The Writing Program
Encouraging student writers to examine the intersections of writing, language, and power
The UMass Amherst Writing Program empowers student writers to examine the intersections of writing, language, and power and learn the rhetorical flexibility needed for their academic, professional, public, and personal lives.
Since 1982, UMass Amherst’s award-winning writing program has been an independent academic unit serving the entire campus community. Through research-based curricular design, our courses empower student writers to examine the intersections of writing, language, and power; practice writing in a variety of media and contexts; learn the rhetorical flexibility needed for their academic, professional, public, and personal lives; and make connections between rhetorical choice and social consequence, raising their critical awareness of the power of writing to effect social change.
We carry out this mission in five ways:
- Teaching undergraduate writers in Englwrit 112: College Writing and Englwrit 111: Writing, Identity, and Power.
- Training and mentoring graduate student writing teachers.
- Supporting writers from across campus at the UMass Amherst Writing Center.
- Supporting instructors from across campus teaching in the Junior Year Writing Program.
- Acting as a central resource for writing education on campus.