PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University has announced the names of the six undergraduate students recognized for outstanding work in their junior writing portfolios in fall semester 2006, the Writing Programs office said.
The honorees are: Kirsti Ferneding, a landscape architecture major from Woodland, Wash.; Abbey Jorstad, political science major, Olympia, Wash; Gordon Misch, physics major, Cosmopolis, Wash.; Haley Paul, anthropology major and Honors College student, Phoenix, Ariz.; Tracee Wilson, anthropology major, Seattle; and Robert Zedaker, general studies major, Wenatchee, Wash.
“Each semester, we have about 2,000 writing portfolio submissions. This past semester, about 170 students earned Pass with Distinction ratings,” said Diane Kelly-Riley, the director of the Writing Assessment Program that oversees the writing portfolio for college juniors. “Of those, 45 were nominated for the top awards, and only 6 were chosen as the winners.”
Each recipient was recognized with a Writing Portfolio Award sponsored by the Harold and Jeanne Rounds Olsen Writing Across the Curriculum endowment fund. The awards included a $100 scholarship and an invitation for a job in the Writing Center as a student tutor to peers.
“The Rounds Olsen awards are significant because these students represent the top third of the top one percent of writers at WSU,” said Kelly-Riley.
The writing portfolio consists of three papers chosen to illustrate the student’s best work, along with an impromptu timed writing exam. A group of about 50 experienced faculty graders evaluate each portfolio on how well it is focused, organized, supported, and proofread, said Kelly-Riley. The best Writing Portfolio Award winners are selected by a committee of five faculty raters.
In addition to the Writing Assessment Program, WSU Writing Programs include the Writing Center, which provides students with free tutorial instruction for the development and drafting of papers, and Writing Across the Curriculum, which aids faculty in writing assignments and evaluations.
Writing Programs is one of six core units in WSU’s Office of Undergraduate Education.
