University’s Writing Across the Curriculum Program Recognized As One of the Best in the Nation

Devon Moore M.A. remembers when the first official writing-intensive courses were offered at the University of New Haven during the Fall 2017 semester, which also happened to be her first semester at the University. She says she has seen the University’s Writing Across the Curriculum program flourish over the past three years.

This work has led to the program being recognized by the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) with a Writing Program Certificate of Excellence. A constituent organization within the National Council of Teachers of English, the CCCC recognized only four writing programs nationwide for the 2020-21 academic year with this prestigious honor.

“Jenna Sheffield and I have worked tirelessly over the last three years to grow and enrich the Writing Across the Curriculum program,” said Moore, the University’s writing programs coordinator and assistant director of the Center for Teaching Excellence. “It was really motivating to be recognized by our peers through such an important organization in our field.”

The award recognizes up to 20 programs each year that meet criteria such as best current practices, exemplary ongoing professional development for faculty teaching writing-intensive courses, and efforts to foster diversity.

“This recognition gives us external validation from a national organization that our program is effectively supporting faculty who teach writing-intensive courses,” said Jenna Sheffield, Ph.D., assistant provost for curriculum innovation and director of Writing Across the Curriculum. “Because I am a scholar in writing studies, I am happy to see that my research and training prepared me to build a successful program. In the end, this benefits students because they are learning how to become better communicators in their field of study.”

Every undergraduate student at the University must take at least one writing-intensive course. The University will be recognized during the 2021 CCCC Awards Presentation.

Moore hopes the University’s writing programs will continue to grow and that new faculty members will be interested in teaching writing-intensive courses.

“We strive to provide a supportive and insightful program to our instructors, which yields effective programming for our students,” she said. “I’m proud to be supporting a program that is doing such good work.”