Discusses why writing centers are the best "home" for writing across the curriculum. Suggests that writing centers (1) provide a definable space for expertise, with identifiable goals and services; (2) encourage the dialogue between diverse rhetorical communities; and (3) offer a rhetorically neutral ground on which to carry out the program. (RS)

This paper addresses the culture of writing in higher education from a multicultural perspective of those within the "monolith." The paper first notes that writing programs, more specifically writing across the curriculum (WAC), and writing centers work in similar ways by benefiting each other and sharing the broad mission of improving…

Considers the tremendous growth in writing across the curriculum programs nationwide and the recent questions about the feasibility of such programs. Suggests weaving WAC programs into the existing cultural context of institutions. Analyzes one way this has been achieved at Robert Morris College. (HB)

Writing across the curriculum (WAC) will forever be caught in the following paradox: the rise of the research university has allowed for specialization that generates writing embedded in differentiated knowledge communities. However a WAC program may characterize the overarching importance of writing, its conception can never be the same as that…

Offers a guide to those involved in developing a writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) program to help them inform administrators about some of the basic points and know what to ask for before agreeing to take on the task. Outlines some basic procedures to follow for WAC program development. (MG)

Clemson University is addressing the related issues of: (1) how to integrate writing in courses throughout the curriculum; and (2) how to assess students' writing ability as well as the impact of assessment programs on that ability. Since 1990, the responsibility for addressing these two goals has been assumed by the Pearce Center for Professional…

Although the writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) movement has grown to be one of the most successful education reform movements in the United States, long-term strategies for sustaining WAC programs are needed and they must include recognizing and using context as a survival tool. Writing across the Business Disciplines (WABD) was started at…

A heuristic procedure likened to strategic planning for building college-wide writing programs is described. The management and political issues that arise in building a program are discussed. (Author/MLW)

Argues that faculty writing groups are the single most effective way to change faculty attitudes about writing and to build support for writing across the curriculum. Discusses challenges facing colleges or universities that decide to develop a writing program across the disciplines. (RS)

A discipline-specific writing center is the nucleus of a writing-in-the-disciplines (WID) program in engineering, in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of South Carolina. As a writing program, the writing center serves student writers and faculty in ECE and integrates writing consultation into the…

The administration and faculty of Carthage College (a four-year liberal arts college with a primarily white, middle class student body and faculty) instituted the Heritage Studies Program to promote multiculturalism through writing across the curriculum. The four-semester sequence required of all first- and second-year students was approved by the…

Argues that a writing-across-the-curriculum program should be designed, administered, and taught equally by all departments in a university. Stresses the importance of developing a dialogic program, with creative interaction between faculty members from various disciplines and between students and professors. (ARH)

Educational consultants charged by a school district with instituting and overseeing an ongoing experimental program in writing across the curriculum can expect that veteran faculty members will be unwilling to change their teaching styles. A "soft sell" is necessary with reluctant faculty. Senior faculty members who are properly…

Some funding is necessary to run a writing-across-the-curriculum program, but it is possible to redesign a program and keep it running when outside funding ends. (MSE)

This short 3-page article presents four examples of innovative higher education programs that failed because the ideas were imported from other institutions without understanding the substructures that were needed for success. In the first case study, a Writing Across the Curriculum program was implemented through writing-intensive courses…