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CSU Announces $1.8 Million Writing Initiative: Program Aims to Improve Writing Skills of Both Students and Faculty

Posted on: Thursday, 4 May 2006, 12:04 CDT

By Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Ga.

May 4--Columbus State University has announced a five-year, $1.8 million project to improve the writing skills of its students and faculty.

The initiative is called "Writing the Solution: Steps Toward Developing Competent and Professional Student Writers." It represents the university's Quality Enhancement Plan, a recently added accreditation requirement by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Last fall, three CSU forums drew 175 faculty, staff and students who identified writing as a "critical ability" and "area of improvement" for CSU students. More than 1,000 campus respondents to an online survey identified "writing effectively in a variety of forms and contexts" as the greatest need for improvement in student learning.

Gina Sheeks, CSU assistant vice president for student affairs, said the writing project should help CSU graduates become better employees.

"We know from nationwide studies that employers commonly identify 'written communication' as a frequently-lacking skill among young professionals," said Sheeks, a communication professor who chaired the committee that developed the framework for this initiative.

The CSU plan, expected to benefit 4,000 students and at least 100 faculty members, features two components: Competent Writing targets grammar and critical analysis in lower-level writers, and Professional Writing guides upper-level writers in conforming to the writing standards of a given field.

"It could mean some new writing-intensive courses and altering the way some of our faculty are teaching writing," Sheeks said. "We hope it will be an ongoing process, but in five years, SACS will come back and ask for an impact report."

CSU will establish an Office of Quality Enhancement Programs to facilitate the project. The office will be staffed with a Ph.D.-holding director, a program specialist and an administrative assistant. Faculty writing fellows will be appointed to guide other faculty as well.

Brian Schwartz, associate professor of biology and vice chairman of the committee, said the project will help faculty help students.

"We will learn how to make more effective writing assignments and provide better feedback to students," Schwartz said. "Also, the program will provide faculty with incentives to implement changes in their classrooms."

Incentives will include stipends, formal recognitions, annual review and promotion considerations.

The CSU Writing Center, CSU Libraries and the Center for Quality Teaching and Learning will be the primary collaborators with QEP.

For more information, visit http://sacs.colstate.edu/ [http://sacs.colstate.edu/] plan.htm.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Ga.

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Source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

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