William R. Handley, a popular assistant professor of literature who specializes in the literature of the American west, announced Friday he will step down at the end of the term to take a new post at the University of Southern California (USC).

Handley is the fourth junior Faculty member to have announced plans to resign from the English department in recent weeks.

Echoing a common concern among junior--and increasingly, senior--members of the department, Handley said the decision was largely motivated by his realization that attaining tenure at Harvard is not a realistic option, and indeed "virtually impossible" for junior Faculty.

He said the USC post, also an assistant professorship in English, offers a considerably shorter timetable for gaining tenure.

Since his appointment to Harvard in the fall of 1995, Handley said that of the 13 junior Faculty members who were then part of the department, only one would remain after he leaves. Within the past several weeks alone, three junior Faculty members in the English department--Ann Pellegrini '86, Joshua "Jed" D. Esty and Jonah Siegel--announced their intent to accept tenure-track positions at other universities.

This sort of culture, he said, has forced untenured scholars to keep one foot in the door at Harvard and the other in the job market.

"There's always the assumption that you should take a good job when you see one," he said.

And Handley said this was simply an opportunity he could not pass up.

The USC post provides an ideal academic environment for the scholar, who has in the past taught courses on the literature of California and the literature of the American west. Handley, who was on leave during the fall term, currently teachesan undergraduate seminar on British authorVirginia Wolff.

According to Cabot Professor of English WernerSollors, who is also director of undergraduatestudies for the English department, the loss ofHandley's passion for the literature of the west"will be difficult for the department to get over.

"There's nobody in the department who does whathe does," Sollors said. "I'm truly sorry to seehim go."

Sollors said Harvard can boast "Pretty muchthe best facilities' for Faculty members involvedin English or literature, but the "variable oftenure" has taken a toll on the department's staffof junior Faculty, despite what he said have beengood faith efforts by the administrations ofHarvard President Neil L. Rudenstine to improvethe process.

Last week, Department of English Chair LawrenceBuell announced the department had hired five newassistant professors to help replenish some of thedepartment's recent losses.

Handley said were it not for longterm careerconcerns, he had little desire to leave theUniversity.

"I love working at Harvard and I've never hadany desire to leave," Handley said. But "it's agood idea to go somewhere you can reasonablyassume to get tenure."

As a result, Handley said undergraduates andgraduates are the ones who most lose out.