Writing Across the Curriculum

USM's CULTURE OF WRITING
Kathleen Ashley and Ann Dean
2002 Report

Five years ago, the Provost's Writing Committee Report called for a "culture of writing" at our university as a goal toward which institutional resources and planning should be directed.  This brief review will first summarize the steps USM has already taken toward the goal of developing our culture of writing, and then will outline future steps we might take in our curricula and suggest ways our commitment to writing can raise USM's academic profile as a university.

I. STEPS TAKEN BEFORE 2002

A. CORE Writing Requirements: Historically at USM, the primary responsibility for fulfilling basic writing instruction for undergraduate students was assumed by the Academic Support Program, which offered the writing proficiency course ENG 009, and the English Department, which taught ENG 100. However, the College Writing position in English had not been occupied by a professional compositionist, and the link between the developmental and the college writing courses was weak.  Beginning in 1996, writing at this introductory level was substantially strengthened by hiring decisions and program coordination.  

1. In 1996, the English Department concluded a successful search for its first professional compositionist by hiring Hugh English from Rutgers University to become Director of College Writing, a position that recognized the department's crucial role in teaching basic composition to the university student population. With the arrival of Hugh English, ENG 100 became part of a genuine program, since he designed a revised first writing course based on sound intellectual and pedagogical principles and guided its passage through curricular processes. When he left USM in 1998, the second stage of implementing the new course was taken up by Lisa Walker.

2. In 2000, the department hired its second professionally trained compositionist from Rutgers, Ann Dean, to be Director of College Writing. She has expanded faculty development for the teaching of college writing inside the department and has developed strong links with the non-credit remedial writing program headed by Elaine Wright in Learning Assistance.  For her part, Elaine Wright instituted a training and certification program for tutors, including a half-day seminar on writing instruction with Ann Dean.  Elaine also implemented higher exit standards for English 009 and is in the process of training teachers to design courses whose content will connect directly to the work of English 100. In the fall of 2002, Ann Dean will teach a 400-level course, the Teaching of Writing, that will feature student internships in ENG 009 classes --further strengthening the coordination between levels of writing.

B. The Provost's Writing Committee: The Provost's Writing Committee began under CAS Dean Dave Davis (ca. 1990). Its original mandate was to explore the feasibility of developing a Writing Across the Curriculum program at USM. While supporting the idea that writing should be emphasized in courses outside the English Department, all discussions ultimately foundered on the lack of financial resources to support faculty development, since large-scale WAC structures are notoriously expensive to implement. Nevertheless, the work of the committee has yielded significant and steady progress over the past five years.

1. In 1997, the Provost's Writing Committee -- supported by Provost Mark Lapping -- produced the Report referred to above. It called for development of writing-intensive courses at several levels that would be taught in departments and programs across the university and for a university-wide writing coordinator.  As always, the issue of funding faculty development for teaching writing remained a major obstacle.

2. In 1999, Provost Lapping charged the USM Core Council under the leadership of Wayne Cowart with implementing the goals of the Writing Committee Report.  The first step was to ensure that all USM undergraduates have at least one writing-intensive course after College Writing (ENG 100).  In the spring of 2000, the English Department, the CAS Curriculum Review Committee, and the Faculty Senate approved ENG 120 (Introduction to Literature) and ENG 150 (Topics in Literature) as writing-intensive (W) courses. Since a large majority of undergraduates take one of those courses to meet their Core H requirement after completing their basic writing course, this assures that most beginning students will have a full year of writing instruction.  At present, the Sociology Department offers the only other departmental writing-intensive course with a W suffix, Critical Thinking about Social Issues (SOC 210E).

C. Recent CORE Initiatives: The important longer-term goal remains to develop the W courses in many departments outside of English and to add writing-intensive courses at higher levels. The Core Council is in charge of selecting the appropriate faculty and courses and of designing mechanisms for assessing the efficacy of writing instruction in the W courses. Two recent initiatives taken in the summer of 2001 exemplify the work being done to implement the goal of developing and assessing W courses.

1. A team of faculty from across the colleges (Jim Smith, Engineering; Lee Goldsberry, Education; Ann Dean, English; Susan Feiner, Economics, Rick Swartz, English; Luisa Deprez, Social Work; with Susan Campbell, Advising) designed a new COR course with a W designation, "Power, Profit, and Pleasure," which included extensive in-class writing as well as 5 papers.  This course enrolled 100 students, all first-time freshmen, and will serve as a template for the development of future freshman-experience and writing-intensive courses.  In addition to the faculty teachers, each section had the services of a junior or senior at USM who helped students with their writing and with adjustment to university life.

2. The Core Council sponsored an Assessment Workshop for instructors of W-designated Core courses. Participating faculty members designed rubrics for assessing course syllabi and individual student papers, and then used those rubrics to assess each other's syllabi and some sample papers. Responses to this seminar were overwhelmingly positive and the workshop will be repeated.

D. Faculty Development in Writing: Even in the absence of a formal Writing Across the Curriculum program, some focused programs have provided reinforcement for the concept that faculty across the university should be invested in our culture of writing. More importantly, the success of these programs shows that USM faculty in many colleges and departments are already participating in implementing the goals of writing at USM.

1. A number of existing programs and departments have made writing fundamental to their curricula since their establishment and have explicitly articulated that commitment.  University-wide programs include the Honors Program, which offers Thinking and Writing in Honors (HON 100); the Russell Scholars Program, whose students can take Russell Scholars Writing (RSP 100) and Independent Writing (RSP 101); and the Women's Studies Program, whose Introduction to Women's Studies (WST 130I) is advertised as "writing intensive."  Within the College of Arts and Sciences, the Media Studies Program requires The Writing Process (MES 150) of beginning majors; the departments of Chemistry, Physics, Philosophy and Economics have emphasized writing in a majority of their courses; Geography-Anthropology demands that its majors demonstrate writing competence through exit writing requirements; and the English Department in 1995 adopted a Mission Statement that reiterated its curriculum-wide commitment to writing.  Also, Lewiston-Auburn College makes writing an integral part of its interdisciplinary core of courses.

2. Between 1996 and 1998, the College of Arts and Sciences Libra Professorship was devoted to a lecture series on the topic of "Literacies and University Education." A steering committee including Hugh English, Kathleen Ashley and Donna Cassidy brought in three key thinkers in contemporary literacy studies and composition -- Shirley Brice Heath, Glynda Hull, and David Bartholomae -- for a series of very well-attended public lectures. In addition, each literacy expert conducted an all-day workshop with a consistent group of USM faculty (usually around 25) working on their teaching of writing.  In 1998-99, after the official end of the Libra "Literacies" program, that group of interested faculty met three more times for half-day workshops on the theory and pedagogy of writing.

3. Since 1999, Provost Lapping and then Provost Wood have funded a Summer Writing Institute for a diverse faculty group (including full and part time faculty). This institute, administered by Nancy Gish, runs for two weeks in June. Its goals are to develop a more sophisticated culture of writing among faculty, focusing on their own writing processes and projects as well as their work with writing in the classroom.  Faculty from a wide variety of departments have participated, including Linguistics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Sociology, Social Work, Women's Studies, Philosophy, Education, Business, English, Anthropology, Criminology, Nursing, Modern Languages, and Math. A third of the faculty members who enrolled in a Summer Writing Institute in 1999-2001 had participated in 1997-99 Libra Literacy programs of lectures and workshops -- which suggests that there is a substantial number of engaged and well-prepared faculty members now in classrooms across the university.

4. The Faculty Senate adopted a list of Expected Results of a University Education that appears in the front of the USM Catalog; it includes an explicit statement about the educational goal of effective communication in writing.

II. PROPOSED FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Enabled by its small student-faculty ratio, its cadre of dedicated teachers, curricular frameworks in place, and targeted administrative support, USM is already developing a vibrant culture of writing. Faculty and instructors in many departments are demanding serious writing from their students and providing structure as students respond to that challenge.

The initiatives itemized above have largely occurred without an overall coordinating plan. In order to sustain and develop USM's nascent culture of writing, we propose that the academic activities now taking place should be more explicitly linked to each other and given ongoing institutional support.

USM thus offers the skills valued in an information society, but could articulate that fact more emphatically, both to itself and to the public. We should find ways to more effectively build into our institutional mission the recognition that many of USM's graduates are ivy-league quality writers who want to stay in Maine. Furthermore, we should foreground USM's distinctive identity as a Liberal Arts University.

 A. Curricular Suggestions:

1. In the list of courses satisfying CORE requirements, writing-intensive courses should be proposed for the W designation by faculty in a wide variety of departments.

2. Faculty using Core Council money to design new COR Interdisciplinary courses should be encouraged to include substantial writing and given support to do so.

3. The majors should incorporate more writing-intensive courses, as Media Studies has done with Writing for the Media (MES 274) or as the English Dept. with Introduction to Literary Studies (ENG 245).  This would continue USM's emphasis on writing beyond the first two years and also provide our many transfer students with solid writing experience.

4. Continue to implement the concept of linkages between courses. The Russell Scholars Program was founded on the idea that students taking linked courses -- whose instructors were in communication about syllabus design and assignments as well as student performance -- would be in an optimal learning situation. Students admitted to the program have an initial experience of a writing course that is taught in tandem with other CORE courses.

In Fall 2000, links were available for a group of students enrolled in ENG 009 (Developmental Writing) taught by Yvonne Soulière and the FRS 100 University Seminar taught by Margie Fahey. During Fall 2001, that link was expanded to include a SOC 100J section taught by Susan McWilliams.  Instructors used assignments to support and reinforce the subject matter in the content area course. The student response was enthusiastic; they perceived that the three way link not only provided good academic support but produced a strong learning community.

B. Institutional Suggestions:

1. Highlight the commitment of USM to writing at both the departmental and institutional levels by producing mission statements that forcefully articulate the value of writing in a university education. Because writing promotes interdisciplinary and integrative thinking, it represents a fundamental way in which USM encourages effective learning called for in the 2001 USM Plan (Goal 2d).

Departments and programs that have not yet done so should consider revising their catalog descriptions to emphasize the centrality of writing not just as a skill for communicating knowledge but as a profound mode of learning in itself.

2. Emphasize USM's commitment to teaching writing across the entire curriculum in all new admissions and recruitment materials. 

3. Clearly advertise within USM the extant mechanisms for faculty support and training in teaching writing. Interested faculty members should be directed into the Provost's Summer Writing Seminar and the W Assessment Seminar. These "coherent organizational groupings" (2001 Plan, 2d) help faculty construct their own learning communities to support those they are creating for their students.

4. Seek outside funding to support USM's culture of writing. That funding might come in the form of grants for institutional development or targeted activities such as student writing prizes.

For example, a faculty-administrator team is applying for a Trustees' Award for the Advancement of Liberal Learning in order to hold a colloquium for USM and SMTC faculty. The colloquium, entitled "Critical Public and/or Educated Workforce: Conflicts and Opportunities," will be a setting for discussion of the skills and perspectives each set of faculty and students seeks in a college or university. The conversation should provide a basis for clarifying the experience of students transferring from the technical colleges to USM, as well as providing a two-way flow of information about the practices in writing classrooms at both institutions. 

C. Possible Programs for 2002-2003:

1. April 2002. Provost Wood convenes a half-day symposium of faculty and staff from across the university already committed to the culture of writing at USM, as indicated by their participation in the many instructional activities and programmatic initiatives listed above. This symposium will recognize the participants' good work to date, build a sense of shared mission and larger working groups, and provide the opportunity for future planning.  For example, it could be the occasion to recruit from this group of committed faculty members in many disciplines a wider variety of writing intensive (W) course proposals.

2. Early Fall 2002. The Southern Maine Partnership under the leadership of Lynne Miller hosts a 2-hr. Dine and Discuss Seminar for regional high school guidance counselors, which educates them about USM's academic commitment to writing across the curriculum and the quality of a liberal arts education available at our institution. Faculty members with demonstrated commitment to the culture of writing (see 1. above) will participate.

3. Mid-Fall 2002.  The Southern Maine Partnership and the USM English Dept. host a workshop as part of the annual conference of the Maine Council of English Language Arts in October. The workshop will be designed for regional high school teachers to demonstrate what USM is doing in their College Writing course. Discussion of the criteria that guide our introductory program and examples of course materials will clarify writing expectations at the college level.

4. During the year.  The Southern Maine Partnership and the College of Arts and Sciences (and other programs or colleges at USM) host at events for parents and students in the various southern Maine regions to showcase USM's role as a Liberal Arts University. Faculty members with demonstrated commitment to the culture of writing (see 1. above) will participate. 

D. Long-term Possibilities:

1. Summer Writing Institutes for high school English teachers.

2. Summer Writing Institutes for advanced High School Students-- potentially linked to completion of ENG 100 course. English Dept. part-time faculty members--many of whom are teachers with long experience and part of the cadre of committed USM instructors referred to above--provide an already trained resource for such courses.

3. Summer Institutes by faculty in content areas, who can demonstrate how substantive writing enhances the teaching of their discipline.