LaGuardia - English Department Stories

From its beginnings in the 1970s, the English Department at LaGuardia has been the site of significant and exciting happenings. These are a few personal stories that record such moments.

Essay: "Early Days" by Daniel Lynch

" When I came to LaGuardia in 1974, the English area was part of a mega department called Language and Culture. Our founder, Joseph Shenker thought it best to make everything bureaucratic at LaGuardia slightly awry—the grades were Excellent, Good, Pass and No Credit, Evening Classes were Extended Day and departments didn’t fit traditional subject-based models. He wanted to mark clearly that we were different from every other college. Experimentation was highly regarded, funded and rewarded."

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Essay: "In the Beginning..." by Marian Arkin

" OK. I feel like a long distance runner—the English Department’s most senior, no wait a minute, longest-at-LaGuardia faculty member (there are a minute few older in years than I). I came to LaGuardia in the Winter Quarter of 1971. (We had a quarter system then and for about 20 years. Four quarters—ten weeks in each quarter. Each period 70 minutes long.) 2004-5 marks my thirty-third year at the College."

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