Sustainable WAC: A Whole Systems Approach to Launching and Developing Writing Across the Curriculum Programs

Winner of the 2021 Association for Writing Across the Curriculum/WAC Clearinghouse award for Best WAC Monograph

A 2008 survey of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs found that nearly half of those identified in a 1987 survey no longer existed twenty years later, pointing to a need for an approach to WAC administration that leads to programs that persist over time. In Sustainable WAC, current or former WAC program directors Michelle Cox, Jeffrey R. Galin, and Dan Melzer introduce a theoretical framework for WAC program development that takes into account the diverse contexts of today's institutions of higher education, aids WAC program directors in thinking strategically as they develop programs, and integrates a focus on program sustainability.

Informed by theories that illuminate transformative change within systems--complexity, systems, social network, resilience, and sustainable development theories--and illustrated with vignettes by WAC directors across the country, this book lays out principles, strategies, and tactics to help WAC program directors launch, relaunch, or reinvigorate programs within the complicated systems of today's colleges and universities. Acknowledging that every WAC program grows out of a specific institutional context and grassroots movement, this book is a must-read for everyone currently involved in a WAC program or interested in exploring the possibility of one at their college or university.

Jeffrey R. Galin is a Professor in the Department of English at Florida Atlantic University. He teaches courses on academic and multimedia writing as well as the teaching of writing. He is also the founder and Director of the University Center for Excellence in Writing, Writing Across the Curriculum program at FAU, and the Community Center for Excellence in Writing. He has presented over 100 workshops and presentations at national and international conferences. His most recent co-authored book is Sustainable WAC: A Whole Systems Approach to Launching and Developing Writing Across the Curriculum Programs. He has published edited collections on technology and teaching, teaching of writing in college, and has published articles on literacy theory, teaching of writing, management of writing programs, intellectual property/copyright, and the future of online publishing.

Dan Melzer is Director of First-Year Composition at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of the scholarly books Assignments across the Curriculum: A National Study of College Writing and Sustainable WAC: Launching and Developing Writing Across the Curriculum Programs (co-authored with Michelle Cox and Jeff Galin). He is co-author with John C. Bean of the 3rd edition of Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. He has also published two composition textbooks, Everything's a Text (co-authored with Deborah Coxwell Teague) and Exploring College Writing: Reading, Writing, and Researching Across the Curriculum.