By Dr. Michael Keathley, WACademic Publisher

Educators have long understood the connections between literacy and knowledge; yet, the typical writing across the curriculum (WAC) initiative that integrates writing across an institution often depends on a tenuous position anchored to one individual and subject to budget fluctuations. Especially within the dynamics of the post-COVID context and with all the mania surrounding artificial intelligence (AI), writing program administrators (WPAs) must become global leaders to share the relevance and benefits of literacy, and WAC must transform into writing across the globe (WAG) to fully address current and future academic, professional, and societal trends.

One of the most disheartening (though not surprising) discoveries I made, as someone who had been a writing program administrator (WPA) for just over a decade, came with a pilot study I conducted in 2014 on the role of WPAs in sustaining writing across the curriculum initiatives (Keathley, 2014). The bottom line shared by respondents seemed to be that WAC was often tied to an overworked individual whose responsibility for WAC was a full-time add-on to at least one other full-time title: department chair, writing center director, or even dean. When that person left, the WAC initiative collapsed. More recently, the COVID pandemic, the rapid advance of artificial intelligence (AI), and other socio-political pressures gave rise to a myth that writing would soon become obsolete and drove even more educators to leave the classroom. Even WAC advocates shifted their approach from “learning to write” to “writing to learn,” and some waved the white flag, surrendering to the intensified challenges of less prepared students, AI-generated texts, and other pressures.

Despite the concerns, I am typically a more positive, “think-as-if-there-is-no-box” kind of guy who thrives on strategizing, so I dove into multiple literature reviews in the hope of finding a way forward. Logically, WPAs cannot continue to operate in their cozy silos of internal writing initiatives, nor can they hide from the rest of the world. Changing the perception that WAC leadership is just an add-on to a WPA’s regular full-time duties needs to be the first strategic step. Two main approaches became clear:

1. WPAs must become global leaders

Leadership studies tend to focus less on a job title or location; rather, they tend to look at qualities and characteristics that make one an effective leader. During my initial research, I was able to narrow these global leadership characteristics down to the five most important: 1) inspiring trust; 2) thinking strategically; 3) engaging proactively; 4) empowering followers; and 5) offering a shared vision along with a solid path toward its completion, even within the ever-shifting context of our complex world (Keathley, 2018). I knew that, as the WPA within a global, online campus, I needed to become a catalyst for greater engagement internally and with our external colleagues.

One of the key tenets of WAC is that writing is everyone’s responsibility. Therefore, I spent time not only building trust within my department, but also across Purdue University Global (PG) – among faculty, staff, and administrators outside the traditional silos (e.g., writing departments and writing centers). My team and I spread ourselves throughout every campus committee, event, and opportunity to get to know others and to function as WAC ambassadors. As trust and engagement grew, I started to think strategically. Now that we are active parts of other initiatives, how might we invite our new friends into our WAC initiative? For example, years ago, another PG school sponsored a radio station. Faculty would often play the station for about 30 minutes prior to the start of synchronous class sessions. I asked if we could be interviewed about the WAC initiative and if we could create short writing promos to share writing tips with campus listeners. The segments were well received. Many other strategic initiatives have come from that early step.

To empower others, I invited colleagues from around the PG campus to become part of our new Writing Across the Curriculum Advisory Committee (WAC AC). The committee consisted of a representative from each of the main campus areas:

• Chair of English and Rhetoric
• The chairs of our undergraduate and graduate communication committees
• The manager of our Academic Success Center (which includes the writing center)
• One faculty member from each of our schools, including undergraduate and graduate instructors
• An associate dean of curriculum
• A director from the Office of Career Advancement
• A manager of advising
• An expert at ADA compliance
• The library director

The committee has helped us expand the engagement of our campus WAC to the extent that the initiative is now a change agent – as described by Condon and Rutz (2013) in their seminal study – offering reciprocal support with our colleagues on a variety of important, campus-wide projects. Furthermore, the WAC AC has helped WAC tactically with unanticipated pressures and propitious moments. As Sanchez and Kenzie (2018) stated, WAC leaders must be “ready to seize the opportunity to gain an advantage” (p. 122). Having this structure and synergy already in place has helped us navigate the ever-shifting tides of issues such as AI.

2. WAC must become WAG

Writing pedagogy and scholarship offer further justification for WPAs to function as global leaders in their work to sustain writing initiatives. Roughly a decade ago, Flammia (2015) asked a poignant question as the title of an article in College Composition and Communication: “WAC or WAG: Should Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Be Expanded to Writing Across the Globe (WAG)?” She reminded readers of some key points: that writing is interdisciplinary; that writing exists in a global context with many cultural perspectives outside our own; that technology is rapidly expanding writing tools and platforms; and that writing is now a critical component of the communication fluency required by global employees and citizens (Flammia, 2015).

While I remain a fan, the call for WAC to become WAG unfortunately did not receive much attention. However, remember that Flammia wrote her piece prior to the COVID pandemic, the deepening of the partisan divide, the resurgence of the culture wars, the recent waves of book banning and censorship, and the rise of AI. Rather than let the concept of WAG fade away, WPAs must be global leaders who are catalysts for moving writing beyond the classroom—beyond the curriculum—into full engagement with our world context. As Palmquist et al. (2020) argued, WAC “has long served-as a revolutionary force in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education,” and WAC forms a ready catalyst for change not only within writing studies, but also within other disciplines and socio-political movements.”

If this approach feels overwhelming, know that we have this forum. The WACademic blog is one of many ways the English and Rhetoric Department at Purdue Global has moved forward into the global arena. Our hope is to advance our own WAG initiative in concert with other WAGophiles around the world.

We invite you to join us by sharing your research, perspectives, and experiences via the comments area or even offering your own guest post submissions. We look forward to learning with you.

References

Condon, W., & Rutz. C. (2013). A taxonomy of writing across the curriculum programs: Evolving to serve broader agendas. College Composition and Communication, 64(2), 357-382. http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/CCC/0642-dec2012/CCC0642Taxonomy.pdf

Flammia, M. (2015, June). WAC or WAG: Should writing across the curriculum (WAC) be expanded to writing across the globe (WAG)? College Composition and Communication, 66(4), 700-705.

Keathley, M. (2014). WAC director custom and usage. [Unpublished manuscript]. The Indiana Institute of Technology.

Keathley, M. (2018). Connecting writing across the curriculum with global leadership: A qualitative study (Publication No. 10809334) [Doctoral dissertation, The Indiana Institute of Technology]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. 

Palmquist, M., Childers, P., Maimon, E., Mullin, J., Rice, R., Russell, A., & Russell, D. R. (2020). Fifty years of WAC: Where have we been? Where are we going? Across the Disciplines, 17(3/4), 5-45. https://doi.org/10.37514/ATD-J.2020.17.3.01

Sanchez, F., & Kenzie, D. (2016). Of evolutions and mutations: Assessment as tactics in for action in WAC partnerships. The WAC Journal, 27, 119-141. https://10.37514/wac-j.2016.27.1.07