Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1978 [PAGE 314]

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1977]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

303

faculty to be given sabbatical leaves of absence in accordance with the provisions of the University of Illinois Statutes. The programs of research, study, and travel for which leaves are requested have been examined by the research board at the campus, and the vice president for academic affairs has reviewed the applications for the leaves and recommends approval of two leaves. (A list of those recommended has been filed with the secretary of the board for record.)

Doctor of Philosophy in English, Chicago Circle

(15) The Chicago Circle Senate has recommended the establishment of a program leading to the Ph.D. in English, with specialization in composition, creative writing, and literature. The program will offer advanced professional training to educators responsible for the design and administration of curricula in writing at all educational levels, to writers and writing specialists inside and outside the academic profession, and to faculty members already employed in institutions of higher education in the Chicago metropolitan region, significant numbers of whom seek the doctoral degree for professional advancement. No doctoral programs in composition or creative writing exist in Illinois; no public university in the Chicago area offers a doctorate in English and American literature. In addition to the requirements established by the Graduate College, candidates for the doctorate in composition will write a dissertation involving theoretical or empirical studies of the writing process or studies of instruction, curriculum design, and the administration of writing programs. (The national decline in students' writing skills underscores the need and demand for the preparation of such specialists.) Candidates in creative writing will write as a dissertation one of the following: a novel, a volume of short stories or poems, a play (or group of plays), or a unified collection of essays. Candidates in literature will write a dissertation involving original research in literary criticism or literary history, with special attention to the literature and culture of the Midwest, modern British and American literature, or popular culture. All students will serve an internship in the teaching of college writing and of their specialization. Students will be encouraged to develop interdisciplinary interests emphasi2ing the study and practice of film, music, theater, and the graphic and plastic arts, as well as the philosophy of language and psycholinguistics. The proposal has been reviewed by a panel of external evaluators1 who have commended its soundness and timeliness and its pertinence to teachers employed in the Chicago area. An external library consultant* has indicated that the present library resources, though limited and in need of expansion, are sufficient in most areas to sustain basic research into secondary materials. Both evaluations indicate that additional resources for faculty and library will be required. In response, the Department of English has committed itself to reallocate funds for the purpose of making the necessary additional appointments of senior staff. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will provide sufficient funds through internal reallocation for internships for two-thirds of the projected doctoral students. The Graduate College will provide fellowship support. The campus Academic Resources Board has approved an allocation to the library of $80,000 in recurring funds for the development of the collections in English and humanities. No further resources will be required for the implementation of this program.

1 Professor Robert Hanning, Brown University; Professor John W. Ross Winterowd, University of ' Hendrik Edelman, assistant braries.

Columbia University, chairperson; Professor R. Verlin Cassill, Gerber, State University of New York — Albany; and Professor Southern California. director for development of collections, Cornell University Li-