Barry Maid - Independent Writing Program

Independent Writing Programs, that is writing programs that are not located in English Departments, have existed in American universities since the turn of the twentieth century. Yet, many people who work in higher education, including specialists in rhetoric and composition most often expect that Writing Programs belong “comfortably” within English Departments.

Part of the reason for this perception is that though there are a considerable number of Independent Writing Programs, many of them tend to look a bit different from most traditional academic units. Those programs that are real academic departments, offering majors, tend to be the most visible. Yet, there are a wide range of First Year Writing Programs, Writing Centers, WAC Programs, Professional and Technical Writing Programs that do not report to a Chair of an English Department.

Since one of the hallmarks of Independent Writing Programs is that they seem to emerge based on the need, resources (including human resources), culture, and vision of a particular campus, I’d like to present you with a scenario that, I hope, makes you think about interesting possibilities.

You are starting your fourth year as WPA at a mid-sized school. Your enrollment looks like it will be over 16,000 students for the first time, and the talk is now of hitting 20,000 in five years. The English Department offers both a BA and an MA degree. Most of the MA students tend to be interested in becoming English teachers or creative writers. The only doctoral programs on your campus are in the College of Education. You are one of three rhetoric and composition specialists in the English Department. That means you comprise ten percent of the thirty person faculty. You have just been tenured and promoted to Associate Professor.

At one of the opening events for the new semester, you find yourself sitting at lunch starting to eat, not realizing the seat to your left is untaken. The Provost walks in and takes the empty seat. He starts talking to you. He tells you that your Dean has reported to him about the good job you’ve done with TA training and standardizing the composition curriculum based on the WPA Outcomes Statement. He then asks you if you think writing instruction on campus should be centralized? You’re a bit confused and ask him what he means. He points out, as you know, that there is writing tutoring going on in the Learning Center. That the Center for Faculty Development has a WAC program, that the College of Business teaches business communication, that the College of Engineering teaches technical communication and that the College of Education runs a National Writing Project site. He asks you to think about a way to move all of these disparate services into one new unit and get back to him.

You finish lunch more confused and surprised than anything else. You’re not used to having the Provost ask you for recommendations. You’ve also never thought about all the different kinds of writing instruction that went on at your campus. You’ve spent the last three years concentrating on making sure the First Year Composition Program that you direct is doing the best possible job it can within the institutional constraints.

In order to report to the Provost, you start looking at what writing instruction is offered on your campus and who delivers it. Here is what you find.

The writing tutor coordinator, who works in the Learning Center (which is located in Student Services), has an MA, trains tutors, reads WCenter, but doesn’t post. She doesn’t think she belongs at the International Writing Center Association Conference (after all , it’s international and so big) but has taken students to the National Peer Tutoring Conference.

The WAC specialist has a PhD in English, having written a dissertation on Edmund Spenser. He’s been doing WAC work in the Center for Faculty Development for ten years in a staff position. He’s personable and gets along with faculty across the campus. You’re not quite sure what kind of pedagogy he’s promoting. When you asked him if he reads WAC-L, he asked what you meant. When you mentioned that it was a listserv, he explained he didn’t really like computers and tried to avoid email completely.

The woman who teaches business communication is a PhD in American Lit. She has a full-time permanent, non-tenure track appointment in the College of Business and makes more than most Associate Professors in English. She teaches her bizcomm in very traditional ways so she can grade exercises in her four classes quickly. Most of her time is spent on her lucrative consulting business.

The College of Engineering has thought about hiring a non-tenure track person to teach technical communication. (like the Business College has done), but has never gotten around to it. It usually has adjuncts teach tech comm. They’re often local engineers. Because of the teachers’ work schedules, these classes are almost always offered very early in the morning or in the evening. Students who are juggling part-time work along with family responsibilities often find it difficult to get into a section that meets their life schedule.

You didn’t even realize your campus had a Writing Project site. It is housed in Education and its Director is a charismatic English Education faculty who has been working with local teachers for years. Most of the writing she has her students do is expressive.

What you have discovered is that while writing is taught in various places across the campus, there are only four tenure line faculty whose primary focus is writing: you, your two colleagues in English, and the English Ed Professor. One of the important people (the writing tutor coordinator) doesn’t have a terminal degree and her appointment is in Student Services not Academic Affairs. Engineering clearly has a need but no faculty. You’re concerned about the pedagogy used by the woman in Business. You’ve just been successful in moving your own program away from that kind of teaching. You don’t really have a clue about how to figure out the WAC person.

So, while the Provost’s suggestion seems to make sense, what can you reasonably and responsibly propose? Would you call for the establishment of a new department? If so, where would you house it? Do you think some kind of Super Writing Program is called for? Again, what would be the reporting lines? Would some people have to report to two different entities? Or maybe, a cross-disciplinary campus committee would work? But how would it be staffed, and would it only be just one more campus committee?

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