
Walters, Steven / Master’s / Adjunct
Wegener, Randy / Master’s / Adjunct
Williams, Julienne / Master’s / Adjunct
Wykes, Kathleen / Master’s / Adjunct
Wynkoop, Sharon / Master’s / Adjunct
Gillespie-Matthews, Eva / Master’s / Adjunct
Morris, Patricia / Master’s / Adjunct
Schafer, Mary / Master’s / Adjunct
Steenwyk, Carrie / Master’s / Adjunct
Acevedo, Denise / Doctorate / Adjunct
Beauclair, Steven / Doctorate / Adjunct
Bordewyk, Gordon / Doctorate / Adjunct
Johnson, Nicholas / Doctorate / Adjunct
Malenka, Margaret / Doctorate / Adjunct
McNabb, Scott / Doctorate / Adjunct
Staff
Brown, Gail / Not indicated / Support Professional
1. Accomplishments of Faculty
The English Department faculty distinguishes itself professionally by contributing to the ongoing conversation about writing, reading, and teaching at the local, state, national, and international level. This list represents a fraction of the hours, effort, and expertise of the faculty of the English Department:
Departmental accomplishments:
● New Adjunct Mentor program: pairs new adjunct faculty with seasoned English Dept. faculty to help acclimate our newest department members to our school, become familiar with curricula, answer questions, build collegiality
● Literacy Empowerment Paired-Reading mentor program
● English Department Learning Day – Reading Apprenticeship
● Reading Apprenticeship Symposium fall 2011
● English Department Symposium (Oct. 2011): "Who Cares? Why Bother? Real Writing for Real People," an event designed to showcase writing as a valuable activity and to give our students tools they can utilize. The event was filled with two days of interactive workshops led by professionals in our community.
● Poetry Conference (April 2012) Another first for Grand Rapids occurred when Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) hosted The Grand Rapids Poets’ Conference: A Celebration of Grand Rapids Poetry. The four-day event included panel discussions, seminars and learning sessions at 108 Sneden Hall during the day, and evening readings on the second floor of the GRCC library. All events were free to the public.
Faculty accomplishments:
● Poet Laureate of Grand Rapids: Dave Cope
● Grand Rapids Poets’ Conference (coordinated by Dave Cope)
● Publications: poetry, chapbook; articles, book chapter; reviews ;screenplays; (online, state, national, international publications) – Kim Wyngarden, Dave Cope, Mikael Sikkema, and others
● Poetry readings: Kim Wyngarden, Mikael Sikkema, Mursalatta Muhammad; David Cope
● Kent County Dyer-Ives Poetry Contest Coordinator (Mursalata Muhammad)
● Kent County Dyer-Ives Poetry Contest preliminary judge (Kim Wyngarden)
● KDL Teen Poetry Contest judge (Dave Cope)
● “This I Believe” essay contest judges
● LAND (Liberal Arts Network for Development) state committee members (Roland Gani, Joan Gearns, Jim Hayes)
● Website creators (Dave Cope – Shakespeare; Diane Henderson “Teach With Me”)
● Lake Michigan Writing Project co-director (Susan Mowers)
● State and national conference presentations:
○ MDEC (Tom Mulder, Aimee Pawloski, Lynnea Page-Jenkins)
● Conferences attended:
○ MCTE
○ National Writing Project annual conference
○ CCCC conference
○ Community College Conference on Legal Issues
○ National Association for Developmental Education
○ Michigan Developmental Educators Consortium (MDEC)--Lansing
○ National Council of Teachers of English annual conference
○ Kellogg Institute at Appalachia State University
● College-wide committee service:
○ Globalization committee
○ Sabbatical Review committee
○ Faculty Association Negotiating Team (Pres. and member)
○ Total Compensation Study Team
○ Achieving the Dream Committee
○ Strategic Leadership Team
○ Academic Governing Council
○ Enrollment Cut-off Date team
○ Adult and Developmental Education
○ Instructional Improvement & Professional Development Committee
● Speaker: Teacher Education Seminar (Beverly Shannon)
● Service Learning (Mursalatta Muhammad, Linda Spoelman, Christina McElwee)
● GRCC Learning Day presenters: Vikki Cooper, Sheryl York
● Coalition for Secure Retirement (CSR) secretary (Fred van Hartesveldt)
● President, Michigan Developmental Educators (Linda Spoelman)
● Secretary-elect, Michigan Developmental Educators (Sheryl York)
● Faculty Association President (Fred van Hartesveldt)
● Media liaison (Fred van Hartesveldt)
● Association representatives on Faculty Council (Dave Cope and Andrew Lusskey)
● Founder / Adviser of Jules (GRCC Creative Writing Club): Kellie Roblin, Mike Miller
● Literacy Empowerment Paired – Reading mentors
● Online and hybrid course training
● Program Review committee members
● EN097/EN100 composition coordinator (Megan Doyle)
● Reading coordinators (Vikki Cooper and Jan Chapman)
● Freshman composition coordinators (Katie Kalisz and Susan Mowers)
● Innumerable graduate and continuing education credits towards MFA, Master’s degrees, MA + 10, 20, and 30
● Volunteer tutor (Literacy Center)
● YWCA Domestic Crisis Center – GRCC donations coordinator (Dave Cope)
2. Faculty Professional Development
● English Department Learning Day involved all full-time English faculty and 10 adjuncts who participated in an introductory training about Reading Apprenticeship and how we can integrate these strategies into our composition classes to help improve student achievement.
● The Professional Reading Group for the English Department’s Reading faculty met during the academic year to provide a context for common study of, reflection on, and practice of best practices for reading instruction. The group accomplished this through the following methods: individual reading of 3 texts & applying the concepts to lesson preparation; discussing the concepts and sharing results of implementation; focusing on Reading Apprenticeship pedagogy.
● The Composition faculty conducted a separate year-long Professional Reading Group. The purpose was to read about teaching the writing process, to discuss our best practices, to develop assignments and approaches to teaching writing, and to practice new techniques that will bring the writing process into a composition classroom.
● Additionally, the Program Review Committee conducted two department-wide Rubric Training sessions for composition faculty. It is imperative that we have well-trained faculty teaching to the learning outcomes for each of our classes. Training becomes vitally important in our discipline in order to have consistent delivery and assessment of our curriculum. Consequently, each session provided training for composition faculty to discuss and rank student writing related to exit level skills for our composition classes.
● Our English Dept. Professional Development Committee also designed and implemented small groups on various topics for faculty to engage in informal sharing of best practices throughout the year.
○ Differentiating Instruction
○ Pedagogy Peer Review
○ Technology in the Classroom
○ Self-monitoring and Self-Reflection
○ Publication and Scholarship
○ Classroom Strategies to Facilitate Learning
○ Peer Review Strategies
● Finally, the English Department experienced collaborative learning and collegiality among all faculty who participate in these professional development activities. Fun!
ACTION NEEDED? YES
Continued support for our professional reading groups, our off-campus learning day, and our other professional development activities.
· Fall Learning Day: Exploring diversity: understanding ourselves and our African-American male students, the students who are struggling the most in our composition classes. Panel discussion of successful African-American males from GRCC and beyond.
· One book, one department: we anticipate picking a book we can read as a department to understand our diverse student body and how we can help improve student achievement in our gateway courses, of which composition is one. We are presently reviewing suggested books. We would focus on our diverse students, especially African-American male achievement.
· Explore bringing “Love and Logic” to our campus for adjunct professional development. We understand classroom management is an area our department needs to address to help our large adjunct faculty have better classroom management, thus improving student achievement. A special area of concern is our African-American male students and their low achievement rate in our composition classes.
· Rubric training: We will again offer two rubric training sessions, Thursday, September 13 from 5 – 8:30, and Saturday, January 13, 8:30 – 12. It is the department’s goal that all composition faculty, both full-time and adjunct, will participate in rubric training annually.
· We would like to bring consultants from ETS to observe and review our rubric training. They are experts in the field of writing assessment.
3. Number of FT/PT Faculty
English Dept., 2011-12 / Fall 2011 / Winter 2012Full-time faculty / 27 / 27
Adjunct faculty / 116 / 106
% Contact hours taught by each:
Contact hours / % of totalFull-time / 357.10 / 32%
Adjunct / 773.50 / 68%
Evaluation:
The ratio of full-time to adjunct faculty relates directly to several Ends, specifically to Academic Alignment, Access, the GRCC Experience, and Student Success.
The English Department has exploded with students as our enrollment increased by 33% these last few years. English composition is required of almost all degrees and many students take this class during their first year. Even with the overall drop in student enrollment, the English Department had a .5% increase from fall 2010 to fall 2011 (Enrollment Report October 2011).
However, the majority of most sections are taught by adjunct faculty: For winter 2012 EN102 sections, 62% of courses are taught by adjunct faculty. Of EN101, 74% are taught by adjunct, of EN100, 71% are taught by adjunct, of reading 097 classes 41% are taught by adjunct and reading 098 59% are taught by adjunct.