The WSU Writing Program was dropped from the U.S. News and World Report’s rankings of “Academic Programs to Look For” — the first time the program didn’t make the list since 2001. But Mary Wack, vice provost for undergraduate education, is not concerned.

“This list is not official rankings,” she said. “They send out a bunch of questionnaires that ask ‘Who comes to mind when you think of good writing programs?’ So it is almost luck of the draw and it isn’t based on specific criteria.” The writing program has also received recognition from other sources.

“The Writing Center is currently expanding its services to include the addition of a graduate and professional student writing center in spring 2008,” said Diane Kelly-Riley, the director of the Writing Assessment Program. “It also continues to enjoy national notoriety in the form of a recent award for innovation in the teaching of developmental writing.” Karen Weathermon, interim director of Learning Communities, agreed WSU’s Writing Program continues to be a nationally recognized program. It was recently awarded an innovation award from the largest national writing association, the Conference on College Composition and Communication, for its small-group peer tutoring program.

“WSU continues to be one of the only universities of our size to do large-scale assessment through our Junior Portfolio, which is then tied to providing tutorial assistance for students as they progress to writing-in-the-major courses,” Weathermon said. Programs on the “Academic Programs to Look For” come and go, Wack said, but what matters is that WSU’s program is still very strong and winning the award from the Professional Association for Tutoring validates that. Appearing on the programs list is always an honor, but it is not that big a deal if WSU is not on it, she said. “What is most important is that we make smart academic choices for academic purposes,” she said. “There will not be any immediate revisions being made, however, there are always periodic program reviews that occur to help capitalize on a program’s strong points and build it even further.” As always, the students are the greatest concern, Wack said, so the delivery of the services to the students is what is most important to writing center.