2008 Woodie Awards
WLP student pushes for more publishing classes
Students bemoan sparse course selection, citing many with too few seats
Ariel White
Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: News
For writing, literature and publishing majors at Emerson, there's plenty of the W and the L, but the P is less accessible, according to some students.
One WLP major is hoping to change that.
Jessica Ganon, the WLP senator for Emerson's undergraduate Student Government Association, has brought the issue to the attention of the chair of her department, Daniel Tobin, in the hope of adding at least one more publishing section to the curriculum.
"For something that is the P in our major, it's a very small percent of our classes," said the sophomore WLP major. "It's just about getting it approved by the dean of the school. I would like more than one section, but we'll take it, and it's better than nothing."
Dean of the School for the Arts, which houses the WLP department, Dr. Grafton J. Nunes confirmed that the students' concerns are being taken into account.
"We have increased the number of fulltime faculty to the greatest extent in the past years," Nunes said. "We are looking into it by both adding part and full time [teachers] but full time is clearly where we would like to focus because it not only provides teaching but mentorship as well."
According to Tobin, there are between 550 and 600 undergraduate WLP students, in addition to 250 graduate students.
All publishing classes are on the 300 level, which are available mostly to juniors and seniors. Many have enrollment limits from 12 to 18 students, depending on the class. Currently, there are only seven sections of publishing classes offered compared to 32 literature sections and 76 writing sections, which can often seat up to 25 students, according to Tobin.
According to Tobin, there are a total of 41 literature courses; with 20 in the 200 level, ten in the 300 level and 11 in the 400.writing hosts 81 total classes; with 37 in level 100, 15 in 200, 18 in 300 and 11 in 400.
In contrast, publishing has two classes in the 200 level, eight in the 300 and two in the 400 level; making a total of only 12 classes.
One WLP major is hoping to change that.
Jessica Ganon, the WLP senator for Emerson's undergraduate Student Government Association, has brought the issue to the attention of the chair of her department, Daniel Tobin, in the hope of adding at least one more publishing section to the curriculum.
"For something that is the P in our major, it's a very small percent of our classes," said the sophomore WLP major. "It's just about getting it approved by the dean of the school. I would like more than one section, but we'll take it, and it's better than nothing."
Dean of the School for the Arts, which houses the WLP department, Dr. Grafton J. Nunes confirmed that the students' concerns are being taken into account.
"We have increased the number of fulltime faculty to the greatest extent in the past years," Nunes said. "We are looking into it by both adding part and full time [teachers] but full time is clearly where we would like to focus because it not only provides teaching but mentorship as well."
According to Tobin, there are between 550 and 600 undergraduate WLP students, in addition to 250 graduate students.
All publishing classes are on the 300 level, which are available mostly to juniors and seniors. Many have enrollment limits from 12 to 18 students, depending on the class. Currently, there are only seven sections of publishing classes offered compared to 32 literature sections and 76 writing sections, which can often seat up to 25 students, according to Tobin.
According to Tobin, there are a total of 41 literature courses; with 20 in the 200 level, ten in the 300 level and 11 in the 400.writing hosts 81 total classes; with 37 in level 100, 15 in 200, 18 in 300 and 11 in 400.
In contrast, publishing has two classes in the 200 level, eight in the 300 and two in the 400 level; making a total of only 12 classes.
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