Design Discourse - Composing and Revising Programs in Professional and Technical Writing, 2010a

Disciplinary Identities
fessional writing, and who are, in the process, redefining the boundaries among
traditional and emerging specializations within English departments.
proposed revisions
At the time of our proposal, the department awarded two Bachelor degrees—a
BA in English, which focused primarily on literature; and a BA in English with
a Concentration in Writing. In the past, the department has offered a BA in
English Education, but that program was recently relocated to the College of
Education. The BA in English with a Concentration in Writing was first listed in
the 1978-79 undergraduate catalog, and, although two distinct BA concentrations
were elaborated beginning with that catalogue, all English majors began
their undergraduate major programs with a “common core” of courses. The nature
of the courses included in this common core has changed over the years,
with recent configurations of the core requiring students to take a fairly specific
sequence of literary studies courses. The chart below shows the 2004-05 core:
2004-05 Undergraduate Catalogue
Core Courses (required of students in both Concentrations)
• ENGL 2000. Interpreting Literature
• ENGL 3000. Lit in English to 1700
• ENGL 3010. Lit in English, 1700-1880
• ENGL 3020. Lit in English, 1880-Present
• One Shakespeare course (Tragedies, Comedies, or Histories)
For English (Literature) Concentration
• One course in language or composition
(includes courses in linguistics,
composition and rhetoric, and creative writing, but not professional writing)
For Writing Concentration
• One non-writing elective; choices include linguistics, film studies, as well as
other literature courses
figure 1: core requirements, 2004-05 catalogue
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