Pilot Program in Upper Division Writing Instruction

Information and Guidelines

Awards:

Academic Affairs will typically fund six to eight awards of $5,000 each in support of courses offered during Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters. Funding for each approved course will be $5,000, independent of course enrollment.

Proposal Considerations:

An interdisciplinary Selection Committee reviews the proposals, and the Senior Vice Chancellor makes final allocation decisions.

A minimum course enrollment level of 25 is suggested.  Given the wide spectrum of possible uses in the different disciplines, the program will aim to learn whether awarded funds can be used effectively for different types of courses -- large and small.

Funds are not awarded for general course enrichment, but are restricted for improvement of discipline-specific writing skills.  Writing enhancement may use TAs, Readers, Lecturers, or writing consultants, as deemed most effective by the department and the course instructor.

Selection Criteria and Outcomes:

Proposals should include a brief plan for evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed objectives for improvement of discipline-specific writing skills.   Applicants are encouraged to consider the answers to the following questions:  

• What is the expectation of significant impact on identifiable writing skills appropriate to work within the discipline? 
• Can the likelihood of success be predicted?   
• What criteria would indicate that the pilot project had a positive impact?  

Reports on Use of Funds:

Award recipients are asked to submit a brief report during spring quarter regarding how award funds were spent, the impact of the project on students writing, any aspects of the project that could be usefully shared with colleagues outside their department, and whether or not the Pilot Program served a useful purpose.  This information is critical to determining the success of the Pilot Program and will be used to assess whether or not the program should be continued.