Assistant Professor of Education Ramona Fruja has been named the director of the Writing Across the Curriculum Program for the 2018 fall semester. In her new role, she will be working to support and encourage the University writing requirement that all students take a W1 and two W2 courses before graduation, regardless of which college a student is in.

Regarding her new position, Professor Frujas said, “I am delighted to serve in this capacity as I believe deeply in the importance of writing in knowledge creation and communication and this is at the core of a liberal arts education. Having now become a faculty member who uses writing extensively in my courses, being able to work with the Writing Center staff in this new capacity will be a pleasant and valuable experience that is dear to my heart.”

“The strength of this approach is that students learn both general writing skills in their W1 courses as well as more focused disciplinary expectations for writing in their W2 courses,” current director of the writing program and Professor of education, Abe Feuerstein, said.

The writing program was first created in the early 1980s. Writing Center director Deirdre O’Connor said that while many aspects of the program have remained the same, it is also “evolving in [the] ways we work to help our students become better writers.”

More recently, the writing program has been focusing on its quality by looking at samples of student writings and forming groups in which students can share the experiences they have had in writing-intensive courses.

“The data that we have examined thus far suggests that students’ writing proficiency improves greatly over their time at Bucknell and generally meets faculty expectations,” Feuerstein said.

After submitting a formal application and participating in a series of interviews with faculty from the Office of the Provost, the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Council, and the Writing Center, Fruja was officially picked to take on the position.

“Professor Fruja is known as a wonderfully engaged teacher and scholar,” O’Connor said on behalf of her colleague.

Fruja has taught many writing courses, participated as a member of the WAC Council, and has contributed to faculty work in the teaching of writing. When she was an undergraduate herself, she served as a peer writing consultant.

“She has been thinking about writing and the teaching of writing for her entire professional life,” O’Connor said.

“Bucknell continues to have a strong commitment to our writing program which enlists faculty from across the University in the teaching of writing,” Feuerstein said.