By: Jenna Beresheim
News Editor
Western Oregon University’s English department has seen a rapid decline in English majors within the last few years.
In 2010, there were a recorded 137 English majors, which soon dwindled down to a meager 56 this year. Out of those 56 there are 25 recorded seniors, with only 10 seniors applied to graduate at the end of this term.
An average English major graduates from Western with 211 credits, an additional 31 credits than needed, which is the equivalent of having another year of study.
A team of professors within the department is aiming to pinpoint the cause behind dwindling numbers in the program.
Dr. Thomas Rand, Dr. Cornelia Paraskevas, Dr. Katherine Schmidt, and Dr. Carol Harding are a few of the members interested in improving sign-up rates within the English degree focus.
“Our numbers in English are down, and we’re trying to survey why interest is so low,” said Harding, the Humanities Division Chair.
“If anyone who reads this chose not to take an English major route, we would gladly listen as to why that happened,” continued Harding.
A survey was sent out within the first week of Spring Term to English-focused classes and asked questions regarding which students were English majors, when they had become these majors, and so on.
“In my current Writing 230 class, I only have 5 English majors,” said Schmidt, professor and Writing Center director.
Schmidt reported that most of her students were writing minors or students outside of the discipline seeking to fulfill their writing intensive requirements.
“Too many of my students don’t know the answers to basic questions like how many upper-division credits are required to graduate. This is one area that impacts English majors who are transfers because the 41-credit core requirement includes only 9 upper-division credits. This puts transfer students at a great disadvantage, especially when they must also complete 2 years of lower-division foreign language as part of the BA requirement,” said Schmidt.
Speculation around the cause falls into a few categories, and in turn may be a combination of all of them.
“I think part of it is in the decline in the market for English teachers,” Harding said, “but people associate the major with teaching only – there are so many other things out there that you can use it for.”
“I believe advising may be one root of the problem. We love our program and students, but we can do better,” admitted Schmidt.
“I was trying to get into [ENG] 318 [Contemporary Literary Theory] for several terms, but it was always offered during an upper division class I also needed, so I always had to choose,” said Emily Walley, a fifth year double degree major in English and history.
The English department hopes to not only trim down students’ time within the program to get them back on track to graduate in four years, but also boost the advising process to eliminate any confusion connected with degree requirements.
If you have any feedback for the English department pertaining to issues addressed within this article, please contact them at 503-838-8258, or email Dr. Thomas Rand at randt@wou.edu
Contact the author at Jberesheim11@wou.edu or on Twitter @WOUjournalnews.
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