What is WAC?

WAC, which stands for Writing Across the Curriculum, describes a way of thinking about teaching and learning that recognizes that writing is a fundamental part of knowledge-making and communication in all academic disciplines. 

Syracuse’s Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) initiative is committed to supporting the teaching and learning of writing in all disciplines across campus. Our goal is to help and support instructors in:

• developing strategies to teach writing in disciplinary courses
• generating ideas for using writing as a tool for learning
• assessing and offering feedback on student writing
• revising syllabi to integrate writing more purposefully into teaching
• implementing culturally inclusive writing practices

Our work builds on theories that support multilingual writers and that promote antiracist assessment strategies as we see such work as an integral part of writing across the curriculum.

WAC takes place through both the department and the Writing Center. It consists of a range of programs that include the WAC Faculty Fellows Initiative.

To learn more about how WAC can help you better integrate writing into your courses, please contact Emily Dressing, Director of Writing Across the Curriculum, at eadefran@syr.edu or Sidney Turner, Assistant Director of Writing Across the Curriculum, at sturne06@syr.edu.

WAC Partnerships

● Writing Center

Since its inception, the mission of the Writing Center has been to help students of various academic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds become more rhetorically aware, capable writers. The Center works closely with a variety of departments and organizations across campus to facilitate WAC practices and pedagogy. These collaborations include everything from designing and delivering a wide range of workshops (involving the Center for International Services, the English Language Institute, the Graduate School and individual departments, among others) to discipline-specific consulting and course development. The Writing Center also oversees disciplinary consultants for the architecture department, Maxwell, EMPA, HEOP, and the Honors College. Learn more about the Writing Center.

● Living Learning Communities

The WAC Program supports WRT 105 Living Learning Communities for Design, Education, Games Studies, Exercise Science, and Sports Management. Learn more about the LLC program.

● Faculty Workshops

The WAC Program works with a variety of campus partners to support ongoing professional development workshops open to all faculty. To discuss future partnerships, contact WAC Director Emily Dressing!