4 Curriculum and Organizational Structure

The English Department is the largest department in the College of Humanities & Social Sciences (CHaSS), with over a hundred faculty (tenure-line, graduate instructors, adjunct instructors, and lecturers) across the Logan and Statewide campuses, as well as a varying number of postdoctoral fellows and adjunct instructors.

Tenure-line Faculty: Tenure-line faculty teach a variety of General Education, upper-division, and graduate courses for the department. While most tenure-line faculty have research as their primary area of excellence, Composition tenure-line faculty, including Logan and Statewide faculty, typically have teaching as their primary area of excellence, with research as a secondary area of emphasis. This balance allows the Composition Program at USU to value excellence in teaching and support the continued development of teaching with strong pedagogical research.

Lecturer Faculty: Lecturer faculty have teaching as their primary area of excellence, including classroom-based and pedagogical research. Lecturers are primarily responsible for teaching in the Composition program (ENGL 1010, 2010, & 2020), which fulfills General Education requirements for all USU undergraduates. Lecturers typically teach one non-composition course per academic year, including General Education and Creative Writing classes. Lecturers have deep expertise in teaching composition and are valued mentors and guides for GIs new to teaching. Depending on their degree, Lecturers can serve on Master’s and PhD committees.

Postdoctoral Fellows: The English Department often hires postdoctoral fellows to teach courses based on department need. Postdoctoral fellows are associated with a particular curricular area (i.e., Literature, Technical Communication and Rhetoric, English Teaching, Creative Writing, Folklore). They are hired for a one-year term, and, in some cases, may be extended for a second year depending on college and department need and resources. Postdoctoral fellows are provided opportunities for teaching experience and professional development within the department.

Graduate Students: The English department has graduate students attending four different programs. We offer MS/MA degrees in Creative Writing; Literature, Culture, and Composition; and Folklore. We offer a Master of Technical Communication (MTC) degree in Technical Communication, and we also offer a PhD degree in Technical Communication and Rhetoric (TCR).

Graduate Instructors (GI): The graduate instructors, known as GIs, are students enrolled in our English and Folklore master’s programs and TCR students enrolled in the PhD program who have received a GIship. GIs teach in the Composition program and, in the case of the PhD students, some of the undergraduate TCR courses. All GIs receive training and mentoring for teaching ENGL 1010 and ENGL 2010. GIs are also expected to fulfill the terms of their GI contract (e.g., teaching their assigned courses, providing feedback on student work, responding to student inquiries, attending monthly professional development sessions, and submitting final grades).

Adjunct Instructors: An adjunct instructor is a part-time faculty member who teaches on a contractual basis and is not eligible for tenure. Adjunct instructors may be current university employees or people whose main roles are outside the university. They may teach a few courses per semester on general or introductory subjects. Adjunct instructors are paid by the number of credit hours they teach.

Staff: Staff members provide administrative support, including scheduling appointments, coordinating meetings/conferences, and maintaining/ordering office supplies. They greet and direct visitors. They sort, screen, and distribute incoming and outgoing mail. They update website content. They may provide non-business-related support. They compose and process various standard documents and correspondence. They arrange maintenance of office equipment and perform miscellaneous job-related duties as assigned.

Statewide Faculty: The Statewide faculty includes tenure-line and Lecturer faculty who are based at one of the Statewide campuses (below). USU has 29 Statewide locations throughout the state in. Statewide faculty typically teach courses in “Connect” formats, often in the evenings. Courses taught by Statewide faculty are available to Logan undergraduate students on a limited basis. Statewide faculty typically do not teach graduate courses, but they are eligible to serve on Master’s and PhD committees.

Statewide Campuses (those in bold are home to English Statewide faculty)