While NC State is known as a premier research institution, it also prides itself on producing graduates who are skilled writers, orators and digital communicators, regardless of what degree they are pursuing. One of the key drivers in that mission is the Campus Writing and Speaking Program (CWSP), which recently received an Exemplary Writing Across the Curriculum Program Award from the Association for Writing Across the Curriculum (AWAC) and the WAC Clearinghouse.

According to the AWAC website, the Exemplary WAC Program Awards series recognizes the extraordinary achievements of WAC directors and/or administrative teams to establish, maintain and sustain programs that foster and facilitate exemplary engagement with writing across the curriculum at their institution, as well as institutional commitments to support these achievements. Specifically, the CWSP received the Exemplary Enduring WAC Program Award, which honors programs that have continued for more than 11 years. The award will be presented to NC State at the 2025 International Writing Across Curriculum Conference. Additionally, a profile about the program will be featured on the WAC Clearinghouse and AWAC websites, and the university will host a national AWAC workshop during the 2024-25 academic year.

The CWSP is one of the longest-standing programs in communication and writing across curriculum, and it has served as a model for countless other institutions across the country. For more than 28 years, it has supported NC State faculty and instructors in promoting, assigning and assessing student writing across 68 departments and 12 colleges. 

The CWSP is co-directed by Kirsti Cole and Roy Schwartzman, who joined the program in 2023 and are professors of English and communication, respectively.

“I think this award reaffirms that NC State is serious about holistically preparing students in all disciplines for real life tasks they are going to face, which will involve writing, speaking and digital communication,” Schwartzman said. “For Kirsti and me, it’s very exciting to get this recognition so early in our stewardship of the program because it shows the value of our work in helping students become better writers and more expressive communicators.”

Deanna Dannels, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and former associate director for the CWSP, also expressed her gratitude for the recognition.

“This award reflects the CWSP’s unwavering commitment to empowering all NC State students with valuable, transferable skills they can use to thrive in any industry,” Dannels said. “It’s a shining example of the integral role the humanities and social sciences have at our STEM-intensive university, helping us to think critically and communicate clearly, ethically and purposefully. I was honored to be part of CWSP’s progress and success for over 15 years; this award holds a special place in my heart as I spent much of my career championing writing and speaking across all disciplines and working with incredible faculty who see the importance of these fundamental skills.”

About the Campus Writing and Speaking Program

Now part of the Office for Faculty Excellence, the CWSP launched in 1997 under the direction of interim leader Michael Carter, professor emeritus for the Department of English and associate dean emeritus for The Graduate School. Chris Anson was hired as the first director in 1998 and oversaw the program through 2023. He now serves as strategic advisor for the CWSP, in addition to being a Distinguished University Professor and Alumni Association Distinguished Graduate Professor.

“We’ve always offered a broad range of faculty development — workshops, seminars and so on — that really draw faculty from anywhere,” Anson said. “We also have had a departmentally focused model where we go into departments and consult with them about their students’ learning, writing and communication outcomes using a model that’s sustained us for years.” 

The primary mission of the CWSP is to support faculty teaching and student learning in oral, written and digital communication skills, and Cole, Schwartzman and Anson offer many services that have contributed to the university’s success in those areas over the years. Those include consultations with academic departments as well as individuals or groups of faculty to discuss activities, assignments and the assessment of writing and speaking. They also host faculty writing retreats, a semester-long faculty seminar and a new Written and Oral Literacy Facilitation (WOLF) certificate program in which participating department faculty can earn mini-grants to support departmental-level curricular work in writing and speaking.

Cole and Schwartzman have recently led multiple sessions about AI and responsible use of technology in the classroom. Cole said one of her favorite parts of the job is getting to bring together members of the faculty from different colleges, who often end up sharing techniques, insights and ideas with one another.

“We don’t tell faculty members how to do their job,” Cole said. “We’re just there to look at what they’re already doing and find new ways to incorporate writing, speaking and digital communication best practices into their curriculum in a way that best benefits their students.”

The Enduring WAC Program Award is the latest recognition of CWSP’s valuable work at NC State. Over the last several years, NC State has consistently ranked among the U.S. News and World Report’s top universities for writing in the disciplines. 

“It’s incredible to come into a program that is so well established and has so many resources,” Cole said. “This program is amazing and has so much energy behind it. If people on campus don’t know about it, they recognize the value quickly. And if they do know about it, they tend to champion it. It’s been a privilege to come here and be involved in this program.”

Learn more about the CWSP on its website, go.ncsu.edu/CWSP, or email the team at  writing_speaking@ncsu.edu to inquire about services.

This post was originally published in NC State News.