Sustainable WAC

Dan Melzer, Jeffrey R. Galin, Michelle Cox

Description

Winner of the 2021 Association for Writing Across the Curriculum/WAC Clearinghouse award for Best WAC Monograph

A 2008 survey of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs found that nearly half of those identified in a 1987 survey no longer existed twenty years later, pointing to a need for an approach to WAC administration that leads to programs that persist over time. In Sustainable WAC, current or former WAC program directors Michelle Cox, Jeffrey R. Galin, and Dan Melzer introduce a theoretical framework for WAC program development that takes into account the diverse contexts of today's institutions of higher education, aids WAC program directors in thinking strategically as they develop programs, and integrates a focus on program sustainability. 

Informed by theories that illuminate transformative change within systems—complexity, systems, social network, resilience, and sustainable development theories—and illustrated with vignettes by WAC directors across the country, this book lays out principles, strategies, and tactics to help WAC program directors launch, relaunch, or reinvigorate programs within the complicated systems of today’s colleges and universities. Acknowledging that every WAC program grows out of a specific institutional context and grassroots movement, this book is a must-read for everyone currently involved in a WAC program or interested in exploring the possibility of one at their college or university.

Sujets

• Scholarly
• Academic
• Writting
• Disciplines
• Language Arts
• Sciences de l'éducation
• Writing Across the Curriculum

Informations

• Publié par: National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780814100547
• Langue: English

Extrait

S USTAINABLE WAC
NCTE E DITORIAL B OARD : Steven Bickmore, Catherine Compton- Lilly, Deborah Dean, Bruce McComiskey, Jennifer Ochoa, Duane Roen, Anne Elrod Whitney, Vivian Yenika-Agbaw, Kurt Austin, Chair, ex officio, Emily Kirkpatrick, ex officio

Staff Editor: Bonny Graham Manuscript Editor: The Charlesworth Group Interior Design: Jenny Jensen Greenleaf Cover Design: Pat Mayer Cover Image: StudioM1/iStock/Thinkstock
NCTE Stock Number: 49522; eStock Number: 49546 ISBN 978-0-8141-4952-2; eISBN 978-0-8141-4954-6
©2018 by the National Council of Teachers of English.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.
It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.
NCTE provides equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all staff members and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical, mental or perceived handicap/disability, sexual orientation including gender identity or expression, ancestry, genetic information, marital status, military status, unfavorable discharge from military service, pregnancy, citizenship status, personal appearance, matriculation or political affiliation, or any other protected status under applicable federal, state, and local laws.
Every effort has been made to provide current URLs and email addresses, but because of the rapidly changing nature of the Web, some sites and addresses may no longer be accessible.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record of this book has been requested.
C ONTENTS

F OREWORD
Barbara E. Walvoord
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

1 The Need for a Systematic Approach to Building and Sustaining WAC Programs
A WAC Failure That I'm Trying to Learn From
Michael J. Michaud
Handing Over the Reins: Ownership, Support, and the Departmentally Focused Model of Communication Across the Curriculum
Chris M. Anson and Deanna Dannels
Why Theorize WAC Program Development?
An Overview of Our Theoretical Framework
Outline of the Book
How to Utilize This Book
2 The Whole Systems Framework for Launching and Developing WAC Programs: Theories and Principles
Complexity Theory
Systems Theory
Social Network Theory and Organizational Network Analysis
Resilience Thinking
Sustainable Development Theory
From Bellagio Principles to Principles for WAC
How the WAC Principles Reflect Complexity Theories
3 The Whole Systems Process for Launching and Developing WAC Programs: Methodology and Strategies
The Whole Systems Methodology for Launching, Revitalizing, and Reviving WAC Programs
Developing SIs in the Whole Systems Approach
Whole Systems Strategies for Launching and Building Sustainable WAC Programs
How Our Process and Practices Connect to Our Principles
4 Stage One of the Whole Systems Methodology: Understanding the Institutional Landscape
Whither WAC at the Community College
Maury Elizabeth Brown
WAC without a WAC Program
Stephen Wilhoit
The Elusive Whole: From Writing Emphasis to Writing in the Major
Bryan Kopp
Wrangling Writing Intensives
Michael J. Cripps
Strategy 1: Determine the Campus Mood
Strategy 2: Understand the System in Order to Focus on Points of Interactivity and Leverage
Strategy 3: Understand the Ideologies That Inform the Campus Culture of Writing
5 Stage Two of the Whole Systems Methodology: Planning a Program
Creating a Mission and Goals for WID
Timothy Patrick Oleksiak
Beyond Status: Forming Alliances for Student Success
Marla L. Hyder
WAC and General Education at GSU
Kerri K. Morris
Shifting from Curriculum to Faculty to Create a Sustainable WAC Program
Christian Weisser and Holly L. Ryan
Strategy 4: Involve Multiple Stakeholders in the System
Strategy 5: Work toward Positioning the WAC Program for Greater Interconnectivity and Leverage in the Institution
Strategy 6: Consider the Impact of WAC on Faculty and Student Equity
Strategy 7: Set Mission, Goals, and SIs
6 Stage Three of the Whole Systems Methodology: Developing Projects and Making Reforms
Stealth and Sustainability: Writing Center Workshops as WAC
Juli Parrish and Eliana Schonberg
Rhetorical Listening/Listening to Learn Rather Than to Correct
Maggie Cecil and Carol Peterson Haviland
Challenges and Breakthroughs in a WID-Based Faculty Development Seminar: Reflections from a New WAC Director
Zak Lancaster
Building a Campus Writing Culture: It Takes a Village
Violet (“Vi”) A. Dutcher
Strategy 8: Maximize Program Sustainability through Project-Based Development
Strategy 9: Make Reforms at Both the Micro and the System Levels
Strategy 10: Plan for Gradual Rather Than Rapid Reforms to the System
Strategy 11: Deal with Obstacles to Program or Project Development Systematically
7 Stage Four of the Whole Systems Methodology: Leading for Sustainability
Sustaining a WAC Program through Reinvention
Mary McMullen-Light
Preparing NOW for Your WAC/WID Future: Building Leadership Continuity into Program Structure
Chris Thaiss
Friends in High Places: Institutional Assessment as Powerful Ally in Achieving WAC Goals
Terry Myers Zawacki
WAC Assessment from Start to Finish
Beth Daniell and Mary Lou Odom
Strategy 12: Communicate Regularly and at All Levels of the System to Keep the Program Visible
Strategy 13: Be Aware of Systems beyond Your Institution and Connect to Those That Are Beneficial to the WAC Program
Strategy 14: Assess and Revise the WAC Program
Strategy 15: Create a Plan for Sustainable Leadership
On the Recursivity of the Whole Systems Approach
8 The Potential for Transformational Change: Implications of the Whole Systems Approach for WAC at Every Scale
Programs in Process
Limitations of This Theoretical Framework and Book
Implications of This Book for WAC Scholarship
Implications of This Book for the Organization of WAC as a Field
A Different Mindset for WAC
Appendix A: Step-by-Step Process for Creating Radar Charts (AMOEBA Graphs) in Microsoft Excel 2013

R EFERENCES
I NDEX
A UTHORS
C ONTRIBUTORS
F OREWORD
B ARBARA E. W ALVOORD
I am the “Walvoord” that you are going to read about in the first chapter of this book. The authors credit me with an early attempt at theorizing Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program development, which, they rightly argue, has been undertheorized. Those of us working to establish effective and sustainable WAC programs and to promote broad changes in higher education are facing ever-changing environments, challenges, and possibilities. We need more than advice from the trenches, though we certainly need that. We need more than theories of pedagogy, though we certainly need those, and we've been generating powerful ones. In addition, as the authors rightly posit, we need a robust theoretical framework for program development, to help us understand what is going on and what the possible future trajectories are for our efforts, our ideals, and our goals.
As the authors note, I published, in 1996, an article entitled “The Future of WAC,” in which I used social movement theory to try to understand the WAC movement, to envision its future, and to offer guidelines for achieving its long-term goals for change. In Chapter 1 of the present book, the authors offer a fair assessment of what I was trying to do, and they also note correctly that social movement theory was limited as a framework for building transformative and sustainable WAC programs. Others needed to build on my work and move the theorizing forward. This volume does that in a wonderfully insightful, informed, and intelligent way. This book is a signature work that will make a real difference to WAC and to American higher education. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with WAC or, more broadly, with any effort to make American higher education more humane and learner centered.
My own career illustrates the enormous changes and challenges that WAC has faced, and continues to face. I've been involved in WAC since the early 1970s, when I launched, at Central College in Iowa, one of the first WAC programs of our era, though there had been attempts to address student writing throughout higher education history, and, in the 1970s, others were also launching WAC programs (Russell, 2002). Elaine Maimon (1992) described, in Writing Across the Curriculum: A Guide to Developing Programs , her chance meeting in 1975 with Harriet Sheridan, then dean of Carleton College, on a San Francisco cable car, as both were attending a Modern Language Association conference. On the cable car, Elaine heard about the Carleton College WAC program—and went on to establish a program at her own Beaver College. WAC programs arose like this, in response to felt need, fed by the sparks of excitement generated by early pioneers, scratching up funds, gathering interested faculty, meeting in collegial workshops to examine student writing and try to figure out how to more effectively use writing in our classrooms. Elaine and I—along with Toby Fulwiler, Art Young, Susan McLeod, Margot Soven, Chris Thaiss, and other early WAC program founders—became itinerant preachers, traveling from college to college to help faculty members launch WAC programs, thus laying the foundations for the highly decentralized, workshop-based, faculty-driven, pedagogy-focused, passionate, idealistic grassroots WAC of those early days.
Things ar