The Pennsylvania State University - Public Writing Initiative
Annual Report, 2012-2013
Cynthia Mazzant
Coordinator
Geffrey Davis
Krista Quesenberry
Fellows - August 2013
Introduction
2012-2013 Statistics |
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Guest Speaking Engagements: 25Commissioned Assignments: 1 Information about these and other developments can be found in the following pages. For more information, please contact Cynthia Mazzant at cmm29@psu.edu |
The Public Writing Initiative (PWI) is a small group of instructors from the English Department, associated with and supported by the Penn State Learning program. Our purpose is to promote the ideals of public scholarship, learning and writing that take place in all fields, disciplines, and, ultimately, in all careers. To that end, we bring together introductory writing instructors (ENGL 015S and 030S) and upper-level writing instructors (ENGL 202 A, B, C, and D) with local professionals from business, technical, nonprofit, corporate, and community groups. Our mission is not only to foster a sense of connection between students and their surroundings, but also to highlight the importance of writing skills across disciplines—from art history to astrophysics, from economics to engineering. In 2012-2013, our nineteenth year, we continued to strive for these goals through two programs: The Guest Speaker Program, which brings local professionals into writing classrooms to discuss their first-hand writing experiences, helped students in 25 courses to gain a deeper understanding of writing in the workplace, in civic life, and in other non-academic contexts. The Commissioned Assignment Program, which allows students to write documents needed by local organizations, was not used in the 202 classroom this year. New course development in the 202D and the 137H/138T courses required public writing with commissioned assignments, thereby rendering this program almost obsolete. Two Honors Freshman classes (030S and 137H-138T) took on a commissioned assignment and wrote for Voices, a State College independent news magazine, throughout the academic year. Glossary of Classes
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Guest Speaker Program
Program Statistics |
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Speakers: 13 Instructors: 9 Sections Served: 25 Students Engaged: 583 Speaker Affiliations
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The goals of the Guest Speaker Program are
Fall 2012 (10 Speakers, 12 sections)Spring 2013 (8 Speakers, 13 sections)015SInstructor: Erica Fleming Speaker: Jon Secreto 137H/138TInstructor: Cynthia Mazzant Speaker: David Hutchinson 213Instructor: Geffrey Davis Speaker: Jon Secreto 202AInstructors: Rose Bohn, Cynthia Mazzant Speakers: Rick Bryant, Ann Donovan, Julie Miller, David Hutchinson 202BInstructors: Elizabeth Nelson, Geffrey Davis, Justin Mellett Speakers: Jon Secreto, Lysette Szwydky, Cynthia Mazzant, Rick Bryant 202CInstructors: Al Holtzinger, Rose Bohn Speakers: Lysette Szwydky, Jorge Sofa, Carly Barry, Dr. Craig Behren, Cody Steele 202DInstructors: Stacy Tibbetts, Stephanie Scott Speakers: Debbie Meder, Carla Rossi |
Commissioned Assignment Program
Program Statistics |
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Commissioned Assignments: 2Instructors: 1 Sections Served: 2 Students Engaged: 37 |
Fall 2012 (1 Assignment, 1 Section)030SInstructor: Cynthia Mazzant Students wrote short articles and stories for Voices, a Centre County independent monthly news magazine. Students were assigned articles to cover events and to create new pieces and submit story ideas for the Arts & Entertainment Section of the paper. Spring 2013 (1 Assignment, 1 Section) 138TInstructor: Cynthia Mazzant Following the format above, students submitted Arts & Entertainment articles for Voices but also wrote articles and covered events for the Sustainability Forum the 138T students conducted. Students also volunteered at and developed materials for the regional Poetry Out Loud Competition. |
Recommendations
The speaker series was highly successful this year as we reached out to instructors during the first weeks of the semester. In addition, fellows attended Graduate Student meetings and were able to “pitch” the program with success. It is recommended that the program keep at least one lecturer with strong ties to the lecturer community on the committee. Also, timing as mentioned in the past is crucial, as is timing of luncheons and coordination meetings.
It is also recommended that the Commissioned Assignments incorporate and recruit instructors from freshman writing, creative writing, and editing classes.