ANNUAL REPORT OF THE UNIVERSITY WRITING COMMITTEE AY 2008

							                                       Sen. Doc. No. 10-013


           ANNUAL REPORT

                OF THE

UNIVERSITY WRITING COMMITTEE

             AY 2008 – 2009


             Presented at the
    th
 690 Regular Meeting of the Faculty Senate
           December 15, 2009



         COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP

  Stephen Olbrys Gencarella, Chair (Fall)
      Elizabeth Porto, Chair (Spring)
               Emily Alling
              Steven Brewer
              Ryan Brundage
      Genevieve Chandler, ex officio
             Amber Engelson
         David Fleming, ex officio
               Ingrid Holm
              Judith Holmes
             Elizabeth Jakob
           Ernest May, ex officio
          Matt Ouellett, ex officio
                                                                      Sen. Doc. No. 10-013


The University Writing Committee (UWC), in the 2008-2009 academic year, focused primarily on
wrapping up the Junior Year Writing Program Review and promoting recommendations of the
JYWP Review.

No new members joined the committee this year. The following returning committee members
continued to serve on the UWC: Emily Alling, Steven Brewer, Amber Engelson (graduate student
representative), Stephen Gencarella, Ingrid Holm, Judith Holmes, Matt Ouellett, and Elizabeth
Porto. David Fleming, Director of the Writing Program, and Genevieve Chandler, Coordinator of
the Junior Year Writing Program, served ex officio. Since Genevieve Chandler’s term as JYWP
coordinator was finished in mid-year, Stephen Gencarella took on the position in January 2009.

The committee held eight meetings. In the fall semester, the main business of the UWC was
finishing the final draft of the Junior Year Writing Program Review and consideration of what to do
about problems raised by the report.

The committee’s two main projects for the year were a fall social on 20 November at the University
Club and a spring workshop on 3 April on teaching multilingual writers. We had dual purposes in
these outreach events:
         Community-building. We wished to continue sustaining the community among junior-year
         writing instructors generated by the summit in the spring
         Providing and sharing resources. We wished to provide various resources to junior-year
         writing instructors across campus and to remind the junior-year writing instructors across
         campus of the UWC as a resource
A lot of planning (both pedagogical and logistical) went into both events, and each was attended by
thirty – forty JYW representatives and instructors.

In addition, the committee discussed at length the role of information literacy in the JYW classroom,
hosted a presentation to the committee from members of the library on the subject, started a sub-
committee to address the writing needs of veterans on campus, and made plans for a workshop on
technology and writing to be held in Fall 2009.

Several members of the committee participated in the annual Celebration of Writing, held in May,
2009, with three of the UWC members judging the winners of the best-text competitions in three
categories (best essay, best professional and technical text, and best multi-media text).

The UWC’s primary charge for the next academic year is to prepare for the Freshman Writing
Program Review in 2010-2011. Amber Engelson and Elizabeth Jakob will have completed their
service on the committee and Emily Alling has left the University, so the UWC will have the
following new members: Heidi Bauer-Clapp (graduate student representative), Madeleine Charney
(Library), Holly Lawrence (ISOM), Rand Nashi (undergraduate representative), and Sigrid Schmalzer
(History).