Stockton General Studies - The Writing Program

The Writing Program

The Stockton Writing Program involves the whole College community from incoming freshmen to faculty. The goal of the program is to enable students to become practiced, proficient writers who can use writing confidently in their academic, professional and personal lives.

The writing program involves faculty from all schools within the College, as well as a core writing faculty located in General Studies. Writing-designated courses are offered under both General Studies and program acronyms; therefore, students can choose from a variety of offerings and fulfill distribution requirements toward graduation while they use writing as a vital part of their education.

Writing-designated courses are classified as W1 or W2. W1 courses focus primarily on writing as a subject and/or upon students’ own writing (e.g., Rhetoric and Composition, Creative Nonfiction Workshop, or Editing and Design). W2 courses focus primarily on disciplinary or interdisciplinary content and use writing as a mode of learning while helping students improve their writing. W1 and W2 courses are identified within the Schedule of Courses each term. More specific information on W1 and W2 courses can be found elsewhere in this Bulletin.

Based on their SAT scores, some freshmen are required to take BASK 1101 College Writing; all others are required to take GEN 1120 Rhetoric and Composition or another 1000- or 2000-level W1 course.

Stockton students write throughout their college careers and are advised to take one or more writing-designated courses each year, depending on their interest and needs.

All students must fulfill the College’s writing requirement in order to graduate. They must earn a C or better in each of four writing-designated courses: one W1 course taken as a freshman, and three other writing-designated courses (W1s or W2s), at least one of which must be a 3000- or 4000-level course.

Writing-designated courses that carry fewer than 4 credits or transfer courses that carry fewer than three credits do not count toward meeting the writing requirements. Transfer students must also fulfill the writing requirement. Up to two transfer courses in composition and writing may be credited as W1 courses. All W2 courses must be taken at Stockton.

Questions about the Writing Program or general graduation requirements should be directed to the Writing Program Coordinator, Emari DiGiorgio, at emari.digiorgio@stockton.edu, Coordinator of Writing, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Pomona, NJ 08240-0195, Phone: 609-626-3463.

Requirements for a minor

The minor in writing provides students who have an interest and talent in writing with a way to structure and to document their abilities and success.

To earn the minor a student must (click to download a handout with these directions):

1. complete at least five W1 courses, with at least two courses at the 3000–4000 level and no more than one course (of the five) at the 1000 level. Click here for a list of W1 courses for Fall 2010;

2. complete GIS Writing Senior Seminar, preferably in the junior year, but no later than the spring semester of the senior year. If you enrolled at Stockton before Fall 2010, we recommend that you take the course. If you enrolled at Stockton after Fall 2010, you are required to take it. Course description: This course mixes practical and theoretical approaches to writing. Students practice portfolio building, advanced copyediting, revision, and reflection. Possible additional topics are production and publication, e-work, style and voice, awareness of writing traditions, theories of writing, and introduction to writing as/in a profession. Although a capstone seminar required for all Writing Minors, the course is also open to interested students who are not Writing Minors. Registration for the course is POI. Prerequisite: at least one W1 course at the 3000 or 4000 level.

3. maintain a minimum GPA of 3.2 in the five W1 courses counted towards his/her minor;

4. declare a Writing Minor (form here) and choose a Minor Preceptor (form here) to discuss course selection and assembling the portfolio-in-progress;

5. submit a final portfolio no later than midpoint of the semester in which he/she plans to graduate. The awarding of a minor is dependent upon approval of the portfolio by Writing Program faculty. Here is the form to submit with your final portfolio for the minor and here is a copy of the rubric that shows what goals you need to demonstrate you can meet in your portfolio.

Questions about the writing minor should be directed to the Writing Minor Coordinator, Carra Hood, at hoodc@stockton.edu, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Pomona, NJ 08240-0195, Phone: (609) 626-5580.

The Faculty

Jack Connor

Ph.D. (University of Florida), Professor of Writing: ornithology, composition, natural history, writing about nature, evolution and religion, and the Pine Barrens.

Judy Copeland

M.F.A. (University of Iowa), Assistant Professor of Writing: creative nonfiction, memoir, travel writing, humor writing, composition, freshman seminars.

Pamela Kennedy Cross

M.A. (Georgetown University), Writing Center Coordinator/Developmental Education Specialist: tutor training, composition, freshman seminars, writing for the workplace, learning differences.

Emari DiGiorgio

M.F.A. (New York University), Assistant Professor of Writing: creative writing (poetry and fiction), contemporary world poetry, why poetry matters, composition, women’s studies, social activism.

Penelope A. Dugan

D.A. (State University of New York at Albany) Professor of Writing: personal essay, memoir, African-American literature, autobiography, , composition theory and history of rhetoric.

Carra Leah Hood

Ph.D. (Yale University), Assistant Professor of Writing: writing and rhetoric-particularly as pertains to the genres of nonfiction, documentary and autobiography, pedagogy, interdisciplinary studies opf culture, traditional/new media, race and gender, biomedicine.

G.T. Lenard

Ph.D. (Temple University), Associate Professor of Writing: American studies, Eighteenth Century literature, composition.

Heather McGovern

Ph.D. (Texas Tech University), Assistant Professor of Writing: technical and professional writing, environmental discourse, composition theory, online writing, document design, rhetoric, history of rhetoric, rhetoric of science.

PROFESSORS EMERITI

Stephen Dunn

M.A. (Syracuse University), Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing: creative writing (poetry and fiction), contemporary world poetry, 20th century American literature.

Mimi Schwartz

Ed.D. (Rutgers, The State University), Professor Emerita of Writing: creative nonfiction, memoir, literary journalism, literature of the Holocaust.