Because Writing Program Administration work is distributed aross traditional areas of Teaching, Research, and Service, this page provides a snapshot of my work as WPA. National guidelines are available at The Council of Writing Program Administrators. I invite visitors to be familiar with the official statements in order to better understand the documents and achievements here.
Between 2008-2016, I provided staff enrichment activities, guided faculty curriculum decisions, and provided institutional support for a first-year writing program housed in the Department of English, later the Department of Languages and Literatures. During this time, our staff worked with staff in the Department of Communication Studies to pilot and offer a course, Cornerstone, to blend writing and speaking instruction, shifted from full–length research paper assignments to more multi-genre assignments, included more annotated bibliographies to learn beyond the mechanics of citing sources, assessed the processes of student writing using Dynamic Criteria Mapping, and established close connections with library and Writing Center staff. Part of my work also reached out to the campus–wide community. I helped establish a University Writing Committee to help guide Faculty Senate and to bring together diverse perspectives on writing and curricular needs.
Notable achievements as Department WPA include:
supervised and provided professional development for a writing staff of 12 -15 adjunct instructors and 1-3 graduate teaching assistants,
wrote and obtained assessment grants (2013 Assessment Grant Application. Click here for a downloadable.pdf file),
observed teaching and provided feedback (confidential information),
prepared and distributed staff manual (Click here for a downloadable .pdf file of the first portion of the guide),
maintained contact with Regents’ institutions writing programs,
attended state-wide transfer coordination meetings,
provided writing program inclusion in national databases (National Census of Writing. Click here to see a digital version of the data sheet).
Notable Achievments as Chair of University Writing Committee:
WEC Report to Deans and Provost. Click here for a downloadable .pdf file of the full report.
Led comparative institutional research on required writing credits. Insight: UNI requires considerably less writing credits than peers and typical U.S. institutions of higher education. Click here for a .pdf document of the recommendation.
Conducted a survey on types campus writing practices and needs. Click here for a downloadable .pdf file.
Report on Faculty Perceptions of Writing. Click here for a downloadable .pdf file of the report.
Formal Proposal for Creation of Universty Writing Committee. Click here for a downloadable .pdf file.
Selected List of Snack Series Articles for Professional Enrichment of instructional staff:
Anson, Chris. “The Intelligent Design of Writing Programs: Reliance on Belief or a Future of Evidence.” Writing Program Administration 32.1 (Fall/ Winter 2008), 11 – 36.
Brady, Laura, Natalie Singh-Corcoran, Jo Ann Dadisman, and Kelly Diamond. “A Collaborative Approach to Information Literacy: First-Year Composition, Writing Center, and Library Partnerships at West Virginia University.” Composition Forum 19 (Spring 2009).
Downs, Douglas and Elizabeth Wardle. “Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions: (Re)Envisioning ‘First-year Composition’ as ‘Introduction to Writing Studies.’” College Composition and Communication 58:4 (June 2007), 552- 584.
Miller, Richard E. “The Future is Now: Presentation to the RU Board of Governors.” YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z65V2yKOXxM. Video.
Smith, Frank. “Myths of Writing.” Language Arts 58.7 (October 1981), 792 – 798.
Zwagerman, Sean. “The Scarlet P: Plagiarism, Panopticism, and the Rhetoric of Academic Intrgrity.” College Composition and Communication 59:4 (June 2008), 676- 710.
