WSU Writing Program Appears Tenth Time on U.S. News & World Report Rankings as One of Best in the Nation
PULLMAN, Wash.—Washington State University has been recognized for the tenth time for having one of the top writing programs in the nation, according to the 2014 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” released Tuesday.WSU is one of 19 institutions hailed in the “Writing in the Disciplines” category in “Academic Programs to Look For,” a section that has been part of the annual rankings for 11 years. Those spotlighted in the section represent “schools with outstanding examples of academic programs that are believed to lead to student success.”
WSU is the only university in the Northwest to make the list for writing, which includes just one other Pac-12 school—Stanford. Others sharing the honor are Brown, Colorado State, Cornell, Duke, Harvard, Kenyon, North Carolina-Raleigh, Princeton, Purdue-West Lafayette, UC Davis, and Yale.
“These colleges typically make the writing process a priority at all levels of instruction and across the curriculum,” the U.S. News rankings website says. “Students are encouraged to produce and refine various forms of writing for different audiences in different disciplines.” Administrators from more than 1,500 schools nominated universities’ names for the ranking.
“This recognition of WSU and its Writing Program at the national level is quite an honor,” says Lisa Johnson, co-director of the WSU Writing Program. “It is especially gratifying to have made the top programs list for ten years. We can all be very proud of this. It tells us that other universities see us as pacesetters and leaders in having institutionalized the requirement that our students communicate effectively through their writing.”
“Congratulations must also be extended to the many faculty members throughout our university who work very hard to emphasize and require good writing from the students in their courses,” says Mary F. Wack, vice provost for undergraduate education.
The Writing Program has existed for more than 25 years. It offers writing tutors to help their peers, and faculty workshops to share best practices on the assigning and assessing of written materials. It administers writing placement exams and is in charge of the required junior Writing Portfolio project. Its data on student writers forms the basis for numerous reports, articles published in scholarly journals, and presentations delivered at conference and professional meetings.
The Writing Program is part of the Office of Undergraduate Education, which serves all students in the university. Peer tutors in its Writing Center host over 12,000 sessions with students each year.
Oct. 7, 2013
CONTACT: Beverly Makhani, Communications Director, Office of Undergraduate Education, 509-335-6679, Makhani@wsu.edu
Lisa Johnson, Co-Director, Writing Program, 509-335-7695, lisaj@wsu.edu
Mary F. Wack, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, 509-335-8044, mwack@wsu.edu