Notes from the CWC: In the Write Place, At the Write Time
Changes. Lots of changes. For
me personally and professionally,
moving to Southern California and
assuming leadership of the
Office of the Campus Writing
Coordinator has been a process
of intense change. But it has
been good change so far, and I’m
pleased to say that my first quarter
as CWC has been engaging,
energizing, and eventful!
Working in close collaboration
with the CWC staff—I-Lien Tsay
(Graduate Writing Fellow), Sue
Cross (Peer Tutor Coordinator),
and Iveta Cruse (CWC
Assistant)—we have offered
workshops on writing instruction,
facilitated consultations with
faculty and graduate students,
worked with faculty and
staff across the university to
promote high-quality writing
instruction, and collaborated
with colleagues in DUE and in
English Composition to undertake
an ambitious assessment of both
lower-division and upper-division
writing programs.
We have been busy. And we have
much more to do. The remainder
of this academic year will see
additional changes as we work
with colleagues across UCI to
promote a culture of writing--a
culture that understands writing
as not only a prominent form of
communication but a powerful
mode of critical thinking.
Building on the wonderful work of
my predecessor, Professor Susan
Jarratt, my staff and I will attempt
to raise campus consciousness
about all of the many ways
in which writing suffuses our
lives, creating opportunities not
just to articulate but also reconceive, re-vision, and re-create.
Upcoming co-sponsored events
with the Department of English’s
Program in Literary Journalism,
HumaniTech, and the Teaching,
Learning, and Technology Center
will provide participants an
opportunity to hear about recent
research in the study of writing as
well as a chance to participate in
generating some of that research.
CWC Staff (from left to right):
I-Lien Tsay, Jonathan Alexander, Sue
Cross, and Iveta Cruse
We hope you will take advantage
of such events (more news about
them in upcoming newsletters!)
and avail yourself of CWC
services. For more information,
please visit our website at
http://www.writing.uci.edu
We look forward to hearing from
you! -Jonathan Alexander
Contributor: I-Lien Tsay
Editor: Jonathan Alexander
Design: Iveta Cruse
Published by the Office of the
Campus Writing Coordinator
2
“A Willingness to Engage”:
Professor Bob Moeller on
Writing History
The CWC recognizes Prof. Robert
Moeller’s contributions to writing
pedagogy on UCI campus. Prof.
Moeller’s research focuses on the
social history of modern Germany.
Recent courses he has taught include
History 70B: Problems in History:
Europe and History 122B: Hitler and
the Germans. This upcoming Winter
2008 quarter, Prof. Moeller will be a
lecturer for Humanities Core.
Professor Bob Moeller
Collaboration informed by
community is a central theme
for Prof. Moeller’s pedagogy. In
addition to university teaching
and research, Prof. Moeller credits
regional outreach programs in
Orange County for the continued
development of his pedagogy,
particularly with his approach to
creating writing assignments. Prof.
Moeller has participated in two
innovative programs developed by
UCI faculty: Humanities Out There
(HOT) and the California HistorySocial Science Project. HOT, an
educational partnership between
UCI’s School of Humanities and the
Santa Ana Unified School District,
brings innovative scholarship and
curricular development to Santa
Ana students with the joint efforts
of public school teachers, graduate
students and undergraduate tutors.
(continued on page 4)
“Logos Grounded in Pathos”: Daniel Gross
Brings New Leadership to the Composition
Program
The CWC is delighted
to welcome Director of
Composition and Associate
Professor of English Daniel
Gross to our campus!
who graduate from UCI to have
familiarity and practice with
different writing styles. This is the
gold standard for what we should
do.”
Prof. Gross brings an
enthusiasm for writing and
rhetoric that combines his
research interests in rhetorical
theory with practical application
in the classroom. Prof. Gross’s
research includes work in the
German context about the
origin of modern disciplines
in relation to rhetoric, and he
has recently taught courses on
the art of listening, the promise
of empathy and the rhetoric of
popular culture. His recently
published The Secret History
of Emotion: From Aristotle’s
Rhetoric to Modern Brain
Science (University of Chicago
Press, 2006) is “a masterful
revisionist account of the
role of passion in the Western
tradition,” praises UCI Prof. of
English Steven Mailloux.
Whether through research or
in the classroom, Prof. Gross
believes that theory and praxis
can be mobilized with emotion.
Citing Heidegger, Prof. Gross
declares that “we exist in the
world, and we work best where
we care to be. You won’t be able
to decipher what matters to you
if you don’t care.” Within the
context of composition classes,
we are moved to write something
that makes sense because we
care about it. Emotions can help
us understand “how to structure,
inform, draw meaning and make
conclusions—this is why one
should care.” Simply put, “logos is
grounded in pathos.”
“Unlike other institutions where
composition programs function
independently, the Department
of English at UCI integrates
a strong tradition in literary
theory with its composition
program,” says Prof. Gross.
It’s difficult for him to treat
these realms of inquiry as
separate spheres because in his
view “writing, thinking and
rhetorical studies are deeply
intertwined.” As the new
Director of Composition, Prof.
Gross “would like all students
Putting this philosophy that
“understanding is deeply
connected to caring” into play,
Prof. Gross has restructured one
of the lower-division composition
courses, Writing 39B: Critical
Reading and Rhetoric, in concert
with course director Lynda Haas.
Instructors of Writing 39B now
choose from twenty themes. The
change “allows instructors to
choose a topic and pick texts that
they can teach with passion,”
says Prof. Gross. In addition,
the pedagogical course for firsttime English and Comparative
Literature teaching assistants
was revamped with contributions
from Profs. Jonathan Alexander,
(continued on page 3)
3
“Logos Grounded in Pathos”: Daniel Gross Brings New Leadership to
the Composition Program
(continued from page 2)
Susan Jarratt, Richard Kroll,
Steven Mailloux and composition
course directors. The pedagogy
class focuses on “the connections
between high theory scholarship
and the classroom” in order
to “foster the development of
academic interests with teaching
interests.”
Overall, Prof. Gross describes the
lower-division Writing 39 series
as “designed to expose students
to a range of writing genres and
disciplinary and demonstrates
basic skills applicable across
genres. For example, the lab
report is still in a larger context
more obviously rhetorical.”
Yet the lower-division courses
should be viewed within the
longer trajectory of a student’s
undergraduate career as they
transition to upper-division
writing courses. In his view, the
continued integration of writing
courses in lower and upper
division courses and longitudinal
assessments of student writing
will help improve writing
across the campus. And indeed,
learning to write is a life-long
process, of which the four years
of undergraduate education are
foundational.
Prof. Gross encourages us to
think about writing always within
a rhetorical context and with
an awareness of different kinds
of writing expertise. He calls
for a two-pronged approach for
writing instruction UCI: first, the
Composition Program and the
Professor Daniel Gross
Campus Writing Coordinator can
serve as a “central source for how
to improve writing” and second,
“strong, active models and an
expert focus within each discipline
should be easily accessible for
teaching writing.”
As we know, passionate teaching
promotes more engaged students.
The CWC eagerly anticipates Prof.
Gross’s contributions to the UCI
campus.
-I-Lien Tsay
Peer Tutoring Program Gains Momentum
Who: Your Students
What: Peer Tutoring
Where: Langson Library, Science
Library, Middle Earth, and Mesa
Court
When: Mon-Thurs from 6-9pm
Why: Free individual
consultations on writing and
research assignments!
The CWC is excited to continue
its second year of the Writing and
Library Research Peer Tutoring
Program. With the support of
the Libraries’ Education and
Outreach and Housing’s First Year
Initiative programs, the CWC’s
Peer Tutoring Program continues
to promote a vibrant culture of
writing at UCI.
Last year, over 450 students
visited a peer tutor. The majority
came voluntarily to seek
assistance with their research and
writing skills, and over 90% of
the students who consulted a peer
tutor said that they would likely
use the service again and refer
their friends to the program.
This year’s eight peer tutors
completed an intensive training
course in September and continue
to meet weekly with Peer Tutor
Coordinator Sue Cross. In
addition to their experience and
maturity, the peer tutors share a
sincere desire to encourage their
fellow students. Fourth-year
English major Dani Young applied
to be a peer tutor because she
“wanted to help other students
the way that I was helped by my
professors with library research
sources.”
The best part of the walk-in
service, according to fifth-year
Political Science major Jack
Zerrudo, is that “it’s a no-pressure
situation because we’re not
grading them.” This creates a more
relaxed environment for students
to work on research and writing
skills. “They don’t have to make
an appointment, so there’s no
obligation,” says Tiffany Smart, a
fourth-year in Studio Arts. “We’re
there to help whenever they feel
like they’re ready for it.”
“Most students come in
overwhelmed, not knowing how
to start writing or fix a paper
that just isn’t working,” says
Kimberly Balasz, an Ecology
and Evolutionary Biology major.
“But after tutoring, they feel
(continued on page 4)
4
“A Willingness to Engage”:
Professor Bob Moeller on Writing History
(continued from page 2)
The curricula developed by HOT
has been supported by a grant
from the National Endowment
for the Humanities and is being
implemented by other school
districts in Orange County. In
addition to HOT, Prof. Moeller
serves as the advisor for the
California History-Social Science
Project, a teacher professional
development initiative for middle
and high school teachers in
Orange County. With a staff of
UCI faculty, graduate students and
local teachers, the History Project
provides a unique opportunity for
middle and high school teachers
to develop a scholarly engagement
with historical thinking, content
knowledge and pedagogical
expertise.
Prof. Moeller’s ability to negotiate
different audiences in pedagogical
development, from graduate,
undergraduate, high school to
middle school, translates directly
to his writing assignments
for undergraduate courses.
He encourages an awareness
of audience as a fundamental
component of writing. His
assignments provide students with
a carefully situated disciplinespecific position from which they
can begin. For example, in the
upper-division course History
122B, Hitler and the Germans,
each student is assigned an
identity of an individual who
lived during the Nazi era and
asked to write diary entries from
the perspective of the assigned
identity for three specific historical
dates. One of the most rewarding
Peer Tutoring
Program Gains
Momentum
(continued from page 3)
things about the prompt, says
Moeller, is that “there isn’t a
generic response.” In the class,
this assignment offers a way to
teach empathy with the historical
understanding of the political
policies of the Third Reich. In a
broader context, Prof. Moeller
says, “My interest in these sorts
of writing assignments is getting
students to think about rhetoric
and audience. My hope is that
this will carry over to their own
discipline.”
A simple strategy exists for
developing good writing
assignments, according to Prof.
Moeller: “Talk to other people.”
He cites “the combination of pride
in our autonomy of a classroom
and insecurity about what I’m
doing wrong” as factors that can
prevent faculty from critically
evaluating their pedagogy.
Instead, Prof. Moeller calls for
a “willingness to engage with
pedagogy, in seeing what works
and what doesn’t.” Productive
discussions can happen in a
classroom, in a staff meeting,
and from observing colleagues
in action (Prof. Julia Lupton
and Prof. Vivian Folkenflik
are important influences). In
lectures, Prof. Moeller models
thesis statement formulations, an
“incredibly useful” technique he
picked up from Prof. Lupton. In
addition, Prof. Moeller encourages
faculty and instructors to take
advantage of the support services
available on campus, including
the office of the Campus Writing
Coordinator. -IT
relieved and ready to implement
suggestions.” Fifth-year English
major Clara Asuncion agrees:
“I’ve had people leave glowing
because they know what they want
to say and they’re not intimidated
by having to express it in writing.”
Studies show that students learn
well from other students. Thirdyear English major Christina
Kapucija values the Peer Tutoring
Program’s “more collaborative
and less didactic” approach.
Collaborative learning helps
foster self-sufficiency, creativity
and experimentation—plus the
interactions are fun. In her second
year as a peer tutor, fourth-year
Political Science major Xenia
Tashlitsky enthuses, “it’s just
you and your peer, talking about
writing.”
One-on-one peer tutor
consultations are offered Monday
through Thursday from 6-9pm
at Langson Library (Room 229),
the Science Library (Reference
Alcove, 2nd Floor), Middle Earth
(Academic Resource Center)
and Mesa Court (Community
Center Computer Classroom).
The locations and times are
“convenient for most students,”
says third-year English major
Patrick Sung.
The CWC encourages faculty
to refer students to this valuable
resource. For more information
and to learn about the outstanding
peer tutors, visit www.writing.uci.
edu/peertutors.html. -IT