Dennis Baron Department of English University of Illinois 608 S. Wright St. Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568 department: 217-333-2390 fax: 217-333-4321 email: debaron@illinois.edu http://www.go.illinois.edu/debaron

VITA

Education:

Ph.D., University of Michigan (English Language and Literature), 1971.
M.A., Columbia University (English and Comparative Literature), 1968.
A.B., Brandeis University (English and American Literature), 1965.

Positions Held:

Professor of English and linguistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1984-present.
Head, Department of English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1998-2003.
Acting Head, Department of English, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997-98.
Director of Rhetoric, University of Illinois, 1985-97.
Director, Writing Outreach Workshop, Univ. of Illinois, 1985-88.
Professor, Campus Honors Faculty, Univ. of Illinois, 1988-present.
Professor, College of Education, UIUC, Summer 1988.
Associate Professor of English and Linguistics, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1981-84.
Assistant Professor of English and Linguistics, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1975-81.
Assistant Professor of English, The City College of CUNY, 1973-74.
Assistant Professor of English, Eastern Illinois University, 1971-73.

Professional societies:

Chair, Committee on Public Language, National Council of Teachers of English, 2005-06; 2009-2011.
Chair, Committee on Public Policy, Conference on College Composition and Communication, 2003-06.
Member, Board of Advisors for the television series “Do You Speak American?” with Robert MacNeil.
Member, PMLA Advisory Committee, 1998-2001.
Member, editorial advisory board, Liverpool Studies in Language and Discourse, 1993-present.
Member, MLA Delegate Assembly, 1998-2003.
Chair, MLA Division on Language and Society, 2001-02
Member, Commission on Language, National Council of Teachers of English, 1984-87; 1999-2002.
Editor, Publication of the American Dialect Society (monograph series) 1984-93.
Member, Committee on Language and the Schools, Linguistic Society of America, 1992-1997.
Associate Editor, Publication of the American Dialect Society, 1982-84.

Fellowships and grants:

Faculty Fellow, Program for the Study of Cultural Values and Ethics, Univ. of Illinois, Spring 1992.
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, calendar year 1989.
Newberry Library National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 1988-89 (offered, not held).
IBM Project Excel Grant C-41, 1986-87: “Computer Analysis of Student Writing.”
Associate, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois 1984-85.
Fulbright Lecturer, University of Poitiers, France, 1978-79.
Fellow, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois, 1978 (offered, not held).
University of Illinois Research Board grants, multiple years, 1978 - present.

Publications --

Books and Monographs:

1. A Better Pencil: Readers, writers and the digital revolution. New York and Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2009 (puts our complex, still-evolving hate-love relationship with computers and the internet into perspective, describing how the digital revolution influences our reading and writing practices, and how the latest technologies differ from what came before).
2. Guide to Home Language Repair (questions, answers, and essays on the English language). Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English (1994).
3. The English-Only Question: An Official Language for Americans? (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990; paper ed., 1992), pp. XXI + 226. Over 25 reviews and notices, including The Washington Post Book World, Education Week, Jerusalem Post, TLS, Modern Language Journal, Language.
4. Declining Grammar and Other Essays on the English Vocabulary (Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1989), pp. IX + 240.
5. Grammar and Gender (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986; paper ed., 1987), pp. IX + 249. Over 25 reviews and notices, including TLS, Psychology Today, Chicago Tribune, Toronto Star, Modern Language Review, Language.
6. Grammar and Good Taste: Reforming the American Language (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982; paper ed., 1984), pp. IX + 263. Over 25 reviews and notices, including The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, American Literature, Journal of American Studies, The Times (of London), Studies in the American Renaissance; picked as an Editor’s Choice, New York Times Book Review.
7. Going Native: The Regeneration of Saxon English. Publication of The American Dialect Society, No. 69 (University: University of Alabama Press, 1982), pp. IX + 63.
8. Case Grammar and Diachronic English Syntax (The Hague: Mouton, 1974), pp. 132.

Supreme Court amicus brief:

BRIEF FOR PROFESSORS OF LINGUISTICS AND ENGLISH DENNIS E. BARON, Ph.D., RICHARD W. BAILEY, Ph.D. AND JEFFREY P. KAPLAN, Ph.D. IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONERS, in the case of DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Petitioners, v. DICK ANTHONY HELLER, Respondent (Supreme Court of the United States, 07-290), Jan. 2008.

Book Chapters:

1. "Language and education: The more things change." In Contours of English, ed. Anne Curzan and Michael Adams. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press, forthcoming.
2. “The New Technologies of the Word.” In Keith Walters and Michal Brody, eds., What’s Language Got to Do with It?” New York: W. W. Norton, 2005, pp. 136-51.
3. “Don’t Make English Official—Ban It Instead.” [rpt. of 1996 essay]. In Keith Walters and Michal Brody, eds., What’s Language Got to Do with It?” New York: W. W. Norton, 2005, pp. 477-79.
4. “Forget Everything You Learned About Writing.” In Chris Anson, ed., The WAC Casebook: Scenes for Faculty Reflection and Program Development. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2003, pp. 261-65.
5. “Language Legislation and Language Abuse: American Language Policy through the 1990s.” In Language Ideologies: Critical Perspectives on the Official English Movement, vol. 2: History, Theory and Policy, ed. Roseann D. Gonzalez with Ildiko Melis (Urbana: NCTE, and Lawrence Earlbaum Assoc., 2001), pp. 5-29.
6. “From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies.” In Passions, Pedagogies and 21^st-Century Technologies, ed. Gail Hawisher and Cynthia Selfe (Logan: Utah State Univ. Press and the National Council of Teachers of English, 1999), pp. 15-33. [This is the lead essay in the book.] Rpt. in Ellen Cushman, Eugene R. Kintgen, Barry M. Kroll, and Mike Rose, eds., Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2001. Pp. 70-84.
7. “An Official Language.” Rpt. (from The English Only Question) in Writing About Diversity: An Argument Reader and Guide, ed. Irene L. Clark (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1994), pp. 284-302.
8. “Language Is the Enemy.” Rpt. (from Declining Grammar) in Dimensions of Language, ed. Boyd Davis. (New York: Macmillan, 1993), pp. 427-31.
9. “Language, Culture, and Society,” in Introduction to Scholarship in Modern Languages and Literatures, ed. Joseph Gibaldi. 2nd ed. (New York: Modern Language Association, 1992), pp. 28-52.
10. “Federal English and the Constitution,” rpt. in Language Loyalties, ed. James Crawford. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press (1992), pp. 36-40.
11. “The Legal Status of English in Illinois: Case Study of a Multilingual State,” in Not Only English: Affirming America’s Multilingual Heritage, ed. Harvey A. Daniels (Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 1990), pp. 13-26.
12. “Watching Our Grammar: The English Language for English Teachers,” in On Literacy and Its Teaching: Issues in English Education, ed. Gail Hawisher and Anna Soter (Albany: State Univ. of New York Press, 1990), pp. 208-23. [Review: Sharon J. Hamilton, College English 55 (1993): 794-800.
13. “Watching Our Grammar” (rpt. from Grammar and Good Taste), in The Story of English: Study Guide and Reader (Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 1986).
14. “Nonstandard English, Composition, and the Academic Establishment,” 1975; rpt. in Readings in Applied English Linguistics, ed. Harold B. Allen and Michael Linn, 3rd. ed. (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1982), pp. 436-43.

Recent articles and essays:

1. "It's all your fault: Who's to blame for the literacy crisis?" College Composition and Communication. Sept. 2009.
2. “I’m not really a professor, I just play one on TV.” Inside Higher Education, Oct. 14, 2005.
3. “The College Board’s New Essay Reverses Decades of Progress Toward Literacy.” Chronicle of Higher Education. May 6, 2005. Pp. B14-15; rpt. in Newsletter of the Northeast Association of Pre-Law Advisors, Fall 2005.
4. “The New Nativism: Language Policy and Linguistic Ideology in the United States.” Ryukyus Journal of American Studies (April, 2005): 1-12.
5. “Not Searching for Skeletons.” Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 14, 2005, C1;4.
6. “The Tongue Who Would Be King.” Science and Spirit, November/December 2004, pp. 28-33.
7. “The President’s Reading Lesson.” Education Week, Sept. 8, 2004, p. 43.
8. 11 essays on departmental administration, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2003-04.
9. “It’s Just Grammar. Whom Really Cares?” Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2004, B17; rpt., Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, Adrian (Michigan) Daily Telegram, May 12, 2004.
10. “No Translation Needed: ‘Door Is Closed.’” Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2004, M5 [rpt. Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kansas City Star; Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) Sun-News; Bryan-College Station (TX) Eagle; translated into Finnish for Helsingin Sanomat (Helsinki, Finland), March 28, 2004].
11. 7 Essays on promotion and tenure, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2002-03.
12. “Teaching Grammar Doesn’t Lead to Better Writing.” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 16, 2003, B20.
13. “I Teach English—and I Hate Reader’s Guides.” Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 4, 2002, p. B5.
14. “Good Grammar and the Career Network.” Chronicle of Higher Education, July 31, 2002.
15. “Language Use and Grammar.” The September, 2002, module for “Teaching Composition,” a listserv for the composition teaching community, published by McGraw-Hill. http://www.mhhe.com//socscience/english/tc.
16.             5 essays on the academic job search, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2001-02.
17.              “America Doesn’t Know What the World Is Saying.” Op-Ed essay, The New York Times, Oct. 27, 2001, A21. Rpt. Cleveland Plain Dealer, Oct. 30, 2001, B11.
18.              “The End of Linguistics: a response” letter to the editor, The American Scholar (Spring, 2001): 155-56.
19.              “The Official Secrets Act in Academic Publishing.” Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 16, 2001, B5.
20.              “Literacy and technology.” In Linda K. Shamoon, R. M. Howard, S. Jamieson, and R. A. Schwegler, eds., Coming of Age: The Advanced Writing Curriculum. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, Boynton/Cook, 2000 and on CD-rom. Approx. 8 pp.
21.              “Ebonics and the Politics of English.” World Englishes 19 (March, 2000): 5-19.
22.              “Technology’s Impact on Writing.” Letter. Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 21, 2000, B11.
23.              “To Sir, or Ma’am, with Love.” Education Week. Sept. 8, 1999, 45.
24.              “How to Be a Person, Not a Number, on the U.S. Census.” Chronicle of Higher Education, April 3, 1998, B8.             “Ebonics Is Not a Panacea for Students at Risk.” Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 24, 1997, B4-5. Rpt. in Second-Language Learner, Chicago Public Schools, 1997.

Work in progress:

What Writers Do (a rhetoric for first-year writers).

Recent invited lectures and conference presentations:

1. “No University Student Left Behind: Writing and the Secretary of Education’s Commission on Higher Education.” Featured session. Conference on College Composition and Communication. Chicago, March 2006. Podcast at www.ncte.org.
2. “The Perils of the new SAT Writing Test.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. San Francisco. March 17, 2005.
3. “Spanish, English and the New Nativism.” Modern Language Association. Philadelphia. Dec. 30, 2004.
4. “Reading and Writing in the Digital Age.” Invited presentation. Illinois Library Association, Chicago, September 30, 2004.
5. “Language Policies and Language Politics in the United States.” “English and Minority Languages in the 2000 Census.” Invited lectures, Univ. of Ryukyu, Okinawa, Japan, June, 2004.
6. “TeknoFear.” Invited lecture, Northeastern Illinois University, April 15, 2004.
7. “Standards: They’re Not for Everybody.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. San Antonio, TX, March 25, 2004.
8. “The New Technologies of the Word.” Plenary lecture. International Association of World Englishes Conference, Univ. of Illinois, October 17, 2002.
9. “Writing Effective Promotion Dossiers,” Provost’s Seminar, Univ. of Illinois, Sept. 7, 2001.
10. “Promotion and Tenure,” a workshop for new executive officers, Association of Departments of English seminar, Monterey, California, June 29, 2001.
11. “From Pencils to Pixels: The New Technologies of Literacy.” Invited lecture, UC Davis, March 2, 2001.
12. “Writing Effective Third-Year Faculty Reviews,” Provost’s Seminar, Univ. of Illinois, Feb. 26, 2001.
13. “Other Teachers’ Students.” Conference on College Composition and Communication, Minneapolis, MN, April 15, 2000.
14. “The Best Words of the Millennium.” Modern Language Association, Chicago Il, Dec. 27, 1999.
15. “Ebonics and the Politics of Language.” Conference on Language Policy at the Millennium. Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel; Nov. 23-25, 1999.
16. “From Pencils to Pixels: The New Technologies of Literacy.” Keynote address, Verbal Arts Conference, University of Illinois at Springfield, April 23, 1999. Versions given at Pennsylvania State University; Center for Advanced Study Symposium on Literacy and Writing Systems in Asia.
17.              “Ebonics in the National Media and the National Consciousness,” Modern Language Association, San Francisco, Dec. 1998.
18.              “Talking the Talk: Language Politics Coast to Coast, from Prop 227 to the Puerto Rico Statehood Referendum,” Modern Language Association, San Francisco, Dec. 1998.
19.              “An Invitation to ‘Forget Everything You Learned about Writing in High School’ or Not.” Practice, Theory, Reflection, and Action: Transforming Classrooms, Schools, and English Studies [NCTE], Seattle WA, June 19, 1998.

Media appearances: frequently quoted in newspapers, along with multiple appearances on radio and television each year, including CNN, NPR, CBC, BBC, Voice of America, and local statios such as . . .

1. “The English Language.” Focus 580, WILL-AM, multiple appearances each year from 1982-present.
2. “Good English.” The Robin and Maynard Show. KQBZ-FM (Seattle), May 3, 2005.
3. “Pronunciation in American English.” Interview by Avi Arditti and Roseann Skirble broadcast on “Coast to Coast” by Voice of America (4/24/03); posted on voanews.com/wordmaster.
4. “The English Language,” The Joan Rivers Show, WOR-AM, New York, June 25, 2001.
5. “The New Oxford Dictionary of English,” “Sandy Rios Live,” WYLL-FM, Chicago, Aug. 14, 1998.
6. “The Merriam-Webster/NAACP Controversy.” WCIA TV, Champaign, Oct. 20, 1997.
7. “American English Usage,” broadcast in the series “Under Construction,” by Merriam-Webster and Northeast Public Radio.
8. “The French Language Police,” The Howard Galganof Show, CJIT, Montreal, Sept. 22, 1997.
9. “Language Legislation,” Daybreak, CBC, Montreal, Sept. 8, 1997
10. “Law 101 and Language Legislation,” The Tommy Schnumacher Show, CJAD-AM, Montreal, Sept. 8, 1997.
11. “Literacy,” Newswatch, CBC-TV, Sept. 8, 1997.
12. “The Ebonics Debate,” “Penny for Your Thoughts,” WDWS-AM, Champaign, Jan. 28, 1997.
13. “Ebonics,” WTOP News Radio AM 1500 (Washington, DC), Dec. 28, 1996.
14. “Ebonics,” ABC Radio News, Dec. 28, 1996.
15. “Ebonics,” WNBC-TV (Washington, DC), Dec. 27, 1996.
16. “Ebonics,” NewsChannel 8 (Washington, DC), Dec. 27, 1996.
17. “Banning English,” Jack Cole, WJNO, ABC radio affiliate, Palm Beach, FL, Sept. 12, 1996.

Refereeing and reviewing:

• Program Reviews: Arizona State Univ., Temple Univ., Texas A & M Univ., Louisiana State Univ., North Carolina State Univ., Univ. of Houston.
• Reviewer of Grant Proposals on dialectology for the National Science Foundation, program in linguistics, 1975-present.
• Reviewer of Grant Proposals in English Linguistics, University of Illinois Research Board, 1982-present.
• Reviewer of Grant Proposals in English Linguistics, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1984.
• Reviewer of manuscripts for JEGP, Univ. of Alabama Press, Cambridge Univ. Press, Univ. of Chicago Press, Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, Univ. of Michigan Press, Scott, Foresman, Oxford Univ. Press, The University Press of New England, Yale University Press.
• Consultant, Tennessee Humanities Council public education project (traveling exhibit and 13-part radio series), “English in the American South,” funded by NEH.
• Multiple promotion and tenure reviews.

Memberships in professional organizations:

• American Dialect Society (life member; member, Committee on New Words, 1975-82; member, Committee on Usage, 1982-present; member, Centennial Publications Committee; Centennial Publicity Committee; Centennial Documentaries Committee).
• Modern Language Association (member, Delegate Assembly, 1996-99).
• National Council of Teachers of English (member, Commission on the English Language, two terms; Chair, Committee on Public Language, two terms).
• Conference on College Composition and Communication.
• Conference of Editors of Learned Journals, 1985-93.
• Linguistic Society of America; member, Committee on Language in the Schools, 1992-94.
• Council of Writing Program Administrators
• Illinois Association of Teachers of English (member, program committee, 1987-88).

Administrative initiatives:

• new degree program: Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.
• Chair, English Group, METER section of Illinois Professional Learning Partnership (Department of Education TQE Grant), 1998-2004.
• Director, Language and Public Policy Reading Group, sponsored by Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities.
• Joint proposal with departments of French, Linguistics, and English as an International Language for an international conference on Language Legislation and Linguistic Rights, funded at $10,000, March 21-23, 1996.
• Joint proposal with Department of Speech Communication to establish the Center for Writing Studies—funded initially at $225,000, with $150,000 in recurring funds, including support for 5 faculty lines and graduate student support for 17 students, beginning FY 1990.
• LAS Writing across the Curriculum Proposal, to develop writing-intensive general education courses. Planning Grant Funded FY 1990 @ $19,000 by the Council on Teacher Education to develop writing component for History 151.
• Planning Grant, summer 1988, to develop proposal for new LAS undergraduate teacher education curriculum in English, funded @ $15,000 by the Council on Teacher Education.
• Freshman English Test: proposal for administering and grading writing sample for entering first-year students. Recurring funds of $10,000.
• Writing Outreach Workshop: a program of institutes and short courses to introduce Illinois high school English teachers to computer writing instruction. Funded @ $120,000 per annum, 1985-88.

Biographical notices:

Who’s Who in America
Directory of American Scholars
Contemporary Authors
Who’s Where Among Writers
International Authors and Writers Who’s Who
International Linguistic Directory
Who’s Who in American Education
Who’s Who in the World
Who’s Who in the Humanities

Consulting:

• Legal consulting and expert witness reports and testimony for a variety of law firms on subjects including legibility, readability, document interpretation, plagiarism, trademark.
• Media consulting for television, radio, and newspapers, including The New York Times, Newsweek, CNN Sunday, ABC’s Nightline, The McNeil-Lehrer Report, William Safire, The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, U.S. News and World Report, Los Angeles Times, Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, Cincinnati Enquirer, Orlando Sentinel, Scripps-Howard Newspapers, Springfield (IL) Register, WICD-TV (Champaign, IL),
• Professional consulting for numerous academic, trade and university presses.

Courses taught:

Proseminar on the Teaching of College Writing; Descriptive English Grammar; Technologies of the Word; Writing Technologies; Technology and Literacy; New Genres of the Internet; History of the English Language; The Nature of Standard English; Poetics of Oral Literature; Chaucer; English linguistics; Stylistics and literary criticism; Introduction to film; Old English; Beowulf.

Committee service, Univ. of Illinois:

University level—

• Provost’s Committee on Asian American Studies
• Asian American Studies Council
• Task Force on Program Assessment and Evaluation
• Advanced Information Technologies, Hewlett Group
• Chair, University High School English Committee
• Chair, Communications Area Committee for the Preparation of Teachers, Council on Teacher Education
• University High School Advisory Board
• Committee to Evaluate the Director of University High School
• Search Committee for English Librarian

College level--

• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Executive Committee (two terms)
• Co-chair, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Committee to prepare NEH Division of Education planning grant for revised LAS teacher education curriculum in English and Foreign Languages
• LAS Committee on Planning and Development
• Committee to Plan the 75th Anniversary of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Supercommittee on Teacher Education in the Liberal Arts and Sciences
• College of Education Search Committee for Specialists in Writing and in Children’s Literature
• LAS Committee on Committees
• Humanities Core Curriculum Group

Department level--

• Chair, Rhetoric Advisory Committee
• Chair, Committee to Evaluate the Writing and Rhetoric Programs
• Chair, Committee to Evaluate Curriculum in English Linguistics
• Chair, Undergraduate Teaching Awards Committee
• Chair, University-Community College Articulation Committee
• Chair, Computer Rhetoric Planning Committee
• Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid Committee
• Committee to Evaluate Curriculum in Medieval English Language and Literature
• Committee to Evaluate Curriculum in English Education
• Undergraduate Advising Committee
• Masters Comprehensive Examination Committee
• Lecture Committee
• Grade Review Committee
• Graduate Studies Committee
• Chair, Search Committee for Rhetoric Specialist
• Search Committees for Medievalist (twice), Business Writer, Writing Center Director and Associate Director, Technical Writer
• Committee to Review the Watts Report
• English Library Committee
• English Department Long-Range Planning Committee