The Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Program’s success is due not just to its mission but to the faculty who design and teach their courses to be Writing Intensive (WR). Their dedication and devotion help sustain our efforts to keep WAC thriving at MCC. Nine years ago, the WAC Committee created an annual award to honor an individual faculty member who has made a significant contribution to the development of WAC at the College. The Committee is pleased to recognize Gordon Dutter, Instructor of History, as the 2009-10 recipient of the Outstanding WAC Faculty Award.
Gordon has been teaching his core course load as WR since 2005, one term after he began MCC as a full-time instructor. Therefore (HIS 205) (“Western Civilization: Ancient and Medieval History”), HIS 106 (“Western Civilization: Renaissance to Napoleon”), HIS 253 (“Traditional East Asian History” and HIS 254 (“Modern East Asian History”) have all been consistently important staples of the program for the last five years. Getting Gordon on board was easy: he understood the necessity for writing well in the field of History and was already teaching his classes as WR, before he had officially proposed them. But recognizing the importance of writing and actually teaching a course as WR are two distinct entities. The fact that Gordon was willing to assign and evaluate a significant degree of writing in classes that generally cap at 38 students each showed bravery and commitment. That he has shown no signs of exhaustion is further commendable. As WAC Coordinator, it has been my duty to evaluate faculty each year for accountability. Because he was randomly selected twice in the past few years, I have been privileged to observe the soundness and rigor of Gordon’s writing assignments and evaluation methods. In fact, according to Gordon, “the imperative to give priority to active learning and student-centered planning can sound like clichéd jargon that obfuscates the thornier problem of how to do it. With class sizes that make it a challenge to maximize student participation, writing is an important part of the answer.”
Part of what makes Gordon’s commitment to WR education so well-rounded is his awareness of the informal writing. “While I give formal writing assignments, I increasingly recognize the importance of frequent informal writing assignments to encourage students to process information between major assignments and to give me another—and valuable—view into what students are learning (or not). The informal assignments prevent students from putting everything off until the night before a major paper or exam and also help me identify students that are learning but choke on that major assessment instruments, so we can work to improve on the latter. They can also help see problems before we get to a major instrument. Indeed, it makes for a lot of work for me, but despite the predictions of my early mentors, I have not burned out yet.”
According to Jethro Gaede, instructor of Anthropology and current member of the WAC Committee, “Gordon is a thoughtful, thorough and dedicated member of the Anthropology/History/Political Science/Sociology Department. Having sat in on one of his classes, I can attest to the fact that he guides and instructs his students through the often complex meanderings of human history, whether our own or that of China, Korea and Japan. In his classes, Gordon brings history into sharp focus, making it possible for his students to grasp not only the dynamics of the subjects covered, but the resulting consequences and implications for present day issues. Thus, as one of his colleagues, I can say without reservation that Gordon is well deserving of this special recognition.”
I wish to echo Jethro’s praise by warmly congratulating Gordon on his sustained efforts to teach students how to read and write about history and hope he continues to participate in the WAC Program for years to come. The WAC Committee is pleased to recognize him with this honor.
Tony Leuzzi
English/Philosophy
05/18/2010 |