A process to begin integrating first-year composition and engineering: or how to talk to an English department

Arizona State University's Foundation Coalition Program for first-year-engineering students is one of the few programs that integrates English (first-year composition courses) with engineering courses. So successful has this integration been that we now offer a separate section of English for engineers. We are aware that there are a number of barriers that make such integration difficult. These barriers include basic problems such as not understanding what is typically taught in first-year composition classes and who does the teaching. In most English departments, first-year English classes are composition classes, and are under the auspices of the Rhetoric and Composition faculty. Some of these faculty members feel strongly that composition classes should deal with issues of rhetoric, and they believe that integration with another subject will weaken their own subject area. Another problem is that Teaching Assistants teach most composition classes. Therefore, the possibility of involving tenured faculty in the reaching of integrated classes may be remote, and engineering departments who approach English departments with this goal in mind may be quickly disappointed. However, in a number of institutions, composition classes are also taught by instructors and lecturers who may be more willing to undertake such courses. In this paper, we discuss ways to approach an English department to begin the process of integration, staffing such courses, persuasive benefits engineering can offer English departments, and some areas of integration that can occur in composition classes.