U N I V E R S I T Y  O F  P I T T S B U R G H

Volume VIII, Number 3.

Writing across the curriculum receives additional support

Photo by Jim Burke, CIDDE

Student Andrew Feola revises a draft with Writing Center consultant Ellen Smith, visiting lecturer in English.

The WAC initiative is an attempt to provide more resources for teachers and students here at Pitt,” according to James Seitz, English, who is a member of the College Writing Board and of an ad hoc committee established to help departments integrate skills across the curriculum. While the requirement of two W-courses for graduation (one of which must be in the student’s major) remains the same, CAS is attempting to offer more support to help departments across the curriculum use writing to promote student learning. This support has come in the following forms:

• An enhanced Writing Center newly located in Thaw Hall where students can receive assistance in drafting, revising and editing papers. The Writing Center now has a bigger, brighter space, a full-time receptionist, and a set of computers for students to work on during tutorials. Also, the possibility of on-line tutorials is being explored. The Writing Center is staffed by lecturers, visiting lecturers, part-time faculty, teaching fellows, teaching assistants, and peer tutors.
• Funding for outside speakers and in-house workshops on writing instruction. (A recent talk by James Slevin, a nationally known authority on WAC, is covered in an accompanying article.)
• A new Web site with a variety of resources, including an on-line W-course proposal form, at www.wac.pitt.edu.
  

In addition to this support of writing in English, some of the foreign language departments are developing writing workshops to support writing in other languages, including French and Spanish.

A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh

Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education
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