University Launches Institute for Writing Studies

An innovative approach to teaching students to write well will be introduced at St. John’s University this fall, with the opening of the new Institute for Writing Studies. This latest advance in the University’s pursuit of academic excellence is intended to “instill and improve students’ critical thinking skills and broaden their writing proficiency,” according to University Provost Julia Upton, RSM, Ph.D. “Providing and then nurturing these competencies,” she adds, “will not only benefit our students but will also enrich the pedagogical experience.”

The creation of the Institute is another step towards the University’s goal--articulated in its Strategic Plan 2004-2008—of developing the academic and institutional culture to be student-centered and committed to lifelong learning.

In their written proposal for an Institute for Writing Studies, Derek Owens, D.A., Associate Professor of English at St. John’s College of Arts and Sciences and Director of the new Institute, and Steve Sicari, Ph.D., Chair of the English Department in St. John’s College, recommended a four-year roll-out of the program and identified three main objectives:

• Establish a First-Year Writing Program to revitalize the University’s entry-level, required writing course, ENG 1000C: English Composition
• Significantly expand the existing Queens Writing Center and create a new Writing Center on the Staten Island campus
• Increase the amount and quality of writing throughout the curriculum, sponsoring regular opportunities for faculty development in writing instruction through a new Writing Across the Curriculum Program

Additional objectives will flow from the accomplishment of these three.

It’s Not Just a Writing Center
The Institute for Writing Studies is an enterprise much larger than the existing Writing Center on the Queens campus. That resource, which has been in existence since 1996 and has served between 600-700 students annually, “has proved too small to meet the student body’s needs,” according to Professor Owens. “With the creation of an expanded Writing Center housed within the new Institute,” he explains, “and a new Writing Center designed for the Staten Island campus, every freshman will now have sessions with Writing Center consultants.”

Space for the Institute on the Queens campus was carved out of the library’s first floor in St. Augustine Hall and “will provide necessary gathering places for reading and research, study groups, and learning communities,” according to the proposal authors.  The new Staten Island Writing Center, directed by Harry Denny, Ph.D., former Director of the Writing Center, Program in Writing and Rhetoric at SUNY Stony Brook, will be located in Mahoney Hall.

15 New Writing Specialists Hired
One of the Institute's innovative features is that the 15 newly hired first-year writing specialists--all of them with expertise in composition pedagogy--have offices within and adjacent to the Writing Centers, thereby allowing greater communication between faculty and Writing Center consultants. In addition to serving the entirety of the freshmen community, hundreds of upperclassmen and graduate students will now have greater access to both Writing Centers.

During the Institute’s first year, freshmen will be instructed in writing in the required core curriculum courses. In particular, the ENG 1000C course will, the proposal states, “embrace the Vincentian mission by exploring the cultural diversity reflected in our student body, and researching local communities throughout the metropolitan areas.” By the end of the first year, completed student essays will be published in an online journal; print versions will also be distributed to students, faculty and alumni.

In the program’s second year, students will increase the amount and quality of their writing in their core courses. A Director of Writing Across the Curriculum will be hired to work with Professor Owens and Professor Denny to introduce additional methods for assessing the progress of students and “further advance writing assessment throughout the University.” This Director will also work with Professor Owens to coordinate workshops and other activities designed to familiarize faculty members with writing instruction, and explore writing intensive options with various departments. A new Director for the Queens Writing Center will also be hired in this second year.

Writing Fellows Programs for Faculty and Students
A Writing Fellows Program will be developed by Professor Owens and the recently hired directors in the third year. This program will consist of two parts—one for faculty and one for students—and will parallel that of the University’s Center for Teaching and Learning. Through the Writing Fellows Program, faculty in other disciplines will be offered incentives to design and develop new writing intensive courses in their own departments.

By the fourth year, Professor Owens and the other directors will have promoted the Institute and its various programs through publications, conference presentations, and grant writing.

From the Institute’s inception, the Professor Owens and the Director of Writing Across the Curriculum will be “working closely with faculty and chairs of all departments throughout the University to develop plans and initiatives specific to each department that will promote student writing in upper-level courses in all the disciplines,” Professor Owens explains. “One main priority, he adds, “is to explore the creation of new writing intensive courses for sophomores and juniors in as many majors as we can—courses that prepare students for writing within that specific discipline. We’re also going to explore new writing assessment initiatives specific to the different departments.”

Expectations for the Institute for Writing Studies, spelled out in the proposal, are that it “will serve as a nexus for all manner of academic and curricular programs that promote writing—a ‘home base’ for faculty development, writing assessment, and curricular design.” With its expanded programs, new directors, and new writing faculty, the Institute will make St. John's University the preeminent institution in the metropolitan area for the study and research of undergraduate and graduate student writing.

Professor Owens will host an Open House at the Institute for Writing Studies in St. Augustine Hall on Thursday, September 21 and Friday, September 22 from noon to 2 p.m. All are welcome.