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, we have been an independent academic unit serving the entire campus community and remain a key part of undergraduate general education here at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The UMass Writing Program is pleased to announce the winners of the Charles Moran Best Text Contest for 2021. The winning texts have been published on UMass ScholarWorks.

Peggy Woods, former Writing Program Associate for Teacher Training shares her thoughts in the third profile of the Writing Program’s 40th anniversary series highlighting faculty members instrumental in beginning the WP at UMass Amherst.

Peter Elbow, former Director of the Writing Program and Professor Emeritus of the English Department shares his thoughts in the second profile of the Writing Program’s 40th anniversary series highlighting faculty members instrumental in beginning the WP at UMass Amherst.

The Writing Program is pleased to welcome Dr. Tara Pauliny as Associate Director!

Anne Herrington, former Director of the Writing Program and Distinguished Professor Emerita of the English Department shares her thoughts in the first profile of the Writing Program’s 40th anniversary series highlighting faculty members instrumental in beginning the WP at UMass Amherst.

The Writing Program is excited to be able to share updates to the Student Writing Anthology (SWA) created, edited, and published by UMass Amherst students, instructors, and administrators originally for use in the Fall 2021 semester.

Associate Director, Dr. Elkie Burnside, and Senior Lecturer, Dr. Aaron Tilman, were selected as participants in the first FlexLearning Fellows cohort as a part of the university wide initiative to meet growing requests for flexibility in instructional delivery.

Writing Program lecturer Dr. Shakuntala Ray was selected to participate in 2021-2022’s year-long Teaching for Inclusiveness, Diversity, & Equity (TIDE) fellowship. As a TIDE fellow, Dr. Ray has co-facilitated with TIDE fellows two university-wide CTL (Centre for Teaching and Leaning) anti-racist pedagogy workshops.