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Simpson Writing Across the Curriculum (SWAC)

Mission

Simpson Writing Across the Curriculum (SWAC) is an essential unit of the twenty-first century liberal arts education provided through Simpson College’s Engaged Citizenship Curriculum (ECC). The SWAC Mission is to:

  • sustain the writing of students across the disciplines and throughout their academic careers
  • increase student engagement with learning through writing
  • increase student writing proficiency
  • create a campus culture that supports writing, and
  • create a community of faculty around teaching and student writing.

Vision

The Office of Simpson Writing Across the Curriculum (SWAC) aims to provide the impetus for campus-wide engagement with written communication. By elevating the level of awareness and practice of written communication, SWAC seeks to become a hub for academic discourse on the Simpson College campus and a model for other college writing programs.

What is Writing Across the Curriculum?

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) is grounded in research that shows that writing about subjects improves student learning in those content areas. Simpson Writing Across the Curriculum (SWAC) uses writing to promote learning in History, Mathematics, Sports Sciences, and all other areas of study.

What is Simpson Writing Across the Curriculum?

Unlike some colleges and universities that provide writing instruction through a first-year program, SWAC expects students to practice and improve writing well-beyond that first year.

SWAC is the umbrella term for several programs that support writing and writing instruction at Simpson College. The programs include:

  • Simpson Colloquium Writing Fellows
  • Simpson Writing Center
  • Written Communication Faculty Development

How does Simpson Writing Across the Curriculum work?

Simpson’s Engaged Citizenship Curriculum (ECC) offers writing-to-learn courses across all disciplines. While at Simpson, undergraduates select and enroll in a minimum of four Written Communication (WC)-designated courses. Their first WC-designated course is the Simpson Colloquium, a course that introduces first-year and transfer students to college conventions and academic expectations. Students and their advisors identify at least two more WC courses. These courses may be in any field that interests the student. The fourth WC course must be an upper-level course in the student’s major field.