The purpose of the University Writing Board is to encourage and to support the development and the maintenance of writing-intensive courses in all academic disciplines at SUNY New Paltz. Fundamental to this program is the premise that writing constitutes an important means of learning in all disciplines. Writing is a complex, cognitive process that involves translating thoughts to words, as well as questioning, reflecting, and analyzing in order to seek clarity and meaning. Writing is a means by which a person discovers, creates, and communicates knowledge.
To support the writing-intensive program, the Writing Board:
- Conducts workshops that introduce the philosophy of writing as a mode of learning.
- Provides opportunities for faculty members to share ideas and approaches.
- Sponsors seminars and programs on writing-across-the-disciplines.
- Provides ongoing support for faculty members’ efforts to make courses writing-intensive.
- Recommends courses that have been proposed by faculty members as writing-intensive.
THE WRITING-INTENSIVE REQUIREMENT
As part of the GEII program, a writing-intensive course requirement was adopted. The requirement stipulates that “to graduate, every student must complete successfully at SUNY New Paltz at least one writing-intensive course.” This requirement remains unchanged under GE3 and GE4.
All syllabi for writing-intensive courses must include the following SLOs to indicate the Writing Intensive Common Student Learning Experiences:
Students will
1. Write in a variety of discipline-specific forms, formal and informal, for multiple purposes
2. Practice the process of developing ideas, drafting, revising, editing, and reflecting on their own writing
3. Compose multiple texts to garner new knowledge and critically think through ideas
