Currently, graduate students in Languages and Literatures face the challenge of developing into future faculty members who are supposed to meet changing disciplinary and institutional needs. The professional demands created by the rapid growth of information technologies, digital media, and shifts in the academic job market require advanced graduate seminars focusing on current language pedagogy and the integration of technology into language as well as literature teaching. It seems that right now very few institutions offer these kinds of courses as part of the regular curriculum in Language and Literature departments, although, for example, more and more MLA job ads list "familiarity with instructional technology" as one of the skills sought in new hires.

Rachel Saury at the University of Virginia and I have been working on an article concerning these matters and would like to gather some more data. Please take a few moments to fill out our survey with respect to your home institution and your department. Please (and this might be the most important part) FORWARD this announcement and encourage colleagues/chairs/graduate directors in Language and Literature Departments to respond to this survey. Your help in arriving at a more complete picture of the current state of Graduate education in the United States and Canada will be very much appreciated.

You can find the survey at http://willow.cats.ohiou.edu/~lrc/survey.html

It is short, to the point, and will not take more than seven minutes(!) of your time.

Best regards, Jörg Waltje