Letter from the Director »
Susan Lang
August, 2020
Welcome to the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing’s (CSTW) new website! This Director’s note will serve as a way to highlight new projects and new features of our existing programs and services. Clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted how CSTW will operate in Autumn 2020.The shift to online teaching and learning that started after Spring Break meant that our programs and services, like much of the work of OSU, migrated fully online. While writing has always been critical to learning, research has shown that writing becomes even more central to learning in online environments. As both students and faculty adjust to what online learning entails, the CSTW’s programs and services will be there to assist with that shift. All of our programs and services, including Writing Center consultations, Writing Across the Curriculum workshops, and Writing Associates’ collaborations with faculty, will continue online this fall. Each program or service’s section of the website explains how and what that entails. As the semester progresses, we’ll post updates throughout the site, so check back if you have any questions.
CSTW is also about research into writing and the teaching of writing. Robust research traditions dating back at least 70 years inform our understanding of how and what students and professionals write. CSTW’s mission includes contributing to this body of work using contemporary research methods ad tools to do so. Check out our new Research section for information about recent and current projects by our staff and students. As of this past spring, the Journal of Writing Analytics, a journal devoted to research that combines the best of writing studies and big data analysis and data visualization, is also a part of our research portfolio; to learn more about the journal, visit https://journals.colostate.edu/index.php/analytics/about.
Finally, CSTW is about people. Our staff is engaged in many projects while a part of the Center and move on to exciting opportunities in their fields following their employment. Our new Alumni and Friends page will help current and past staff of CSTW stay in touch; it will also remind us of the range of career possibilities that working with writing can lead to. Watch this page grow in the coming months!
I wish each of you a safe and healthy start to the Autumn semester. If you have questions or comments about the CSTW, don’t hesitate to email me.
My best, and Go Bucks!