Writing Committee Annual Report 2009-2010
Committee Membership
Faculty Members
Mark Medvetz (CHAIR)
*Nancy Hinman
Kathy Kuipers
Matthew Semanoff (fall)
Gene Burns
Beverly Chin
Tobin Shearer(spring)
Kate Zoellner (ASCRC
liaison)
*William Borrie-serving for
Nancy Hinman
Department
Writing Studies
Geosciences
Sociology
MCLL
HHP
English
AAS
Mansfield Library
Term End
2011
2010
2010
2011
2012
2012
2010
2011
Society & Conservation 2010
Student Member
Miranda Carson
Additional Representatives (Ex-Officio)
Arlene Walker-Andrews, Associate Provost
Ed Johnson, Interim Registrar (or designee)
Kelly Peterson, Director, Writing Center
Kathleen Ryan, Director, Composition
Business Items:

An additional FAQ was created to clarify whether two upper-division writing courses can
meet the requirement (appended).

Identified exemplary writing course forms and posted them on the website as samples.
After the writing course review it became apparent that the sample forms are inconsistent
and it was suggested that the Committee draft forms that can be used as samples or create
a white paper on informal writing that can be used as a reference.

The old Upper-Division Writing Expectation policy was eliminated and the Writing
Course Guidelines were added to the curriculum policies web site.

Writing course review
Four writing courses and 17 upper-division writing courses were approved. Follow-up
was required on many courses. A program modification for Business Administration was
approved that requires all School of Business majors to attempt the WPA prior to
admittance to upper-division business courses.
Several courses that were previously approved either as writing or upper-division writing
courses were reconsidered and approved as the opposite of what was previously
approved.

MUS core courses – updates to UM’s list
The Committee was asked to provide input regarding updates to the MUS core course list
from Professor Samson, UM’s representative on the Board of Regents General Education
Council. The Council approves the general education courses from each campus that
satisfy the MUS Core.

Extended time request for ESL student
After meeting with the Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Director, Lucy
France, Chair Medvetz drafted a letter from the Committee recommending Academic
Affairs establish a policy to guide decisions for granting extended test time for ESL
students.

UDWPA Discussion and analysis
The Committee considered background information, logistics issues, sample prompts and
essays, and criteria for selecting prompts and grading. A flowchart was created to guide
the discussion. It discussed the intent of the exam and whether or not it serves its
purpose.
UDWPA discussion with Faculty Senate Chair Hinman
A summary of the committees’ discussion was created by Director Webster and provided
to the Faculty Senate Chair prior to her meeting with the Committee on 2/22/10.
Professor Hinman asked the committee to consider an alternative scoring mechanism for
the exam. Washington State University’s Critical and Integrative Thinking Rubric is an
example of a holistic rubric that provides students with feedback on their performance
(https://my.wsu.edu/portal/page?_pageid=177,276578&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL). A change in
the scoring mechanism would be an improvement, while the Committee works on a
bigger solution. She would like a recommendation go to the Faculty Senate by the end of
the semester.
The Committee agreed that it was time to report on its assessment of the UDWPA. A
report was drafted by Director Webster.
Pending


Review of Committee Charge
Consider whether it would be acceptable to use GRE scores as an alternative to the
UDWPA.

Faculty resources. It was suggested that a survey be sent to writing instructors to identify
workshop topics. A web page should be created to provide writing resources for faculty.
This could be a function of the Writing Center. Another suggestion was for the Writing
Committee to send an annual thank you letter to writing instructors. Faculty should be
acknowledged for their commitment to teach writing. Teaching writing is complex and
labor intensive.
____________________________________________________________________________
FAQ
Question
Can 2 UD writing courses satisfy the requirement for 2 and 4 then? I read the catalogue but I am
not sure.
Answer:
(Great question and the answer is not a simple one.)
No. One course must be on the writing-course list (requirement #2), and one course must be on
the upper-division writing-requirement list (requirement #4). There are writing courses that are
upper division by course number (300-400 level classes), but these are not the same as the upperdivision writing requirement because the outcomes are different.
All students, unless exempted, must pass an approved writing course (#2) before attempting the
UDWPA (requirement #3).
Upper-Division Writing Requirement (#4): All students must meet the approved upper-division
writing requirements specified by their majors. Students should seek specific information about
the upper-division writing requirements in their major in the section of the catalog where
information about their chosen major is given. Students cannot use the same writing course to
meet both the approved writing-course requirement and the upper-division writing requirement.
There has been some confusion around this issue. The challenge to this question, which seems to
be an easy one, is the lack of the words “lower-division writing course” in guideline #2.
Although the guidelines state specifically “upper division” in #4, the guidelines do not state
specifically “lower division” in #2. “Lower Division” is omitted because the list of approved
writing-intensives courses lacks a generous showing of 100 and 200-level courses. That paucity
prohibits an explicitly stated “lower division.”