FWCP
Faculty Writing Consultant Program | ||
What is it?Portland State University’s commitment to faculty development has been demonstrated recently through an innovative program which helps faculty complete writing projects. The University’s English Department and the Writing Center, in cooperation with the Center for Academic Excellence, have designed this program to provide faculty opportunities to discuss their writing projects at whatever stage they happen to be. You may have an article in preparation, but have reached a point where you need a nother reader who can offer constructive suggestions by raising questions about audience, purpose, structure, style, disciplinary conventions, or by addressing other “writerly” questions that will make the writing stronger. Even if you have only a rough outline or sketch, or wish to “talk out your ideas” further, an experienced Writing Consultant can help in these early drafting or “pre-writing” stages of composition. Whatever the status of your project, you’ll find, as many PSU faculty have, that working with the consultant will sustain your research and writing efforts. | Frequently Asked Questions:Q: Besides advice on academic articles, can I get help with other writing tasks? A: Yes. Faculty have used these sessions for advice on grant proposals, formal professional correspondence, lectures, and even self evaluations for promotion and tenure. All information remains confidential to protect privacy. Q: Besides tutorial sessions, what other opportunities are available? A: The Center for Academic Excellence and the Writing Center also schedule periodic “Writing Retreats”, generally on Thursday and Friday during the third week of the term. Space is provided in a comfortable locale, often off campus, so faculty can, if they wish, spend an entire day with colleagues writing. Writing consultants will be available at these sessions for instant feedback, and ample amounts of coffee/tea as well as breakfast and lunch are provided. Areas are set aside for individual conferencing as needed. Watch for announcements at www.pdx.edu/cae. | |
How does the Program work? Depending on the stage of the writing, the consultant may suggest stylistic changes and will usually correct obvious sentence-level grammatical miscues, but tutorial sessions typically focus mainly on matters of development, structure and readability. Faculty have welcomed the consultants’ constructive criticism and a chance to exercise the critical capacities they need to make progress and complete their projects. They have also discovered that their ability to comment on their own students’ writing, or to talk about writing either in class or in conference, has been improved.
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The Writing Center
| For further information, contact:Greg Jacob Director, Rhetoric & Composition jacobg@pdx.edu Dan DeWeese Writing Center Coordinator deweesed@pdx.edu Hildy Miller English Department milleh@pdx.edu George T. Karnezis Writing Consultant gtkarnezis@msn.com | |||
