Dear Friends and Alums of the Sweetland Center for Writing,
Another year has gone by! Sweetland continues to fulfill its mission of supporting student writing at all levels and in all forms and modes, and we’ve done that in quite a few ways this year. For starters, we’ve hired two new wonderful colleagues: Dr. Jacqueline Kauza and Dr. Sunshine Passwater. We hired Jackie specifically to work alongside the Director and Associate Director to help departments develop writing curricula, offer an array of supportive workshops on issues of common concern to faculty and GSIs teaching writing in their departments, develop resources for fostering accessibility in Upper-Level Writing Requirement (ULWR) courses, and provide individualized teaching support for new and continuing courses. We hired Sunshine to provide support to our Minor in Writing, particularly enhancing theoretically grounded, research-based practices in multimodality, social justice teaching, community engaged writing, and makerspace work. We are thrilled that Jackie and Sunshine have joined us, and you can read more about them here [link].
As you may recall, last year we reorganized our curricular administration into five internal committees: The First and Second Years committee has been working with CRLT on assessing student experiences in our Writing 160 course; the Upper Level committee has been working on revising the guidelines for Upper level Writing Requirement courses; and the Graduate committee has focused on offering more resources for graduate students who identify as neurodivergent. Stay tuned for more updates about this important work in next year’s newsletter!
New Writing Workshop Hours During Study Days
We have modified our one-to-one Writing Workshop (WW) offering to more fully support our student population. Up until this year, the last /day of WW has always been the last day of classes, leaving students without our service during study days. This past fall semester, four of our faculty offered WW hours in the week following the end of classes. The feedback we received from students and faculty is more than encouraging: we had a 85.5% utilization rate, with 40 undergraduate appointments and 13 graduate ones, and 17 students attended our Writing Workshop for the first time! This is a practice we intend to continue.
Strengthening Sweetland’s Influence
This fall, we strengthened Sweetland’s connections and collaborations with units and partners across LSA and the whole university with the first meeting of our newly formed University Advisory Committee (UAC). The UAC met once, and laid firm foundations for our work in the Winter semester and coming years. Sweetland also extends its influence by approving and overseeing all ULWR courses offered in LSA. Our research has shown that many undergraduate students take more than one ULWR course during their careers, and many opt to take an ULWR outside their major before they take one in their major. To help meet this need, we have been excited to expand the number of ULWR courses offered within Sweetland, taught by Sweetland faculty.
Exciting Developments in the Peer Writing Program
We also continue to grow our Peer Writing Program (PWP) in very exciting ways. A few years ago Sweetland received a generous gift from the Virginia Nicklas Estate to support our peer consultants. We have begun receiving distributions from that gift, and this year we are using those funds (among other things) to invite eminent speakers to contribute to our peer consultants’ training. Specifically, we are organizing two campus visits in the Winter semester: Dr. Drew Koke, an academic support program director who has published widely on peer mentoring; and Dr. Rachel LaTouche, an award-winning sociology professor who, after her academic career, engaged in antiracist consulting work. Dr. Laura Clapper, Director of our PWP, was instrumental in facilitating these visits. As part of the bequest, we will soon rename the PWP as the Virginia Stewart Nicklas Peer Writing Program, within the Sweetland Center for Writing.
Sweetland and Generative AI
As I am sure you are aware, Artificial Intelligence, specifically Large Language Models such as ChatGPT, have changed the landscape of writing education. On the one hand, these changes are very exciting, because students increasingly seek flexible, conversational, and on-demand AI-supported tools, making it necessary to rethink how proven pedagogical content is delivered. However, many instructors are deeply concerned due to unresolved issues regarding ethics (when is it appropriate to use AI?), digital literacy (are students aware of how to properly use this technology?), and environmental impact (is the use of AI sustainable?). Sweetland has been closely collaborating with the College of LSA to develop policies, statements, and resources to help both teachers and students during these strange and fast-moving times. Read more about our involvement with the Provost’s Seminar on Teaching, “Generative AI in Undergraduate Education.”
As you can see, Sweetland is well positioned to continue its strong tradition of writing instruction and research. Although I have had the privilege of leading this unit for the past three years, its ongoing success is truly thanks to the dedicated faculty and staff. Every day, Sweetland’s team develops curricula, supports students, teaches in the classroom, publishes across genres, and encourages one another. Their commitment and collaboration are at the heart of what makes Sweetland special. You can read more about our wonderful faculty and staff accomplishments from the past year.
If you’re a Sweetland Alum, we welcome you to submit or update your profile to our Alums Gallery. We love seeing the work you’re doing and how your experiences with our programs have shaped your path. You shaped ours too!
Also, please consider mentoring a Sweetland student! To do so, you can sign up for LSA Connect, a program run by the LSA Opportunity Hub that connects undergraduates with alums for conversations on shared interests. You decide your level of involvement and topics to discuss. Networking with alums can greatly impact students’ professional development and influence the choices they make as they pursue their interests in and after college. The people you mentor will change the world!
Thank you for being a part of Sweetland.
