The Haas professorship provides leadership in the First-Year Writing and graduate programs and is expected to teach composition as well as upper division and graduate courses. The program emphasizes teaching, equal respect for literature and writing and linguistics, and service to the diverse communities of South Texas. The English department plays a key role in the University's First-Year Learning Communities Program, which was recognized by the Pew Foundation as one of 13 institutions of excellence in the nation. First-Year Writing is taught in state-of-the-art computer labs. In addition to the English major, the program offers undergraduate minors in Technical and Professional Writing, Journalism, Creative Writing, and Literature.