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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 conducted over the
last 5 years. 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). (See Academic
Senate Regulation 520 )
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 offers small grants to UCI
faculty and TAs, 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.
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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
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We
wish to thank Elizabeth
Losh for her assistance in
assembling materials for and consultation
on the design of this website.
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CWC
Staff
Jonathan Alexander
UCI
Campus Writing Coordinator
(949) 824-7397
jfalexan@uci.edu
Sue Cross
Tutor Coordinator
Writing and Library Research Peer Tutoring Program
secross@uci.edu
I-Lien Tsay
CWC Writing Fellow
(949) 824-9531
itsay@uci.edu
Iveta
Cruse
Administrative Assistant
(949) 824-9532
icruse@uci.edu |
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
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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.
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The current coordinator, Jonathan Alexander, will hold the position for a five-year term (2007-12) and holds an appointment as Associate Professor in the English Department. For more information on the CWC and his staff, please see People. |
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