Sustainable WAC: A Whole Systems Approach to Launching and Developing Writing Across the Curriculum Programs

by Michelle Cox, Jeffrey R. Galin, Dan Melzer

Cox, Galin, and Melzer introduce a theoretical framework for WAC program development that takes into account the diverse contexts of today's institutions of higher education, aids WAC program directors in thinking strategically as they develop programs, and integrates a focus on program sustainability.

A 2008 survey of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs found that nearly half of those identified in a 1987 survey no longer existed twenty years later, pointing to a need for an approach to WAC administration that leads to programs that persist over time. In Sustainable WAC, current or former WAC program directors Michelle Cox, Jeffrey R. Galin, and Dan Melzer introduce a theoretical framework for WAC program development that takes into account the diverse contexts of today's institutions of higher education, aids WAC program directors in thinking strategically as they develop programs, and integrates a focus on program sustainability. Informed by theories that illuminate transformative change within systems--complexity, systems, social network, resilience, and sustainable development theories--and illustrated with vignettes by WAC directors across the country, this book lays out principles, strategies, and tactics to help WAC program directors launch, relaunch, or reinvigorate programs within the complicated systems of today's colleges and universities. Acknowledging that every WAC program grows out of a specific institutional context and grassroots movement, this book is a must-read for everyone currently involved in a WAC program or interested in exploring the possibility of one at their college or university.

272 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

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Reviews

[Kevin Fulton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book offers a good overview of the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) field. The book focuses on how to make WAC programs last by their becoming integrated into the wider university system. It was interesting to learn that WAC programs tend to be unstable and a significant portion of the boo acts to provide WAC program leaders with strategies for justifying the program's existence to higher ups. These sections do provide helpful, generalizable strategies for program building. I was a bit offput by this framing because it felt like they wanted WAC programs to be salesmen for themselves instead of helping with writing. This was just the framing and not the intent, but it rubbed me the wrong way.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the foundation for my approach to creating a WAC program at my school.