English Department Writing Programs Receive 2016-17 Certificate Of Excellence

Innovations in new media, online learning and community service set the programs apart.

The Writing Programs in the Department of English have received the 2016-17 Writing Program Certificate of Excellence from the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC).

The Writing Programs offer instruction and guidance in academic and professional writing. Academic Writing focuses on writing for college courses, while the Professional Writing Program prepares students for writing challenges beyond the university. The Writing Center provides assistance to undergraduates with writing assignments from any course across campus.

Collectively, these programs have become leaders in not only traditional writing and critical inquiry, but also integrating digital and online tools into learning, teaching and instructor training. The programs offer traditional, online and blended courses that take advantage of both traditional and online environments. Students in all courses learn how to write in many genres for different platforms, including digital, and instructors and tutors are trained to teach and provide guidance on these new forms of writing.

“Online instructors have been applying traditional teaching methods to their classrooms since online instruction began,” says Scott Wible, associate professor of English and director of the Professional Writing Program. “Our expertise in blended and online learning allows us to think about how lessons learned in non-traditional classrooms can inform and improve student learning.”

Community service is also an active part of the writing program. For example, writing center administrators and tutors provide workshops for area high school students on developing personal statements for college applications. For more than 20 years, the Writing Center has also hosted a grammar hotline that responds to 12-25 questions weekly, most of which come from the general public. Queries range from documentation issues and grammatical points to matters of etiquette (“How do I address a mayor in a letter?”). The grammar hotline is publicized through a national list published by Tidewater Community College and on websites such as that of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Library.

The CCCC is the most prestigious professional organization in the field of rhetoric and composition and this award is the highest one it confers for programmatic excellence.