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Writing Initiative: About the Initiative

Resources and information for the PCCC Writing Initiative

About the Writing Initiative

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2007 - 2012

In October 2007, Passaic County Community College was awarded a five-year $2.5 million grant through the Department of Education’s Strengthening Hispanic Serving Institutions Program (Title V) aimed at increasing achievement and program completion rates of Hispanic and other students by integrating critical thinking, information literacy and technology into college-level writing.

The Writing Initiative is the result of that grant. PCCC created a comprehensive five-year reform effort that involved developing 25 distinct Writing Intensive courses across the curriculum that had multiple sections by the end of the grant in 2012. The courses are supported by an instructional development component that will collaborate with faculty in developing appropriate writing for their courses.

The grant was also used to construct a new Writing Center (opened in January 2009) within the Learning Resource Center where college-level students in the Writing Intensive courses received writing instruction and one-on-one help. With the end of the grant in October 2012, the Writing Center has transitioned into being the college-level center for writing in all courses, although it still has a focus on continuing the WI courses started iduring the grant Initiative.