The Writing Initiative Task Force

The Writing Initiative Task Force is a group of administrators and faculty charged with monitoring the creation and assessing the implementation of the Writing Intensive (WI) courses at the college.

As the Initiative is now in its fourth year (of the 5 year grant), this group becomes more important in assuring the sustainability of the Initiative goals beyond the time of the grant.

The group is headed by Greg Fallon, Associate Dean of Learning Resources and the Title V Project Coordinator for the Writing Initiative.

Matters addressed by the Task Force during this past year included:

1. Performance of WI students on CWE (presentation of data by Dr. Gurvinder Khaneja of Institutional Research; positive signs; findings to be shared at fall meeting of all full-time faculty)
2. Number of WI courses developed and to be developed (19 WI courses have been developed thus far, just one short of the number originally planned; Human Growth and Development and Economics are currently being considered; Computer Concepts and Applications needs another trained instructor)
3. Composition I as a pre-requisite (previously, students were enrolling in WI courses without this pre-requisite; the pre-requisite is now in place after intervention by registrar)
4. Need for additional sections of WI courses as well as additional instructors (announced at meetings of departmental chairpersons)
5. Insufficient use of ePortfolios (to increase use, Dr. Kineavy plans to introduce ePortfolios in the required first-year experience class so that students are comfortable with them by the time they take WI courses)
6. Expansion of evaluation committee (at present, WI staff does all of the assessment of student submissions to ePortfolio—plans to include faculty from Gen Ed, Assessment, and College Writing Committees to accommodate increasing number of students)
7. Review of WI courses to maintain WI standards (Task Force responsibility)
8. Alignment of rubrics (currently, the writing rubrics for the College Writing Exam (CWE) and the WI courses are perfectly aligned; Ken Ronkowitz and Elizabeth Nesius have further worked out the alignment of the CWE, WI, and WritePlacer rubrics to show how they correspond for assessment purposes)
9. Getting the word out (various efforts: WI faculty presentations, a dedicated blog, an anthology of student writings, and the branding of the Initiative through the logo and its use on promotional materials)
10. Involvement of General Education Committee (a co-chairperson is a member of the Task Force; the Gen Ed Committee doing inventory of the writing already done in Gen Ed courses; establishing outcomes expected of PCCC students with respect to writing and critical thinking)
11. Involvement of Assessment Committee (the chairperson is a member of the Task Force; the review of writing outcomes assessment for WI courses will fall to this committee)

The current Task Force members are:

1. Dr. Jacqueline Kineavy, Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs
2. Prof. Edward Mosley, Chairperson for the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
3. Ms. Donna Stankiewicz, Assistant Dean of Nursing Education
4. Mr. Todd Sorber, Executive Director of Institutional Advancement and Workforce Development
5. Dr. Gurvinder Khaneja, Executive Director of Institutional Research
6. Mr. Greg Fallon, Associate Dean of Learning Resources & Title V Project Coordinator
7. Mr. Ken Ronkowitz, Director of the Writing Initiative
8. Ms. Elizabeth Nesius, Coordinator of the Writing Center
9. Mr. Ken Karol, Technology Resource Specialist
10. Dr. Ida Greidanus, Professor of Biology
11. Prof. Mark Hillringhouse, Co-Chairperson of the College Writing Committee
12. Prof. Margaret Holland, Co-Chairperson of the College Writing Committee
13. Prof. Alan Mitnick, Chairperson of the English Department
14. Dr. Lonna Murphy, Co-Chairperson of the General Education Committee
15. Dr. Christine Redman-Waldeyer, Chairperson of the Assessment Committee