Writing Fellows

Charge

The Executive Council charged the Writing Fellows to improve student writing at UW Tacoma. The group contracted with the Writing Program Administrators (WPA) to produce a set of recommendations to improve writing across curriculum. The group made recommendations on the sequence of writing assignments in classes; the writing requirements for transfer students; the resources needed to help faculty incorporate writing into their courses; and on hiring a Writing Across the Curriculum Coordinator. They were comissioned in Winter 2012 and completed their work at the end of Fall Quarter 2013.

Membership

• Alison Cardinal, SIAS, Chair
• Michael Kula, SIAS
• Deirdre Raynor, SIAS
• Nicole Blair, SIAS

Process and Documents

• First, they conducted a campus-wide assessment and completed a self-study report that collected campus-wide data about writing by collecting syllabi, conducting a faculty survey, and facilitating focus groups. They wrote the Self-Study in Summer 2013:
  • Writing Fellows Self Study
• Then, they brought professional writing consultants to campus from the Council of Writing Program Administrators Consultant Evaluators Service to review and diagnose problems associated with writings at UWTacoma on November 3-5, 2013. The consultants were on campus for three days meeting with students, TLC and department heads to gather and share information. The WPA consultants provided a report six weeks later that the Writing Fellows used to develop recommendations for the campus:
  • WPA Consultants Report: Review of the University of Washington Tacoma Writing Program
• Lastly, the Writing Fellows created an action plan based on the WPA Consultants report to guide implementation of their recommendations across campus:
  • Improving Writing at UWT - Action Plan
  • Improving Writing at UWT - Action Plan, Color-coded format