Writing Initiative  Tags: writing center pccc libguide cwe iw wi initiative essay gened etutoring title_v tutoring help services student  

In October 2007, Passaic County Community College was awarded a five-year $2.5 million grant through the Department of Education’s Strengthening Hispanic Serving Institutions Program (Title V) aimed at increasing achievement and program completion rates of Hispanic and other students by integrating critical thinking, information literacy and technology into college-level writing.

The Writing Initiative is the result of that grant. PCCC will invest the grant into a comprehensive five-year reform effort that will involve developing twenty distinct Writing Intensive, General Education courses across the curriculum that will have multiple sections by the end of the grant in 2012. The courses are supported by an instructional development component that will collaborate with faculty in developing appropriate writing for their courses.

The grant was also used to construct a new Writing Center (opened in January 2009) within the Learning Resource Center where college-level students in the Writing Intensive courses will receive writing instruction and one-on-one help. It is estimated that by 2012, the program will be serving over 1,000 college-level students per semester.