Part of the mission of the Writing & Rhetoric Program (WRPR) and the Writing Center (WC) is to support writing pedagogy across the Middlebury campus. To that end, WRPR offers a range of faculty development opportunities, including regular lunches and workshops (likely online this Summer and Fall). We also provide consultation with individual faculty, departments, and programs on writing curriculum, writing pedagogy, and writing assessment. Our website offers a number of online resources on topics such as facilitating peer review, using rubrics, and teaching for diversity and social justice, including a collection of handouts from past Teaching and Writing Retreats).  In response to COVID-19 and the move to remote teaching, we worked with DLINQ to create a blog with strategies and resources for teaching writing remotely. The WRPR Director also approves all new 2nd-level College Writing (CW) courses, and can help faculty with developing or adapting a course to fit the appropriate criteria. Faculty looking to support student writing often direct students toward our credit-bearing WRPR courses, which are designed to support and challenge students as rhetorically flexible writers and scholars. Finally, WRPR aims to support faculty in their own goals as writers, including co-sponsoring events where faculty gather to work on writing projects.

The Writing Center offers a variety of tutoring resources, including embedded tutors that are matched with first-year seminar classes and some CW courses. Students may attend the writing center outside of their courses by engaging with online and in-person (when possible) tutoring. While the tutor-student relationship is one that provides stable mentorship and academic support, faculty can also benefit in multiple ways by working with course embedded tutors. Tutors undergo at least 25 hours of training, so that they are prepared to work individually (in-person or online) with student writers, and are also able to facilitate in-class writing activities. (Some of the resources the tutors might use with student writers can be found here). Tutors can also provide feedback to faculty on course design, assignment development, and student experiences, helping to improve our course materials and pedagogical approaches. To read more about the Middlebury Writing Center, please visit The Campus here and here

Contact information for WRPR and WC  faculty and staff

Catharine Wright, Director of the Writing and Rhetoric Program and Associate Professor of Writing and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. cwwright@middlebury.edu; 443-2568. 

Contact Catharine regarding College Writing (CW) courses, writing tutoring, inclusive pedagogies, integrating creative and critical writing, and general writing instruction.  

Genie Nicole Giaimo, Director of the Writing Center and Assistant Professor of Writing and Rhetoric, ggiaimo@middlebury.edu. Contact Genie regarding FYS and CW course-based tutoring, general peer or professional tutoring, online writing tutoring, first-year student writing placement for WRPR 100-level courses, and other matters related to writing instruction, writing assessment, and writing resources.

James Chase Sanchez, Assistant Professor of Writing. jcsanchez@middlebury.edu; 443-5971. Contact James, our rhetorician and critical race specialist, with questions regarding writing instruction, classical and contemporary rhetoric, and critical race studies. 

Shawna Shapiro, Associate Professor of Writing and Linguistics. sshapiro@middlebury.edu; 443-5977. Shawna is our multilingual specialist, and can provide resources and support for working with multilingual/ESL and International students, as well as other aspects of writing pedagogy.  (NOTE: Shawna will be on sabbatical for the 2020-2021 academic year).

Héctor Vila, Assistant Professor of Writing.hvila@middlebury.edu; 443-2181. Contact Hector with advising questions pertaining to International Students, Athletes, and first generation students, and with questions about writing instruction, including use of technology.

Diane De Bella, Assistant Director, Writing Center, Writing Center Professional Tutor and Foreign Language Tutor Trainer (part time) ddebella@middlebury.edu; 443-3479. Contact Diane to refer students to professional tutoring in writing, or to discuss writing support in languages other than English.

For more information about the Writing & Rhetoric Program, visit http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/writing