The Solution to Declining

English Majors
Design Brief
By: Randy Joly

Executive Summary
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 What is the challenge were facing?

The state of the English major:

1. A lack of knowledge among students
regarding publishing
2. A lack of community within the English
department

Who is our audience and who are our

stakeholders?

Audience:
Students
Stakeholders:
Professors
University
Parents

How are we going to get this done?

Publishing:
Publishing Seminar
Publisher Connection
Community:
Reading Groups
Online Presence

Table of Contents
The Big Picture
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 4
The Decline of the English Major

The English Department

The Problems 5
Publishing Knowledge
Student Community

Problem 1 and Solutions

6
Publication Knowledge
Publishing Seminars
Publisher Connections

Problem 2 and Solutions

12
Student Community
Reading Groups
Online Presence

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 The Big Picture

The Major Problem

If you research the state of the English major within the last
century, you will easily find many studies that point toward a
decrease in enrollment within the major. Universities around the
nation have shown to be losing hundreds of students each year.
Between 2012-2014, the University of Maryland calculated a loss
of 40 percent of their English majors.1 And Yale has reported a
similar problem, In 1991, 165 students graduated from Yale with
a B.A. in English literature. By 2012, that number was 62. 2
Although there is no concurrent evidence to date, it can be
assumed that the University of Oklahoma is receiving a similar
problem. The Department of English at OU is in serious need of
solutions to combat this rising problem within the English field.

The University of Oklahoma Department of

English
The Department of English at OU nurtures learning by offering
classes that cater to a variety of interests, such as hip-hop,
Shakespeare, or graphic novels. Possessing this wide range of
different classes within two general areas, literary study and
writing, the Department of English values practical and creative
thinkers, and encourages the study of many practices, genres,
cultures, and artistic forms.

1 Flaherty, Colleen. Major Exodus. 2015.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/26/where-have-all-english-majors-gone
2 Klinkenborg, Verlyn. The Decline and Fall of the English Major. 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/opinion/sunday/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-english-
major.html
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 Problem 1
Publishing Knowledge
Within the English major at OU, there is an apparent lack of
knowledge regarding the process of publication. Many students
dont know how publishing works or how to go about getting
published after graduation. Anthony Adams, a student of literary
studies, noted, [Im] not sure exactly how I would begin to get
any of my writing published. Ive never been given any
information about how it works. This is a grave dilemma as it
leaves many graduates unsure where to turn or what to do after
college. This, in turn, reflects poorly upon the university, as it
shows that they have a serious hole within their teaching
methods that leaves students unprepared for life outside of
school.

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 Problem 1: Publication Knowledge
Solution 1: Publishing Seminar
Description
The need for knowledge regarding the publishing process is great.
A seminar given by a professional in the publishing field would go
a long way to providing that knowledge to students. The seminar
would take place on multiple evenings over one full week to
accommodate multiple students schedules and allow for a wide
range of information to be given.

Competitors
There are many examples of other universities around the country
(Yale, Harvard, Denver, etc.) that hold their own publishing
seminars, giving their students information and opportunities to
succeed in their publishing careers.3 These events last between 3-
5 days and predominately host multiple speakers from the
publishing field that talk to students about the publishing world
and the information they will need to get started, while also
offering networking for subsequent job searches. To say that we
are one of the ones who dont provide this service to its students
is a serious issue.

Competitive Product Survey

By studying and surveying the universities that have already
conducted these type of seminars, we can better understand the
type of information we need to conduct such an event, such as:
3 http://www.du.edu/publishinginstitute/ http://som.yale.edu/programs/executive-
education/for-individuals/yale-publishing-course
https://gsas.harvard.edu/events/publishing-seminar-books-and-scholarly-journals

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the best times for students, the amount and types of students we
can expect, the type of equipment and accommodations needed,
and the type of advertisement employed.

Plan of Action
As the goal of this solution is to set up a seminar that covers a broad
topic that can highly influence a large number of individuals, it can
be safely assumed that many different types of students would want
to attend. Advertisements promoting the seminars will be placed
around the campus and on social media, and will be presented in a
way that appeals to any student interested in publishing. By
attracting students outside of just the English department, we not
only allow the knowledge to be spread to all who are interested in
publishing, but we also bring attention and interest to the
Department of English from outside majors. As we are appealing to
a wide range of different people, we should plan this seminar around
a crowd of people (est. 50-100 students). A location large enough to
accommodate a great number of students will need to be secured.
In addition, the idea of providing snacks and refreshments might be
considered to entice interested parties. The time of the event will be
important to attracting students; late afternoon to early evening is
the best possibility as it accommodates students who have classes
in the morning and early afternoon. A speaker will need to be
invited, either from within the University (professor, advisor, etc), an
alumnus, or a local volunteer. These speakers will talk about the
publishing field, providing information of its process, where to start,
what work needs to be done, etc. We should also try to reach out to
different publishers to allow students to find networking for starting
their publishing careers. Equipment will also be for the seminar:
microphone, speakers, projector, etc. Most of these things will need
some amount of money to be accomplished. Possible ideas for

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funding: donations on campus, funding from department, or
sponsorship with a publishing company. A committee should be
developed to plan out this event and enact the seminar. The key
performance indicators will include: the number of attendants at the
event and the results of surveys handed out at the end of the event.

User Persona

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 Solution 2: Publisher Connections
Description
Along with the lack of knowledge regarding the publishing
process, our university lacks the connections that make this
publishing process possible for students. Setting up some
connections with publishing companies would help students on
their way to their possible publishing careers and would help
bring publicity to the university in the process. The goal would be
to contact possible publishing companies that might be interested
in potential student submissions and get these publishers to set
up a connection network between their company and our
university through on-campus representatives, easy
communication through email, and/or departmentally sponsored
events (i.e. seminars).

Competitors
Emerson College hosts a great selection of options when it comes
to publisher connections. They are in contact with many
publishing companies, have many professors with publisher
knowledge and connections, and have many alumni that have
gone on to publishing careers.4 Another great competitor is Ithaca
College, who provides publishing connections and internships. 5 In
addition, the University of Iowa has many connections and hosts
publishing seminars that offer students the chance to discover
publishing careers and connections.6

Competitor Product Survey

4 http://www.emerson.edu/writing-literature-publishing
5 http://www.ithaca.edu/hs/depts/writing/interns/
6 https://clas.uiowa.edu/interdisciplinary-programs/about/events/career-connections-
publishing
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By studying competitors who have developed their own
publishing connections, we can find ways to form and integrate
our own. Studying the types of publishers these competitors have
found, we can figure out what publishers we should be looking at.
In addition, we can decide exactly how we should be putting
these connections to use (i.e. seminars, internships, on-campus
presence, etc.).

Plan of Action
The first step in our search would be to find the right publishers we
would be wanting to contact and to send them word of our interest,
explaining our mission in contacting them and the benefits this
connection would provide them (publicity, new material and interested
parties, etc.). After we have sent all our requests out and have
received responses from each publisher we can move on to setting up
an exchange of information about the subject: either a meeting or a
direct phone call that would detail our plans in regards to the
publishers. Depending on the publishers willingness to participate in
campus projects, we can at least hope for the ability to provide
references and contact information to interested students. If the
publishers are willing and able to provide on-campus support, we can
plan to set up booths in the union or on the south oval for
representatives to promote their services and request student emails
for further contact. We could also plan to set up booths in our
university job fairs, and possibly have representatives come and speak
in public seminars. Each of these on-campus ideas would require
advertisements (flyers, social media, email, etc.) that would provide
information for the time and place for events and contact information
for the publishers. They would invite students to come learn about the
publishing field and develop the contacts needed to get your works
published. We will need to acquire permission to set up booths on
campus, as well as space and resources in the event of a seminar. If we
wanted to set up internship possibilities, we would need to ask
interested publishers exactly when and where students would be
working, what they would be doing, and what benefits this experience
would provide students. We could then relay this information to
students in the form of email and/or advertisements which would list
further contact information. We might even think about offering credit
hours to further entice students. There would be little money needed
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for booths and contact connections, but in the case of a seminar
further funds would be needed. Possible ideas for funding: donations
on campus, funding from department, or sponsorship with a publishing
company. A committee should be developed to contact publishers,
make connections, and plan out intended events. The key performance
indicators for these connections would include: the number of student
emails obtained by booths on campus, the number of students looking
for publishing contacts from the English department, and the number
of students who contact our publishing connections. We could also
request these contacted publishers offer students questions about how
they found out about them and the quality of the assistance they
received from our department.
User Persona

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12
 Problem 2
Student Community
The English Department at OU has a serious problem within their
student body: a lack of community. There are hardly ever any
student events held within the English Department, and when
there are, most students never even know they happened. Dannin
Tauber, writing track student, commented, Ive been meaning to
make it to some of the [English departments] events, but I can
never find any information for them. This is a major problem
because not only are students missing out on fun, educational
activities outside of their normal classes, but it also gives
students less reason to enroll in the major in the first place. A fun,
established community within the English department would give
a much stronger appeal to prospective students and would reflect
well upon the University as a whole.

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 Solution 1: Reading Groups

Description
Within the University of Oklahomas Department of English, there
is little evidence of student community outside of the classroom.
There are only a few events that the department holds for
students, and these events are barely even publicized. Setting up
better structured, well-advertised events would help the
departments student population grow a better community within
itself and would better attract students who are looking for the
kind of community we could provide to the major. The best
starting point for this kind of community we should be creating
would be the foundation and development of reading groups.
These reading groups would provide a means by which students
could get together and talk about some of their favorite books
and interests. The goal would be to set up a time and place for
these reading groups, plan out the subjects of discussion and
persons in charge of these discussions, and advertise and set-up
the actual meetings.

Competitors
Two of our most prominent competitors can be found on our very
campus. The University of Oklahoma is the location of two
different reading group societies: The Honors College Reading
Groups and the World Literature Today Book Club. The Honors
College Reading Groups meet up once a week and offer a great
selection of groups to choose from that each analyze a different
work of literature.7 The World Literature Today Book Club meets
once a month and offers its members the chance to choose new
book selections after every meeting.8 Each of these groups are
free to any person interested and offer their books of study free
for all members.

7 http://www.ou.edu/honors/specialprograms/readinggroups.html
8 http://www.ou.edu/wlt/programs/book-club.html
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Competitor Product Survey
Through careful study of these other reading groups on campus,
we can see what attracts students to their meetings and what
types of literature students are interested in. We can also
determine what times are good for students and how many
students we can potentially attract.

Plan of Action
The first step in creating reading groups on campus would be to map
out exactly how many students we could expect at each group. This
would determine how big of a space we could expect to need for
meetings. The classrooms in Cate 2 would probably be perfectly sized,
assuming we could procure them for use after classes. We could decide
times that groups meet up based on either pre-determined set times
established by organizers or group leaders, or members of groups
could select a time based on their availability. Pre-determined times
would make sure no interested students waste time showing up just to
find out their available time doesnt match up with others, but also
excludes those who might be able to attend with a more flexible
schedule determined by votes. Groups could expect to meet once a
week to talk about their assigned readings. Going by our competitors
ideas, it is advisable to either have the books be free for interested
members or have a fixed membership cost that would pay for procured
books. The primary option would attract the most students, but if other
methods of payment cannot be found membership costs would be a
logical fallback. Advertisements would have to be sent out in a variety
of forms: flyers, email (English department and university wide, if
possible), social media. Possible funding options include: donations on
campus or departmental backing. Depending on how much money we
are allotted, we might be able to offer drinks and/or snacks to
members. A committee will need to be established that would: set
times and locations for groups (including a projected timeline of how
many weeks each group should meet), determine subjects and
literature for each group (preferably setting a variety of different
genres to choose from), set moderators or group leaders for each
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group, gather funding for the groups, and make up and distribute
advertisements. The key performance indicators we can expect from
students include: the number of students that attend group sessions
and the results of surveys handed out to members after the first and
last sessions that the groups hold.

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User Persona

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 Solution 2: Online Presence
Description
The Department of English at OU is not particularly known for
their great website or social media presence. This makes it hard
to gather information about the department itself and its various
functions. It also provides little room for students within the major
to develop an online community through which they could contact
each other. By creating a more prominent and active online
presence, we would be able to culture a more active and present
student community that would help students become more active
within the department itself, and would help interest those
outside the major. The online presence we should be looking to
establish would be developed through a revamped English
department website and, most importantly, a stronger image on
social media sites, such as Facebook or Twitter.

Competitors
Many other universities around the nation have much better websites
for their English departments than the University of Oklahoma does.
The University of Wisconsin Madison and the University of
Washington both provide very interesting home pages for their
department that highlight student involvement and events within their
department.9 When looking at social media sites, the University of
Wisconsin Madison and the University of Texas at Austin both have
great presence on Facebook, offering almost daily updates about
events and interesting articles.10 In a similar fashion, North Carolina
University and the University of north Texas both have great twitter
accounts that offer frequent updates about their department and
interesting articles.11 These Facebook and Twitter pages both garner

9 https://english.wisc.edu/ https://english.washington.edu/

10 https://www.facebook.com/englishuwhelencwhite
https://www.facebook.com/utliberalarts

11 https://twitter.com/ecuenglish?lang=en https://twitter.com/untenglish?lang=en

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appeal and attention from their students and provide a space where
these students can talk and connect.

Competitor Product Survey

By studying our competitors social presence, we can gain valuable
insight into how we should approach our revamp of our departments
online presence and gather ideas of what would look good and be
interesting to viewers. We can learn what design choices look good for
our website and what catches the readers eyes. As well, we can learn
how we should set up our social media presence and determine exactly
what types of posts would attract students and allow for discussion and
connection by students.

Plan of Action
The first step in establishing a strong online presence would be the
renovation of our departments website. Right now, the website is rather
bland and does not paint a very interesting portrait of our department.
The only colors on the page are a bit of red at the top and an
overwhelming white background throughout the rest. To revamp its
image, we would need to find a better design that offers colors and
shapes that attract the eyes. We would also want to implement more
photos of our students on the website (preferably having fun and/or
attending events), as this would show the department as a more active
and entertaining environment to be in. There should also be a better
system of displaying information about the department and its upcoming
events, as the current system is not very informative or inviting.
Regarding social media, our Facebook page is currently being updated
semi-regularly, but a lot of our posts do not include pictures, and those
that do are not very engaging. More photos of students engaging in the
departments events and activities would really brighten up the page. It
would also help to share fun and interesting articles that would engross
readers. As for Twitter, the Department of English does not currently have
a Twitter account and would need to set one up. In a similar fashion to the
Facebook page, the Twitter page should offer pictures of events and
students within the department, as well as sharing interesting and fun
articles that pertain to the department. The major problem with
establishing these revamped online presences would be the subject of
who would perform the work necessary. The best option would be to offer
an internship to a few students within the department to design and
update the website and social media accounts. These positions would be
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paying, if possible, as they would require a lot of time and effort on the
part of the interns. Funding would have to come from the department or
the university, if possible. A committee would need to be formed to
advertise and organize these internships through flyers and emails, and
they would need to provide equipment and working space to the interns.
They would also be in charge of scheduling hours and days for them. Our
key performance indicators would be the amount of feedback we receive
on our social media pages. As well, we can set up a feedback box on our
website for students to provide feedback about the site.

User Persona

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