U.S. News ranks WSU Writing Program in top 19 nationally

 By Emma Epperly, Undergraduate Education

Villanueva Victor WSU Writing Program
Villanueva

PULLMAN, Wash.The Writing Program at Washington State University has been ranked among the top 19 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in its annual “Best Colleges” issue released on Sept. 12.

This ranking includes national, regional and liberal arts colleges and universities. The WSU Writing Program is the only university in the Pacific Northwest, and one of just three in the west, along with Stanford and the University of California-Davis, to earn this recognition.

Also in the top rankings are universities such as Brown, Cornell, Duke, Elon, Grinnell, Harvard, North Carolina State-Raleigh, Princeton, Williams, and Yale. See the complete list at this U.S. News & World Report site.

“It is quite an honor to be recognized once more on this level,” said Victor Villanueva, Writing Program director and WSU Regents Professor of English. “We work hard to have a positive impact on students and their academic programs, and this annual ranking validates that we are known for great results.”

The “Best Colleges” report includes this year’s fifteenth “Academic Programs to Look For” section, made up of eight categories believed to lead to student success. To make the 2018 lists, more than 1,500 college presidents, chief academic officers, deans of students, and deans of admissions were asked to nominate the best schools in each category. In the “Writing in the Disciplines” list are colleges — like WSU — that “typically make the writing process a priority at all levels of instruction and across the curriculum,” according to the ranking criteria.

WSU’s Writing Program has appeared in the U.S. News national rankings for more than a decade, said Mary F. Wack, vice provost for undergraduate education. “This recognition of WSU’s success in writing in the disciplines is a pride point for the entire university.”

The Writing Program is WSU’s “literacy teaching and learning center, providing writing support for all WSU students,” said Villanueva. It is home to the undergraduate and graduate Writing Centers, Writing Assessment, and a Professional Editing Service Center.

The program also helps faculty develop and review more than 400 writing-intensive courses, along with the All-University Writing Committee. It offers small groups and workshops to students and thousands of hours of writing mentoring by student counselors. The program manages the writing portfolio requirement for juniors and is the center for writing assessments.

For more information, see the Writing Program website.

 

Contacts:

  • Victor Villanueva, director, WSU Writing Program, 509-335-2680, victorv@wsu.edu
  • Mary F. Wack, vice provost, WSU Undergraduate Education, 509-335-8044, mwack@wsu.edu
  • Emma Epperly, communications and marketing associate, WSU Undergraduate Education, 509-335-9458, emmaepperly@wsu.edu