WRITING COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 3/2/15
Monday, March 2, 2015, 10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m., Todd 204
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Chin called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT:
T. Andrews, I. Appelbaum, S. Brown, G. Burns, B. Chin, C. Corr, H. Jurva, J. Gallo, J.
Glendening, D. Raiford, M. Stark, G. Weix, S. Williams
Ex-Officio Members Present: N. Lindsay, M. Mangold, K. Webster
Members Absent/Excused: A. Ratto- Parks, D. Sewell
Guests: N. Clouse, N. Peeterse
The minutes from February 2nd were approved
COMMUNICATION

Director Webster was congratulated on her recent election as President to the Rocky
Mountain Writing Center Association. This summer the Association will be hosting a
gathering of Montana writers and college and high school writing helpers. Next fall
there will be a conference in Salt Lake, Utah.

Chair Chin provided the Faculty Senate with a short UPWA update and invitation to the
writing retreat. One Senator asked whether any graduate student could attend or
whether it was restricted to TAs. Chin replied that all Graduate Students are welcome.

Amy Ratto-Parks resigned from Committee in order to work on her dissertation. The
new Director of Composition will start attending next academic year.

The Committee briefly discussed membership needs for next year. Maria Mangold will
try to recruit an academic advisor to attend meetings since she will be on maternity
leave. Several potential members were suggested from various disciplines. Camie will
follow-up with them. The request for committee volunteers will be sent in April and
ECOS will start the nomination process at its last meeting April 30th.
BUSINESS ITEMS:

Natalie Peeterse gave an update on UPWA. The flyer for the Writing Retreat was
distributed to members. There are 10 table leaders confirmed. Twelve are needed.
There will be a table leader training due to the additional step of identifying strengths
and weaknesses. Updates to anchor papers and preparing strengths and weaknesses
samples are in progress. All but one of the training papers has been changed to
incorporate diverse disciplines and reduce the reading time.
There will be one email sent to faculty from the Provost’s Office advertising the event.
Writing Committee members interested in attending should sight up via the Faculty
Development Website.
Chair Chin will be asking some of the attendees to help with the Brantley Hall, President
Room set up.

Nancy Clouse and Natalie spent 6 hours pulling data from Moodle. Moodle is not the
best way to collect data for assessment. It should not take this much time to pull data.
The Committee will need to start looking for another system especially given the intent
is to grow participation. One option might be the survey tool Qualtrics supported by the
Information Technology Office. Perhaps Degree Works or My Academics could be
adapted for assessment. Students are familiar with them. Whoever decides on the tool
will need to keep in mind the questions that should be answered by the data. Should the
sample continue to be random or does there need to be a certain number from each
discipline? Associate Provost Lindsay may be aware of other tools. Chair Chin has a
meeting with him after the retreat to discuss how to sustain UPWA. Natalie’s position
is now permanent, but it is still only .33 for 8 months with low pay.

Professor Raiford reported on the writing resource website. Feedback is needed from
members and ideas of how the website should expand. Members should think about
what faculty would expect to find on a resource website. There should be reciprocal
links to new General Education and Writing Center Websites. Tools to help create
writing assignments will be available on the Writing Center’s Website.

Professor Weix will follow-up with Amy Ratto-Parks regarding the needed revisions to
the Transfer appeals procedure Policy. Professor Gallo and Applebaum are also on the
subcommittee.

Professor Stark will email the Committee a draft motion to change the labels of the
writing general education framework from 1) Composition, 2) approved writing, and 3)
Upper-division Writing requirement for the major to 1) Introductory College Writing, 2)
Intermediate College Writing, and 3) Advanced College Writing. Members should vote
electronically so it can be sent to ASCRC to make the Faculty Senate in April.

Chair-elect Stark will collaborate with Chair Chin regarding next fall’s Writing
Symposium. The advertisement needs to get out by August. Topics may arise from the
discussion at the Writing Retreat. Having co-presenters from different disciplines
works well. Associate Provost Lindsay will present on assessment of advanced writing
in the discipline.

The communication regarding learning outcomes on syllabi has not been sent. The
committee agreed that this reminder should be included with the message regarding the
changes to the writing requirement labels (1. Introductory College Writing, 2.
Intermediate College Writing, and 3. Advanced College Writing).

The draft accessible writing review forms were reviewed. The language on the
assessment question was revised. The form does not ask about prerequisites. This is
the departments’ responsibility.

The committee agreed not to send a notification to instructors regarding the option to
require WRIT 101 as a prerequisite.

Professor Burns asked a colleague to submit paperwork for the writing designation for a
course that currently meets the requirements. However, the colleague complained
about not having enough time to fill out the form. The committee needs to be mindful of
the ease of its processes and forms.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 12:03 p.m.