1
January 18, 2011
Dear Dr. Mary-Beth Cooper and Dr. Jeremy Haefner.
The Institute Writing Committee received the Writing Support Work Group’s report on January 6,
2011. We have taken time to review the report and have found it to be a strong document.
The IWC would like to emphasize the urgency of the budget approval. A comprehensive Writing
Across the Curriculum program at RIT is a lynchpin of the General Education reform and ought to
progress in conjunction with the conversion timeline. A delay in the work for developing this
important program could result in negative consequences to other interrelated programs.
The Committee would like to reiterate the most significant pieces of this report:
 Tenure/Tenure-Track position for WAC Director hired by July 1, 2011.
 Faculty development course incentives
 Writing Fellows program
 Additional student support
 Space allocation
As a Committee, we emphasize the immediate and urgent need for a WAC Director to provide
expertise and leadership for a new policy that must be put into practice. There is no way to be more
emphatic: the WAC Director hire must be made now.
In addition, the Committee believes an allocation of space is nearly as important. Not only will a new
Director need an office, but space to work with faculty to develop courses. The space must be located
in a place where faculty will feel comfortable working, will seek out assistance without reservation,
and will be able to walk in to ask questions. Eventually this space should accommodate Writing
Fellows and the student population with whom these Fellows will be working. Both faculty and
students must feel as though they can perform in this space. If there is going to be a “culture of
writing” at RIT, it must be visible at the center of our academic work.
The IWC would like to point out that this budget will likely grow to some extent after the year 2014
when the policy is actually put into practice. The budget outlined in this report does not account for
smaller class sizes in General Education or potential incentives for faculty teaching WI courses in
programs. These may be necessary beyond the scope of this 5-year plan.
As our recommendation provided to the Senate last year showed, all of our peer institutions have
created some form of a WAC program, and in fact, most universities across the country have been
engaged in WAC for some time now. RIT is moving with alacrity to follow this national trend. In
terms of budget, the dollars spent on these programs range from $200,000 on the low end, $400,000
at mid-level, and into the millions at the premier programs. By comparison, the budget presented
here is modest. The IWC strongly encourages you to consider each essential piece, outlined above,
for both the short and in the long term.
Sincerely,
The Institute Writing Committee
2
Writing Support Working Group
Workgroup charged by: Drs. Mary-Beth Cooper & Jeremy Haefner
Membership:
 Dr. Lisa Hermsen (IWC chair/Faculty, CLA)
 Dr. Richard Santana (English Department Chair, CLA)
 Mr. Andrew Perry (Writing Center Coordinator, Student Affairs)
 Dr. Stanley Van Horn (English Language Center Director, Student Affairs)
 Dr. Linda Rubel (Faculty, Department of Liberal Studies, NTID)
 Dr. Richard Doolittle (Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education, Academic Affairs)
 Dr. Nicole Boulais (Assistant Vice President for Student Learning, Support, and Assessment,
Student Affairs)
Committee Charge, Sept 29, 2010:
As leaders, managers and progressive thinkers about writing and writing support at RIT, we
thank you for your past and present efforts to serve our students and strengthen the writing skills
they possess when they leave RIT. As most of you know, the Institute Writing Committee
(IWC) worked diligently last year on a proposal defining the future of the writing curriculum at
RIT. This proposal, which was supported by Academic Senate last spring, further advances the
requirements for students with respect to both Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing in the
Discipline, with the additional focus on intensive writing courses. These new requirements add
to the established need for writing support for ALL RIT students across the eight colleges, year
levels and skill development, as well as those for whom English is a second language.
The transformation of the writing curriculum will evolve over a period of years and will
require an integrated and collaborative evolution of writing support services. Specifically in
response to the direct student and faculty support needs, we respectfully request that you work as
a team to develop a plan to transition or transform the current programs and support services or
create new ones to meet the emerging needs of RIT students and faculty. You should consider
support currently provided at the college/department level – most especially at NTID, those
offered by the English Language Center and Academic Support Center, Wallace Center, and any
other areas of campus with initiatives in this area. Your recommendations should include
specific resource and budgetary considerations for providing writing support, including
considerations of space, administrative structure, and delivery. Such considerations may also
include reference to models involving the integration of peer, staff, and faculty expertise, as well
use of different kinds of physical and online resources.
Your recommendations should be made by the end of the Fall Quarter, 2010, to Drs. Haefner
and Cooper, and to the IWC for their respective review. Your recommendations should focus
primarily on the resource and budget implications, and they should be designed with a view to
supporting the IWC in the development of a comprehensive and collaborative proposal for the
provision of student and faculty writing support.
3
Report:
Based upon the charge provided by Drs. Cooper and Haefner and in light of the work previously
done by a variety of individuals and groups across campus, this workgroup began its process in
early October 2010 and utilized the Lean Six Sigma approach as facilitated by Donald Baker and
Greg Evershed. These initial activities and the subsequent discussions, analyses and conclusions
reached in the continuing weekly meetings allowed this group to come together around a
comprehensive and visionary plan to, in conjunction with the new writing policy, create a culture
of writing excellence at RIT. Our recommendations are outlined in this report in five categories:
Administration/Leadership, Faculty/Curriculum Development, Writing Fellows Program for
writing intensive courses, Student Support, and Physical Space needs. Each category includes a
description and estimate of resource needs as viewed across a five-year timeline. A summary
chart of the resource requests is also included at the end of this report for your reference.
Initial assumptions and documents:
As a working group, we based our discussions and recommendations on our understanding of
the recently adopted Institute Writing Policy for RIT and its full implementation targeted for the
entering class of 2014. Additionally we considered the services currently provided to faculty and
students across campus in support of the writing curriculum. Our recommendations reflect a
comprehensive, yet incrementally designed approach to building the capacity of the campus-atlarge to meet the future demands of the expanded writing requirements. There is an initial
emphasis on faculty and curriculum development, followed by an increase in student support
which, in combination, will yield a solid platform for a successful and sustainable writing
program at RIT.
Recommendations (by category) are included below.
4
Administration/Leadership:
There is no current, formalized administrative leadership for the comprehensive writing efforts at
RIT. The IWC serves as a strong body leading these efforts, but as with any sustained,
institutional effort, a single point of oversight and management will be required to meet the
expanded writing requirements in RIT’s curriculum. This plan outlines the immediate need for a
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Director to take the primary leadership role and initiate
faculty and curriculum development. Ultimately, we recommend the addition of a second
position to begin in FY13 to provide additional support and primary leadership for the writing
fellows program. Both positions would include a teaching course load – most likely in the
CLA/English Department.
Year 1 (AY 2010-11; FY11)
Request 1 FTE (Tenure/Tenure-Track position for WAC Director).
Post position to be recruited, hired and in place for July 1, 2011 in order to take
advantage of the primary hiring cycle used by the MLA (Modern Language Association)
and CCC (College Composition and Communication) professional groups.
Year 2 (AY 2011-12; FY12)
WAC Director begins: Immediate focus of role would be in the support of curriculum
and faculty development, administration of writing intensive WAC courses, leadership
for IWC, and development of WAC website/resource area. WAC director would teach
1:1:1 schedule, perform administration duties and conduct scholarship. (Sample Job
Description is attached as a supplement to this report.)
Year 3 (AY 2012-13; FY13)
Appointment of Writing Fellows Coordinator/"faculty associate" type role (1:1:1
teaching) to develop and coordinate writing fellow program, collaborate with Writing
Center, NTID and English Language Center staff on broad-based student support for
writing, and teach associated courses.
Year 4 (AY 2013-14; FY14)
No new initiatives
Year 5 (AY 2014-15; FY15)
Part-time/shared support staff to support WAC office and writing fellows program.
Summary of incremental expenses for administration/leadership:
Year 1
Year 2
Admin/Leaders
hip
$0
WAC Director
($65,000 +
benefits)
Section Total
$0
$65,000+
benefits*
Year 3
Writing Fellows
Coordinator
($50,000+benefits)
Year 4
$115,000 +
benefits
$115,000 +
benefits
$0
Year 5
Part-time
support staff
($20,000 +
benefits)
$135,000 +
benefits
*Although this request is for funds to be utilized in the FY11, there is a strong recommendation from this
committee that a position be posted and hired for a start date of July 2011, therefore requiring FTE and
salary approval prior to the start of the fiscal year 2011
5
Faculty & Curriculum Development:
In order to prepare for the curricular changes required by the Institute Writing Policy, significant
curriculum and faculty development efforts will be required in the next 2-3 years. At the core of
the new policy is the writing intensive course requirement (First Year Writing, Writing
Intensive- general education and Writing Intensive- in the discipline). As only a handful of the
WI general education and/or discipline courses are currently in existence, an investment of funds
to support their development by the faculty will serve as the foundation of a strong
implementation of the new writing requirements as well as supporting the successful transition to
the new general education framework. Funds are intentionally front-loaded for initial impact in
the years leading to the full implementation of the writing policy.
Year 1 (AY 2010-11; FY11)
Some individual support is currently being provided directly by IWC. No current budget.
Year 2 (AY 2011-12; FY12)
Recommended development of a short-term, PLIG-like program to provide incentives for
the development of general education and program WAC courses. Application and
administrative process similar to PLIG. Recipients would be required to share syllabi and
other resource material with the WAC office and present at FITL after the course is
developed and offered. Preference for funding would be given to balance awards across
disciplines, departments and colleges. Recommended level $40,000 (ten $4000 awards)
for summer 2012.
Year 3 (AY 2012-13; FY13)
Initial implementation of pilot intensive writing courses from the incentive funds; shift of
funds to generalized support for faculty development including speakers, conferences, inhouse training. Recommended level of $20,000.
Year 4 (AY 2013-14; FY14)
Continuation of faculty development for intensive writing courses- ongoing need for new
course development and training for new faculty. Recommended level of $20,000.
Year 5 (AY 2014-15; FY15)
Continuation of faculty development for intensive writing courses - ongoing need for new
course development and training for new faculty. Recommended level of $10,000.
Summary of incremental expenses for faculty/curriculum development:
Faculty &
Curriculum
Development
Section Total
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
$0
$40,000
-$20,000
No change
-$10,000
$0
$40,000
$20,000
$20,000
$10,000
6
Writing Fellows Program for Writing Intensive (WI) courses:
In addition to developing the faculty and curriculum for writing intensive courses, support for the
faculty and students engaged in the teaching/learning for these courses will also be required as
implementation of the new policy unfolds. The Writing Fellows program is designed to provide
the faculty with student support in and beyond the classroom as related to writing (not as graders
or traditional TA’s but as “mini experts” on writing and peer evaluation). Additionally, students
enrolled in WI courses will benefit from these peers in their review and revision processes and
via learning activities designed to promote excellence in the process of writing. Need for
funding is intentionally staggered to match the rollout of WI courses beginning in a pilot for
FY13 with a full rollout in FY14.
Year 1 (AY 2010-11; FY11)
n/a
Year 2 (AY 2011-12; FY12)
n/a
Year 3 (AY 2012-13; FY13)
Design Pilot Writing Fellows Program including curriculum for required "training"
course, recruit approx 12 writing fellows for 2013-14 pilot. Some minor start-up costs
for website development, recruiting materials and curriculum development for pilot
program. Estimate $1000.
Year 4 (AY 2013-14; FY14)
Implement Writing Fellows Pilot for approx 12 sections of WI courses; Offer section of
"training" course Fall Semester; Fellows take course (fall) and serve as fellows for fall
and spring semesters. Scale pilot to full implementation for 2014-15; recruit additional
fellows. Estimated costs based on 30hrs/course/semester at rate of $15/hour or
$450/course. If 12 courses are supported in the pilot cost would be $5400 in student
wages.
Year 5 (AY 2014-15; FY15)
Full implementation of Writing Fellows program to support WI courses- especially those
in general education and in discipline areas. First Year Writing may or may not require
writing fellow support. Estimated costs based on same model of $450/course. If all
undergraduates (all campuses) are required to take 3 WI courses and two of these require
a writing fellow, the estimated number of sections needed to support the requirement of
each entering cohort (assuming a capped class size of 25 and approximately 2500 in the
cohort) is 200. At a rate of $450/course the annual cost would be estimated at $90,000.
Summary of incremental expenses for writing fellows program:
Writing Fellows
Section Total
Year 1
$0
$0
Year 2
$0
$0
Year 3
$1000
$1000
Year 4
$5400
$5400
Year 5
$90,000
$90,000
7
Student Support:
 General Services: In addition to support required for students enrolled in WI courses, general
education and other discipline courses also require writing and therefore a sustained program
of writing support for all students. Additionally, both students and faculty benefit from
services which enhance the writing of non-curricular material for career advancement,
publication, grants, and other applications.
 Specialized Services: Some students require specialized services in the area of writing to
promote retention and graduation – most especially those for whom English is a second
language, deaf/hard of hearing learners, those with pre-college educational disadvantages,
and those with disabilities that impact writing skills. Specialized assistance for these students
is and should continue to be a priority for RIT.
 Online/Global Services: Beyond general and specialized services, support of online services
will be essential at RIT advances in writing culture. Currently only distance learners can
access the online writing lab (OWL) but with a growing need to serve students in a global
environment and in both synchronous and asynchronous modes, expansion of the capacity of
the OWL is required.
Year 1 (AY 2010-11; FY11)
n/a
Year 2 (AY 2011-12; FY12)
Needs assessment of student support needs for general services, specialized populations
and online/global services.
Initial steps to add capacity to the current Writing Center services to include pilot
program of peer led writing sessions (in person or online). This pilot program would
expand on a current peer model and provide important information about a larger rollout
of services in accordance with the shift to semesters and the adoption of the Writing
Policy. This is to be developed in collaboration with the WAC director and ultimately in
a collaborative model with the Writing Fellows coordinator to ensure a seamlessness of
pedagogical models across all support services for students. Assessment and Pilot
program costs $10,000
Year 3 (AY 2012-13; FY13)
Anticipated increased demand for online services, global learners and other needs and an
expanding student body. Specific costs unknown, but likely expenses will be incurred
for further development of Online Writing Lab (OWL) for staffing and software as well
as need to expand peer and professional support staff for target populations such as ESL,
NTID or first generation students.
Year 4 (AY 2013-14; FY14)
Integration/Sharing (ideally) of core services in a larger WAC center. Possible expanded
service hours, expanded scope of services offered.
Year 5 (AY 2014-15; FY15)
Maintenance and annual quality improvement of services for students.
Summary of incremental expenses for student support:
Student Support
Section Total
Year 1
$0
$0
Year 2
$10,000
$10,000
Year 3
Unknown
Unknown
Year 4
Unknown
Unknown
Year 5
Unknown
Unknown
8
Space Needs:
No current office or work space on campus is dedicated for the coordination of the writing
program at RIT. Student support areas exist in NTID and SAU facilities but are not currently
suitable to serve an expanding need for both faculty and students at RIT. In addition to basic
office space for a WAC director and Writing Fellows Coordinator, workspace for faculty and
student writing fellows, space for curriculum resource materials, and a central, visible home for
writing will become increasingly necessary as the writing policy is implemented.
Year 1 (AY 2010-11; FY11)
No current space allocated
Year 2 (AY 2011-12; FY12)
Identify space for faculty/curriculum development and support (WAC office). Two
office suite or office with access to conference/workroom location. 1-2 computers
needed, bookshelves, workspace for curriculum resources and faculty support.
Furnishings, computer for office space, office supplies, basic office expenses (ETC,
mailings, etc) Estimated expense $10000.
Year 3 (AY 2012-13; FY13)
Maintenance of annual general office expenses.
Year 4 (AY 2013-14; FY14)
Identification of unified space (WAC center) for student support, faculty development,
and curriculum enhancements. 2-3 staff/faculty offices, resource room, writing fellows
workspace, student support work space, computers for writing support/online services,
space or access to space for training and work sessions. Furnishings, computers, "smart
system" for training room. Additional expenses not noted here would likely be incurred
in an FMS project for basic development of a space (carpet, painting, etc) as needed.
Year 5 (AY 2014-15; FY15)
Annual general office expenses for comprehensive space.
Summary of incremental expenses for space needs:
Space
Section Total
Year 1
$0
$0
Year 2
$10,000
$10,000
Year 3
$0
$10,000
Year 4
Unknown
Unknown
Year 5
Unknown
Unknown
9
Resource Request Summary
Administration &
Leadership
Faculty &
Curriculum
Development
Writing Fellows
Student Support
Space Needs
Totals
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
AY 2010-11
FY11
AY 2011-12
FY12
AY 2012-13
FY13
AY 2013-14
FY14
AY 2014-15
FY15
$0
$65,000+
benefits*
$115,000 +
benefits
$115,000 +
benefits
$135,000 +
benefits
$0
$40,000
$20,000
$20,000
$10,000
$0
$0**
$0
$0
$10,000
$10,000
$1000
Unknown
$10,000
$5400
Unknown
Unknown
$90,000
Unknown
Unknown
$0
$125,000
(+benefits)
$146,000
(+benefits)
and
unknown
costs
$140,400
(+ benefits)
and
unknown
costs
$235,000
(+ benefits)
and
unknown
costs
*Although this request is for funds to be utilized in the FY11, there is a strong recommendation
from this committee that a position be posted and hired for a start date of July 2011, therefore
requiring FTE and salary approval prior to the start of the fiscal year 2011
** English Language Center, Writing Center, Wallace Center and NTID Learning Center all
have existing resources that are utilized in part to provide writing support to students, however,
these funds are not designed to meet the needs of the new Writing Policy which was the focus of
this review. Resources indicated here are primarily for the Writing Center and represent
additional expenditures beyond the current budget.
10
WAC Director Job Description Sample:
RIT seeks a WAC Director for its new Writing Program. The founding Director will be expected
to bring expertise and vision to this just-designed endeavor. Candidates should qualify for
appointment as a tenured member of the faculty, and have demonstrated success as an
administrator.
This individual will be responsible for:
 Implementing the writing policy set by the Institute Writing Committee, a campus-wide
Academic Standing Committee with oversight of the writing policy;
 Coordinating the approval process for WI courses each semester;
 Collaborating and consulting with faculty in the design and implementation of WI
courses;
 Planning and coordinating professional development for faculty to implement and
continuously improve RIT’s Writing-Across-the-Curriculum program;
 Providing students with writing workshops that meet the changing needs of learners,
including non-traditional course delivery systems and the integration of emerging
technologies;
 Supervising and mentoring graduate and undergraduate/graduate Writing Fellows;
 Collaborating to deliver the Writing Center peer tutoring services;
 Managing a budget and supervise two professional staff: Faculty Associate and an
Administrative Assistant;
 Engaging in ongoing assessment of the center's work;
 Marketing the center’s services across the university.
Applicants are expected to continue professional growth through appropriate
research and participation in professional organizations and workshops. Applicants will teach
two courses a year. Cover letter should speak to experience/philosophy related to all of the
above. PhD in Rhetoric/Composition or related field and substantive experience in writing center
administration and the teaching of writing required.