The Salem State University Writing Intensive Curriculum (WIC) program is a local initiative rooted in the nationwide Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) movement, an educational reform movement that began in the 1970s. The WIC program works to achieve goals particular to Salem State faculty and students as well as the larger WAC movement.

Informed by scholarship in Writing Studies, the Salem State WIC program was created in 2013 as a response to the revised general education curriculum, which changed the shape and form of writing instruction at the university. The curriculum moved from a two-course freshman writing sequence housed in the English department to a three-course vertical model of writing instruction housed in departments across the discipline. The change in the curriculum shifted the responsibility of writing instruction from English professors to professors in all disciplines. The WIC program was designed to provide support for instructors who will teach and incorporate writing into their classes in the new writing designated courses (WII and WIII). The adoption of the vertical model demonstrates Salem State’s strong commitment to writing and writing pedagogy. It also reveals that Salem State faculty understand that students need sustained engagement with writing over their entire academic careers in order to become effective writers. The WIC program further strengthens these commitments by providing occasions and opportunities to talk about writing and the teaching of writing.

The Salem State WIC program seeks to achieve the larger goals of the WAC movement by promoting the integration of writing in disciplinary courses and the teaching of writing from a disciplinary perspective. Research has shown that writing yields deep learning as well as critical thinking. Thus using writing-to-learn activities sharpens students’ writing abilities and also helps them learn and think critically about disciplinary content. Promoting writing instruction in disciplinary courses is also an important part of the WAC movement. Writing, writing processes, disciplinary histories and habits of mind all inform discipline-specific writing; thus those instructors with this knowledge are best equipped to teach students how to write in the disciplines. The Salem State WIC program seeks to promote a university culture that values and supports writing and writing pedagogy. Other goals and information about the WAC movement can be found on the recently published “Statement of WAC Principles and Practices [PDF].

Please contact Dr. Tanya Rodrigue, WIC Coordinator, for more information (trodrigue@salemstate.edu or 978-542-6702)