Writing program administration and the community college

The author describes writing programs and writing program administration in public two-year community colleges in the US. She begins with a discussion of the wide variety of students who attend community college including those of differing ethnicities, economic status, age, family status, academic ability, religion, and ESL considerations, and explores how community college writing programs can meet their needs. Next she provides a history of writing programs in community colleges and looks at how they differ from such programs in four-year colleges. The challenges and responsibilities of writing programs in community colleges are covered along with suggestions for responding to them. Technological advances and other recent changes to writing programs are considered followed by an examination of the beneficial contributions writing program administrators at two-year colleges can make to ongoing national discussions of US literacy. A concluding chapter provides suggested reading for further research. --

1 Community College Students: Open Admissions; Diversity; Adult Learning; Race and Ethnicity; English as a Second Language (ESL); Working Students; Working-Class Students; Developmental Students; Learning Disabilities; Emotional Needs; Reframing Assumptions -- 2 Writing Program Administration at the Community College: A History and Overview: English Departments; Faculty; Decision-Making; The Role of the Writing Program Administrator (WPA) -- 3 The General Responsibilities of Community College WPAs: Curricular Development; Introduction to Outcomes; Writing Across the Curriculum; Developmental Writing; Reading; English as a Second Language (ESL) and Generation 1.5; Articulation; Scheduling Courses; Hiring Contingent Faculty; Faculty Development; Writing Centers; Placement; Assessment; Budgets; Representing Writing Faculty; Responding to Complaints and Needs; Managing It All -- 4 WPA Work in the New Era of Community Colleges: American Graduation Initiative; The Present and Future of Developmental Studies; Plurality and Inclusivity; Multiple Literacies in a New Global Context; Shaping the Identity of the WPA and Envisioning the Writing Program; Pedagogy; Program Assessment; Politics -…