MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE
WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
FEBRUARY 7, 2006

Present: Maria Carrig, Diane Keller, Rick Matthews, Leonard Schulze, Anne Shaw, Fred Smiley, Mark Snavely, David Steege, Alan Wallace

Mark Snavely was elected as chair of the committee. Maria Carrig was elected as secretary. It was agreed to have a library and a student representative on the committee, the exact status of their committee membership to be decided in consultation with the FEC.

The committee discussed the draft of the Carthage course catalog entry for Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC). Catalog copy is due in March. Issues included what percentage of a student’s grade must be writing in order for a course to qualify as a Writing Intensive (WI) course; whether essay exams may count as part of the writing requirement; whether drafts may count. It was agreed that the WAC entry in the student course catalog need only contain the requirements that the students must fulfill. It should not contain requirements for faculty. Therefore, it is not appropriate to list a specific percentage or number of pages of writing in the catalog.

Anne Shaw and Fred Smiley volunteered to attend the WAC International Conference at Clemson University in May.

The committee discussed how SPS can provide WI courses in the ACE program. The major programs offered by SPS (Business, Marketing, Criminal Justice and Information Systems) will need to provide WI courses. Modules will have to be developed for WI courses, and it will be difficult to implement in the 5-week format. Rick Matthews volunteered to be the WAC Committee liaison with SPS.

Leonard Schulze volunteered to be the liaison with the Heritage program.