PurdueUniversity
Fall 2005
Wednesday 11:30-2:30 / Writing Program Administration
Professor Shirley K Rose / email: roses at purdue dot edu
office: heav 331B
campus phone: (765) 494-3740
campus fax: (765) 494-3780
course description and requirements / calendar / weekly assignment (b)log / bibliography and
other resources
Course website:
Class e-mail list:
Assignment (b)log
Course Focus
What is the intellectual work of Writing Program Administration? How is this work like and unlike the intellectual work of other faculty and other administrators in higher education institutions? By examining WPAs’ and others’ representations of the intellectual work of writing program administration, the seminar will focus on identifyingrelationships between WPAs’knowledge-makingand the knowledge making of other rhetoric/composition researcher/theorists and other higher education administrators and researchers/theorists.
Themes
Course readings, seminar discussions and activities, and course assignments will address themes and subjects such as the following:
- what methodologies do WPAs draw from to design, undertake, and represent their program-related inquiry? How do these methodologies compare to those of other researchers in the academy?
- what rhetorical strategies do WPAs use to describe and document their work in writing program administration? How do these strategies compare to those of other faculty and administrators in universities and colleges?
- what stories do WPAs tell one another about their work and what are the ethical implications of these stories? How do these stories compare to those of other professional academics?
- what analytical tools can be used to examine representations of WPA work?
- what kinds of learning prepare WPAs for their work? How is learning to be a WPA different from professional development for other higher education roles?
- Other questions and concerns suggested by course readings and student interest, and current events in higher education
Course Texts
Required
Brown, Stuart C. and Theresa Enos, eds. The Writing Program Administrator's Resource: A Guide to Reflective Institutional Practice. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc, 2002. (available at Follett’s Purdue West)
Current issue of WPA: Writing Program Administration, the journal of the Council of Writing Program Administrators; join CWPA for $10 and receive the journal, along with other membership benefits described at
Coursepack for English 680W Fall 2005 (I will notify you when the coursepack is available.)
Additional readings will be available online, as in-class handouts, or on reserve at Hicks.
Recommended for your professional library
Bullock, Richard and John Trimbur. Politics of Writing Instruction: Postsecondary. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann-Boynton/Cook, 1991.
Bloom, Lynn A., Donald A. Daiker, and Edward M. White, Eds. Composition in the Twenty-first Century: Crisis and Change. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1996.
Rose, Shirley K and Irwin Weiser, eds. Writing Program Administrator as Researcher: Inquiry in Action and Reflection. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann-Boynton/Cook, 1999.
Rose, Shirley K and Irwin Weiser, eds. Writing Program Administrator as Theorist: Making Knowledge Work. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann-Boynton/Cook, 2002.
Ward, Irene and William C. Carpenter, eds. Allyn and Bacon Sourcebook for Writing Program Administrators. New York: Longman, 2002
Course Work Requirements
Reading/Discussion Assignments:
Weekly Reading Assignments and participation in class discussions, including brief weekly in-class and out-of-class writing exercises (Assignment Calendar forthcoming)
Auditing of WPA-L listserv: instructions for subscribing at
Individual Projects
Students may select from the following projects for inclusion in a portfolio of course work. Complete portfolios are due on the last day of class (December 7). Drafts of projects will be due at regular intervals throughout the semester.Projects that require use of class time for presentation or completion (such as the situated performance activity) must be scheduled at least two weeks in advance.
Group A
Mini-Ethnography of a particular WPA as a writer
Report and analysis of shadowing a WPA for a day
Job Description and analysis of a particular WPA position
Group B
Design and leadership of an in-class Situated Performance Activity based on an issue in writing program administration with reflective follow-up commentary
Proposal for a program-based research project, curriculum development project, or faculty development project for a specific writing program
Group C
WPA Conference Proposal (or WPA-related proposal for other conference)
Book Review of recent book on issue(s) of concern for writing program administrators or higher education administrators/faculty in general (titles will be suggested)
Letter of nomination for 2004-2005 WPA Book Award
Group D
Revision/Development/Elaboration of one in-class or weekly homework assignment
Collaborative Class Project: To be determined
Guidelines for completing and criteria for evaluating projects forthcoming
Course Grade
For a grade of "C" (or "Pass" for students taking course pass/fail):
Attend class regularly;
Read all required course texts and participate in class discussions about readings;
Contribute to in-class exercises;
Contribute to collaborative class project; and
Complete brief weekly in-class and out-of-class writing exercises
(“auditors” will be expected to do all of the above except the class project and out-of-class exercises)
For a grade of "B":
Meet all of the requirements for a "C" and
Complete a course portfolio of 3 individual projects, each from a different group (see above).
Present one of the projects orally in class or incorporate it into the class website
For a grade of "A"
Meet all of the requirements for a "C" and
Complete a course portfolio of 4 projects, with a project from each Group (see above)
Present two of the projects orally in class or incorporate them into the class website.
Course portfolios may be digital portfolios. Mixed-media and/or digital versions of course projects are welcome.
All activities and assignments must meet course standards (including on-time completion) to receive credit. No incompletes. No incompletes. No incompletes.
No coursework accepted for credit after Wednesday of finals week.