We develop students' abilities to tell stories that make a difference in professional, academic, and creative contexts.

Through its commitment to liberal arts education, the Department of Writing will nurture a vibrant community of writers. Our faculty will create learning environments that foster creative and critical thinking, ethical action, social justice, diverse perspectives, and personal agency. We will prepare lifelong learners who use their writing knowledge and technological literacies to achieve their personal and professional goals and to make their place in local and global communities.

As writers and teachers of writing, we value an academic environment that involves community, collaboration, critical thinking, interdisciplinary research, a progressive reliance on technology for rhetorical ends, a connection to the local, national, and international writing communities, and a commitment to supporting academic, creative, and professional writing in our university and the local community.

In 2026, the Department of Writing's AI Working Group developed a statement that articulates our values related to writing and emerging technologies (e.g., LLMs and genAI). Our values statement is a living document that will guide Writing faculty's development of new policies and pedagogies to foster students' digital literacy skills and preserve the foundational principles of our discipline.