<HTML><BODY><P>Greetings Fellow Lecturers,</P>
<P>It has been a while since you have heard from your lecturer representatives, so we thought we would let you know what has been happening. Please forgive the cursory format, but it is the 9th week, and students we have never seen are coming out of the woodwork now.</P>
<P>1) The Committee on Writing Courses (COWC) has been meeting for the last month to review the six-year review files (now called Excellence Reviews) of seven members of our department who are seeking continuing appointment. There are a further three post-six lecturers up for merit. Prof. Ganim is chairing this committee.</P>
<P>2) The COWC <EM>may be</EM> the organizational entity responsible for working on the rank order list for pre-six lecturers, but it is still uncertain. Prof. John Briggs is still in the process of assembling the University Writing Program oversite committee (i.e. the new COWC) that will have both Senate and Non-Senate faculty. However, no one knows whether it will be constituted in time.</P>
<P>Rest assured, however, that we <STRONG>WILL</STRONG> have lecturer representation on this new committee, and in a number of discussions with Prof. Briggs he has affirmed that it is imperative to the success of our program to have lecturer representation as part of the governing body.</P>
<P>3) The UWP will be hiring new administrative personnel (at least one) in the next month or so, and they will be responsible for organizing the new office. </P>
<P>4) Tutors have already begun meeting students for our new Writing Center. This is a pilot program--so far--that targets specific students in specific classes with a ground-up approach. It is our understanding that the program will evolve as budget and time permit to encompass general tutorials as well.</P>
<P>5) <STRONG><EM>QUESTION</EM></STRONG>. Julie Brett and I have received numerous questions about the status of the workload committee, the eight courses for next year, and the possibility of reduction to seven courses in Fall, 2008. We have heard conflicting reports as to what the University has suggested. Since we are not serving on this committee, we would like to invite Ben Harder, our union president, to fill everyone in on any new developments (sorry to make more work for you, Ben).</P>
<P>Best Keith and Julie</P>
<DIV class=mirapoint-signature>
<PRE>
Lash Keith Vance, Ph.D., MEd
Director of Computer Assisted Instruction
Department of English
University of California, Riverside
Office: 1103C HMNSS
Phone: 951-827-4832
Email : lashv@ucr.edu
</PRE>
</DIV>
</BODY></HTML>