Writing Across the Curriculum

Writing Across the Curriculum assists faculty and programs with integrating writing and taking a systematic approach to writing instruction in classes and across majors.

The Writing Across the Curriculum program at Eastern Michigan University strives to develop a cohesive writing experience for students throughout their academic experience at the University. We help faculty use writing effectively in classes. We also assist programs with integrating writing and taking a systematic approach to writing instruction throughout curricula.

The goal of the program is to help all students on campus become effective and successful writers.

WAC has three premises that the EMU program upholds:

  • Writing must be practiced and reinforced throughout curriculum.
  • To write is to learn.
  • The responsibility for student writing is university-wide.

Ann Blakeslee

Headshot of Ann Blakeslee, she is smiling at the camera.
Ann Blakeslee
Headshot of Ann Blakeslee, she is smiling at the camera.

Ann Blakeslee

Ann Blakeslee is Professor of English and Director of the Office of Campus and Community Writing at Eastern Michigan University (C2W). Learn more about C2W. She coordinates all campus-wide and community-based writing initiatives, including the University Writing Center; Writing Across the Curriculum; Disciplinary Literacies, which brings together secondary and post-secondary instructors to study writing across disciplines; the Eastern Michigan Writing Project; the Family Literacy Initiative; YpsiWrites, a new community writing center in collaboration with 826michigan and the Ypsilanti District Library; and Cognitive Coaching and Adaptive Schools. She also has cultivated and coordinates collaborations with secondary writing centers and numerous organizations, including Upward Bound, Habitat for Humanity, Washtenaw Literacy, the Washtenaw Intermediate School District, A2Ethics, and Bright Futures.

Blakeslee earned her Ph.D. in Rhetoric at Carnegie Mellon University and her Masters in Technical and Scientific Communication at Miami University. Her career spans 35 years, and she has taught numerous courses in rhetoric and composition and technical communication. She also has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies at EMU, Co-Chair of General Education Implementation, and Graduate and Writing Program Coordinator. She has participated in and led numerous assessment initiatives, including a recent initiative to asses writing-intensive classes.

Blakeslee has authored a book on audience and scientific writing (Erlbaum, 2001) and a first and second edition of a textbook on qualitative research methods, along with Cathy Fleischer. Blakeslee’s scholarship focuses on writing in the disciplines (she recently co-authored, with nursing faculty, articles on synthesis and on the development of a nursing writing class), disciplinary enculturation, audience, research methods and ethics, workplace writing, technical communication, and now community literacy and writing. She has been recognized for her scholarly achievements with the Society for Technical Communication Ken Rainey Award for Excellence in Research in Technical Communication and with the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing Fellows Award.

Blakeslee serves on the executive committee of the Association of Writing Across the Curriculum, and she served on the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing executive committee for 20 years. She has chaired numerous national committees.

Areas of Specialization: Writing in the disciplines, community writing centers, writing assessment, secondary and post-secondary partnerships, WAC-based writing centers, cognitive coaching, general education reform and assessment, faculty professional development and learning, development of WAC programs, graduate student writing

Beth Sabo

Beth Sabo is the Associate Director of EMU’s Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program. She assists the WAC Director, Dr. Ann Blakeslee, with planning and implementing three annual WAC seminars as well as year-round community-building events, such as book clubs and additional professional development opportunities. She provides individualized coaching to faculty on designing their course syllabi, assignments, and rubrics. She also works with faculty as a group to revise course curricula and materials. In addition to her WAC work, Sabo also created three University Writing Center satellite locations and acts as the Satellite Coordinator for the Science Success Center, the Psychology Department writing center, and the University Writing Center for Graduate Studies. She trains and supervises the graduate assistants who work within those locations, presents workshops across campus in a variety of disciplines, and facilitates writing circles.

Sabo earned an M.A. in Written Communication: Professional Writing and a Graduate Certificate in Written Communication: Teaching of Writing at Eastern Michigan University. She has taught for almost 20 years at both the secondary and higher education levels.

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