Field Of Dreams

"One of the first collections to focus on independent writing programs, A Field of Dreams offers a complex picture of the experience of the stand-alone. Included here are narratives of individual programs from a wide range of institutions, exploring such topics as what institutional issues led to their independence, how independence solved or created administrative problems, how it changed the culture of the writing program and its sense of purpose, success, or failure. Small college programs are described along with larger university programs of the U.S. and Canada; a retrospective on the famous controversy at Minnesota is included, along with a look at the long-established independent programs at Harvard and Syracuse. Further chapters respond to these with critique and reflection on labor issues, promotion and tenure, institutional politics, and disciplinary questions." A promising read for department and writing program administrators as well as for general compositonists, A Field of Dreams looks closely at particular independent writing programs and situates them broadly in the current scene of composition scholarship, administration, English studies, and the university.