Salt Lake
Community College’s Writing Across the College program has been chosen to receive the 2018 Diana
Hacker TYCA Award from the Two-Year College English Association (TYCA) for
Outstanding Programs in English for Two-Year Colleges and Teachers. SLCC will receive the award March 17 during a conference in Kansas City.
TYCA, which is
part of the National Council of the Teachers of English, recognized SLCC’s
program as “exemplary” in the category of Reaching Across Borders. SLCC’s
Writing Across the College (WAC) program collaboratively develops initiatives
and programs to serve the writing needs and goals of SLCC students, staff,
faculty and administrators. The overarching vision is for all people in the
SLCC community to respectfully support anyone who seeks to produce high
quality, effective writing.
WAC was developed by
its director Tiffany Rousculp, who has taught Enlgish at SLCC since 1993. She
also founded the College’s Community Writing Center, which is located at the
Salt Lake City Main Library. “The WAC program believes that the writing
experience for students cannot be improved unless the writing culture of our
entire college is improved,” Rousculp says. “When faculty members are supported
on their own writing, they recognize themselves as learners who encounter the
same fears, insecurities and triumphs that their students do when they write
for class assignments. When staff members make requests for specific writing
support, they are welcomed into the culture of empowered learning that our
College provides. When faculty and administrators are provided with small but
meaningful ways to improve the writing climate in the classroom, positive
change can happen for all learners.”
Tiffany Rousculp
Rousculp says that
winning the TYCA award so early in WAC’s journey to become an integral part of
SLCC illustrates how it is a “forward-thinking” program that is catching the
attention of people across the country. Moving forward, she says WAC, which
started in 2014, will continue providing workshops, resources and consulting
for faculty, staff and administrators to improve their writing and use it
effectively in their courses. WAC will also collaborate with other departments
and programs to assess writing, shape curriculum and improve learning
environments.
