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In Summer 2021, Alex Arreguin and Stacy Wilson–two English faculty members from Mesa Community College–had a vision for the future of writing instruction within the ten-college Maricopa Community College system in Arizona. In August of 2022, they brought that vision to fruition with their own version of ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú’s Howe Faculty Writing Fellows Program.

“Working at a community college with no formal/institutionalized WAC program, our endeavor to explore and improve the writing spaces our students occupy outside of FYC led us to investigate options for creating a writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) experience/workshop,” Wilson said. “This venture eventually led us to the Howe Center for Writing Excellence at ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University and its director Dr. Elizabeth Wardle. The Writing Fellows program she runs invites disciplinary teams to gather and think and grow together.”

ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University faculty are more than familiar with the resounding success of HWAC’s Faculty Writing Fellows Program. Founded in 2017, the program has helped 137 ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú faculty reexamine their approaches to teaching writing within the contexts of their disciplines. Hoping to emulate the successes of this program at their home institution, Arreguin and Wilson attended the HCWE Fellows Program in both Summer 2021 and 2022. They gathered support from their upper administration and launched their own version of the program (which they called “Literacy Partners”) in Summer of 2022.

By all accounts, Mesa’s Literacy Partners program was a resounding success, with faculty and administrators requesting follow-up workshops and programming to further elaborate on topics covered during the program. “Seventeen faculty members from nursing, reading, exercise science, and cultural science joined us for ten days to learn, think, and grow. By the end of the two-week session, they had identified writing-related issues in their classrooms, departments, programs and using the theories and practices introduced and interrogated through the program collaborated to develop a plan of action,” Wilson said. “What’s more, they are excited about implementing their projects, about the potential for positive impact on student success and retention, and about sharing the a-ha moments from the workshop with their colleagues. This workshop, made possible by the work being done at the Howe Center, is planting the seeds of change.”

As a next step, In January 2023, Elizabeth Wardle, Director of the Howe Center for Writing Excellence, will lead over 3,000 faculty from the Maricopa system in their annual “convocation,” in a full-day session titled, “Creating Spaces for Belonging by Naming What We Know.”

When asked what excites her most about her work with Alex, Stacy, and their work at Mesa, she said, “It is highly unusual for more research-intensive 4-year institutions to collaborate with community colleges. Having the opportunity to share what our center has learned, thanks to the resources provided by Roger and Joyce Howe, and learning whether and how our models work in a very different kind of institution has been extremely rewarding.”

Wardle noted that the collaboration and benefits go both ways: “Plus we had the added benefit of learning from Alex and Stacy, the Mesa leaders, as they adapted and improved our Fellows program materials.”

Mesa Community College’s adoption of the Faculty Writing Fellows model is a testament to Howe Writing Across the Curriculum’s mission and vision, and the collaboration brings with it opportunities to bring about real, systemic change in writing instruction and professional development.

“I hope that this cross-institutional work will inspire others to do something similar,” Wardle said. “Those of us at more research-intensive, four-year schools would do well to remember that 50% of college students are enrolled at 2-year schools. We can have a greater impact in innovating teaching and learning for all students by working with our colleagues at 2-year schools.”