The position of Campus Writing Coordinator was created by a Working Group on Writing (1999-2001) on the heels of extensive reviews of lower- and upper-division writing at UCI. The university has long had strong writing requirements for first year students, including a range of composition courses, a 3-quarter interdisciplinary option (Humanities Core Course), and extensive support for students learning Academic English and ESL. Undergraduates are also required to take an upper-division writing course in a discipline (W courses).

Honoring the decentralized nature of disciplinary instruction at UCI, the position of Campus Writing Coordinator was conceived of as a way of supporting and linking writing efforts across the campus. The office, run by the coordinator and supported by a writing consultant and an administrative assistant, serves faculty who are currently teaching W courses, helping them to improve instruction, and offers consultation to faculty, instructors, and TAs who are working on writing curriculum or pedagogy in any capacity. The CWC conducts workshops, invites speakers, collects and distributes resources on writing in the disciplines and writing courses at UCI, and conducts writing program assessment and research.

Boyer Report section V: Communication Skills
From the 1995 Report on Reinventing Undergraduate Education

The goals of the project are to

• assist faculty in the disciplines in improving writing instruction in upper-division W courses

• support the building of writing assignments into other disciplinary courses

• create possibilities for faculty to reflect on writing pedagogy in general and on the modes and standards of writing specific to each discipline

• generate opportunities for students to work together on writing projects and to assist each other in writing development

• consult with departments on the development of coordinated writing plans

• assess upper-division writing, and

• forge stronger links between first-year composition and writing in the disciplines

Learning to write effectively is a life-long task.

Here are some of the assumptions about writing that underlie the Campus Writing Coordinator's work:

• Writing is a mode of learning as well as a way of communicating disciplinary knowledge.

• Writing is discipline-specific: i.e., people write within discourse communities, each with its own audiences, genres, forms, and standards.

• Writing is always a rhetorical act, emerging from a context, addressing an audience, and serving a purpose.

• Learning to write is a life-long process within which the four years of undergraduate study play a crucial roll

Outcomes faculty and departments can expect from working with the Campus Writing Coordinator range from small changes in course design to the improvement of one or more existing writing assignments all the way to the design of a coordinated departmental writing plan. We would be happy to collaborate in the revitalization of existing writing-intensive courses and in the generation of ideas for new ones. Thinking about writing in the disciplines leads to valuable reflections on pedagogy in general and on learning processes specific to each area of study. We look forward to contributing to the writing culture at UCI and invite inquiries to the addresses listed above.

The current coordinator, Jonathan Alexander, will hold the position for a five-year term (2007-12) and holds an appointment as Professor in the English Department. For more information on the CWC and his staff, please see People.