Written by Peggy Woods
Marcia Curtis, former Deputy and Director of the Writing Program, passed away on September 26, 2023 from pulmonary fibrosis. Although Marcia had retired from UMass several years ago her presence is still very much felt within the Writing Program. As part of the administrative team with founder Charles Moran, Marcia worked to transition the Rhetoric Program to the Writing Program that we have today. As a part of this transition Marcia was instrumental in developing the Englwrit 111 curriculum. In order to recognize her contributions the Englwrit 111 Best Text Contest has been named in her honor.
For Marcia our first-year students and the graduate students who taught our courses were the center of her work. As a teacher she worked to enable her students to gain confidence in their own writing, reading, and thinking. As an administrator she worked to develop resources that would enable our TOs to become effective teachers of writing. Many of the resources that we use as teachers today were developed by Marcia – the readers for Englwrit 111 and 112, the Teacher’s Guide, and numerous activities and exercises.
Marcia’s early interest in technology moved the Writing Program into the digital world. She developed the first computer classrooms for EnglWrit 111 and 112, the first website for the Writing Program, the first electronic version of this weekly newsletter, and the first version of the Resource Database.
For those of us who knew and worked with Marcia she will be remembered for her wit and sense of humor. Our days were filled with teacher talk and a lot of laughter. She is missed.