Mason's WAC Program Continues to Rank Among Nation's Best

For the eighth year in a row, Mason has ranked among the top 22 programs for writing in the disciplines in the U.S. News College Issue (2010). We are one of only 10 public institutions making the list.

New WIN(ning) Initiative

On June 8, 2009, a group of 10 faculty from five colleges met for a day-long brainstorming session to develop a plan for implementing a new writing-infused--WIN(ning)--initiative.  The group articulated a list of components that WIN(ning) programs should include, along with issues and questions that will need to be addressed.  After a productive meeting, the group decided that we should constitute ourselves in an ad hoc working group with plans to meet several more times in the fall to get the initiative underway.  Members include: Anne Magro (Accounting), Paige Wolfe (Management), Nicola Scott (Marketing), Buffy Price and Kate Mattingly (Dance), Lynne Constantive (Art and Visual Technology), Cathy Tompkins (Social Work), Tamara Maddox (Computer Science), Shelley Reid (Director of Composition), and Terry Zawacki and Sarah Baker (WAC Director and Assistant Director).  See the Spring 2009 Writing @ Center newsletter for more on WIN(ning) programs.

Mason's WAC Program Ranked Among Nation's Best

For the seventh year in a row, Mason has ranked among the top 23 programs for writing in the disciplines in the U.S. News College Issue (2009). We are one of only nine public institutions making the list.

Mason WAC Assessment Featured as Model

The assessment process we have developed has been recognized as a model program by the Council of Writing Program Administrators and the National Council of Teachers of English, one which “reflects consistent principles … enacted through questions and methods that are appropriate for the institution, the department, and the program.” We are pleased to share our methods, materials, and results with all who are interested.

WAC and TAC Partner to Establish Faculty Learning Communities

The Writing Across the Curriculum Program (WAC) and the Technology Across the Curriculum Program (TAC) have partnered to establish a semester-long faculty learning community to explore approaches for incorporating technology to address the pedagogical challenges faculty encounter when teaching Writing-Intensive (WI) courses. Participating faculty discuss the pedagogical challenges involved in teaching writing-intensive/writing-infused courses in ways that will prepare students to be writers who have the necessary technological literacies for the writing we expect them to do, survey writing-related technology tools, and develop pedagogical approaches and resources that will help faculty across the disciplines take advantage of these writing-related technologies. In spring 2009, as part of a faculty workshop co-sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), each learning community group will present their plans to the larger group and other Mason faculty who are interested in using technology tools to help facilitate writing and student engagement in their WI courses.

Mason WAC Launches New Website

On October 15th, Mason's WAC program launched a new website. Designed by MFA student Robb St. Lawrence with an emphasis on improved usability, the new website has been overseen, and new content has been generated, by WAC Director Dr. Terry Zawacki and Assistant Director Sarah Baker.

George Mason Review Seeking Exemplary Student Writing

The George Mason Review is a unique literary journal that seeks to promote a writing infused culture by publishing academic essays as well as creative work. Their mission corresponds with the Writing Across the Curriculum initiative at Mason. Students may submit any academic essay written for class (from any semester) provided that it is written well. The GMR wants to publish essays that not only inform but also keep the reader interested and excited about the material. We are also looking to publish short stories, poems, creative nonfiction, and art. Creative work should be captivating, original, and should use language powerfully. The exemplary pieces chosen for The George Mason Review are used in some composition classes at George Mason.

The GMR publishes annually. The deadline is March 1st, but we encourage students to send pieces sooner, as submissions are read on a rolling basis.

Please send all submissions to gmreview@gmu.edu.

And check out our new website at http://gmreview.gmu.edu.

GMU's WAC Program Makes US News and World Report Top 15

For the sixth year in a row, George Mason's WAC program has been honored among the top fifteen Writing in the Disciplines programs in the country by the US News and World Report, College Issue 2008 (p. 45).

This distinction puts us in the company of Duke, Harvard, Princeton, and University of Chicago, among others on the list.

We are one of only five public institutions* in the rankings.

• Amherst College (MA)
• Carleton College (MN)
• * Clemson University (SC)
• Cornell University (NY)
• Duke University (NC)
• * George Mason University (VA)
• Harvard University (MA)
• * North Carolina State U.—Raleigh (NC)
• Princeton University (NJ)
• * Purdue Univ.—West Lafayette (IN)
• Sarah Lawrence College (NY)
• Stanford University (CA)
• Swarthmore College (PA)
• * University of California—Davis (CA)
• University of Chicago (IL)

We appreciate the good work of all the faculty across the university who support students in their efforts to write well in their disciplines.

The Writing Across the Curriculum Program and the Center for Teaching Excellence invite you to a Fall series of workshops on Teaching with Writing. The workshops will take place on three Fridays, from Noon-2PM in the Johnson Center Assembly rooms on the third floor. The schedule is:

September 15th - Designing Good Writing Assignments

Keys to writing clear assignments and straightforward evaluation criteria.
Assembly room A

October 6th - Managing the Paper Load & Responding Effectively to Writing

Ways to grade more efficiently while still providing beneficial advice to students
Assembly room A

October 20th - What To Do When Students "Can’t Write”

Strategies for dealing with the errors that bog you down when you read student writing.
Assembly room G

You are invited to join us for any or all of these sessions.

Please RSVP to lfathe@gmu.edu or 993-8652 by Monday the week of the workshop to help us plan for lunch.

If you misssed a session, feel free to contact Terry Zawacki for the workshop handouts. We look forward to working with you!

WAC and the Center for Teaching Excellence co-sponsor LabWrite workshop

LabWrite (http://www.ncsu.edu/labwrite) is an NSF-sponsored website developed by Dr. Michael Carter, a professor at North Carolina State who teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in science writing, and Dr. Miriam Ferzli, a biology professor. This free online resource is designed for a wide range of sciences and has been used at all levels of undergraduate education. Several control-group studies, according to professors Carter and Ferzli, have shown that students who use LabWrite are significantly more effective at learning science than those who use typical lab report instruction.

Among those in attendance was Dr. Chris Jones, chair of Environmental Science and Policy, who subsequently invited some of his faculty to participate with Dr. Laurie Fathe, a physics professor and director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, in follow-up activities to implement LabWrite tools into some of the intro lab courses.