[CBW_Exec] CBW_Exec Digest, Vol 14, Issue 3

[Sarah Kirk]

Dear Exec Committee,
 
This is my second year that I will not be able to attend the 4C's conference. I can not attend because our university's professional development/travel funds were slashed. I do hope to make it next year....
 
I am in my 15th year as the first and senior basic writing professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. As of this year, I am now a Professor of Developmental Education/English. :) In fact, I am the only member of our 10 person developmental education department who teaches both writing and reading. UAA currently has 4 basic writing full-time faculty and 2 basic reading faculty in our department. We grow slowly, but at least we do grow. 
 
The largest gains have been in the implemenation of a computer classroom and stronger connections with our Dept. of English. We also have new learning communities: one that links a Native Studies course with our advanced developmental writing course and another that links a reading and a writing course.
 
After the last San Fran 4C's conference, I developed curriculum that combined reading and writing; however, the reading faculty have been very subversive to this integrated curriculum. 
 
My daughter is now 14 months old and practically runs throughout the house. She waves good-bye and shakes her head nonononono and has the best smile you could imagine. I hope some day that she meets Williams' girls!
 
Hope you all have a good time in San Fran and I hope to meet you all again in Louisville.
 
Best,
 
Sarah Kirk
 

________________________________

From: cbw_exec-bounces at tamu-commerce.edu on behalf of Meyersalan at aol.com
Sent: Thu 3/5/2009 1:28 PM
To: cbw_exec at tamu-commerce.edu
Subject: Re: [CBW_Exec] CBW_Exec Digest, Vol 14, Issue 3


Hi All,

I look forward to our getting together, first on Wednesday, and then at the board meeting. Truman, like most places, is facing a financial cruch, so we had to abort our search to hire one more full time faculty member. Our department membership is now down to 18, from a high of 42 in 1990. But we're soldiering on, with a great many developmental classes being taught in studio classrooms, continuing our combined six-hour reading and writing developmental classes, and our department wide portfolio assessment, which stresses summary response and incorporation of source material in essays. 

On another note, as Director of Assessment, I'm busy moving ahead with the college's General Education Portfolio project, which assesses our general education goals through committees reading 50 papers for each goal taken from upper division courses and judged through weighted rubrics. we plan to extend the project to first-year courses next year and developmental the year following. It's pretty exciting.

Cordially,

Alan


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