UWP Lecturers Update on the Proposed WAC Program for the University Writing Program

[Lash Keith Vance]

  Greetings All,

   

  We wanted to give you an update on the development
  and proposals of Writing Across Curriculum (WAC)
  alternatives for English 1C.  Some of you certainly
  know that these plans have been in development over
  the last four or five years, but some of the newer
  lecturers may not be aware.  Therefore, we wanted to
  outline the major elements and history.

   

  History of University Writing Program (UWP)

   

  The University Writing Program (UWP) was established
  in 2007 and separated from jurisdictional control
  (and budget) of the English Department partly in
  order to create a substantive WAC program.  Part of
  the reason for this, as many may have guessed, is to
  reduce the budget footprint of writing instruction
  at UCR.  This was part of the plan from the very
  beginning, and the University has the absolute right
  to mandate curriculum that satisfies graduation
  requirements, and it also has the right to set a
  budget for that curriculum.  These are two things
  that we, as lecturers, cannot change.  The WAC
  program will come into existence NEXT FALL.  We (the
  UWP) are charged with reducing the number of English
  1C sections beginning next year (most likely
  starting Fall).

   

  What is important to note here is that we, as
  lecturers, do have a voice in HOW the WAC program is
  conceived and will be implemented.  There are three
  lecturers on the committee, and we are very
  concerned by what these changes to the course
  structure might mean to fellow lecturers in terms of
  jobs and security. 

   

  The WAC Pathways

   

  Right now, as communicated in an earlier email,
  there are three proposed “pathways” that
  students will be able to choose from to satisfy the
  English 1C requirement.  In addition to the current
  English 1C offering, there will be two additional
  pathways.

   

   

  1)      Writing-intensive courses offered by various
  departments and standing in place of English 1C;

  2)      WAC Courses that are somewhat less
  writing-intensive (in the disciplines), but which
  stand in place of English 1C when students
  simultaneously enroll in and pass a related two-unit
  writing course taught by the University Writing
  Program.

   

  NOTE: While the University Writing Committee is
  still working on the language for these pathways
  (particularly concerning the two-unit course), we
  are still working on the details to ensure there is
  a very substantive training program and a detailed
  approval process for these courses.  Since these
  measures for training and standards are being
  included, it makes the likelihood of a full-scale
  adoption and transfer of English 1C classes to other
  departments increasingly unlikely. 

   

  What the Future Holds 

   

  We do not see a doom and gloom scenario developing,
  especially since programs like these always take a
  fair amount of time to deploy and there are built in
  barriers in the proposals so that not every
  department on campus can simply start offering
  writing courses (this is not 2004 revisited).  All
  the regular courses will have to be offered (BW3,
  Eng 4, Eng 5, Eng 1ABC), and lecturers will be
  teaching many of these.  However, it would be naïve
  to say that there will be no effects on the lecturer
  pool in the coming years.  There will be two
  pressures on the lecturer pool as we see them:
  increased teaching assistantships being awarded to
  staff WAC courses and some decreased need for
  lecturers due to English 1C changes.

   

  As far as we can gauge (and this is Julie Brett and
  Keith Vance’s opinion), these changes will not
  effect post-six or one-year contract lecturers. 
  Although there may well be fewer quarterly contracts
  awarded in the coming years, this number is hard to
  gauge because enrollment may well go up.  The short
  term outlook for next year is still fairly positive
  because the new WAC English 1C program will not be
  in full swing.  The long term outlook (2-5 years
  down the line) is harder to anticipate, but those
  people just applying for lectureship positions or
  those with only quarterly contracts at that point
  may find fewer classes being offered. 

   

   

  Anyway, we wanted to let you all know what is
  happening.

   

  Your Representatives,

   

  Julie Brett and Keith Vance

   
   

Lash Keith Vance, M.A., Ph.D., M.Ed
Director of Computer-Assisted Instruction
Lecturer Representative
University Writing Program
University of California, Riverside

Office: 1103C HMNSS
Email : lashv at ucr.edu
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