Writing is essential to all academic and civic endeavors. Writing enables the scholarly exchange of ideas; it facilitates civic and professional participation; it inspires creativity and innovation; and it transforms students into leaders, activists, inventors, artists, teachers, and citizens of the world.
The mission of the CWRU Writing Program is to foster a thriving and inclusive culture of writing for our campus community, so that:
- our students develop sophisticated communicative strategies for their current and future academic, professional, and civic endeavors; and,
- our faculty colleagues and community members have access to the knowledge and pedagogical practices that will support their own and their students’ development as writers.
Our Values
The Writing Program is committed to creating inclusive classrooms in which students and faculty are challenged to encounter differences (of background, of experience, of perspective, and/or of intellectual commitments), to listen rhetorically, and to respond creatively, compassionately, and thoroughly. In our classrooms, we create “brave” spaces where people are respected and complex topics and concepts are addressed through critical thinking, ethical deliberation, and deep reflection.
As writing teachers and scholars, we commit ourselves to anti-racist pedagogies; we commit to teaching critical thinking, ethical deliberation, and just argumentation in our courses; and we commit to reflecting on and using our positionalities and structural resources to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.
CWRU Land Acknowledgement
In recognizing the land upon which we reside, we express our gratitude and appreciation to those who lived and worked here before us—those whose stewardship and resilient spirit makes our residence possible on this traditional homeland of the Lenape (Delaware), Shawnee, Wyandot Miami, Ottawa, Potawatomi, and other Great Lakes tribes (Chippewa, Kickapoo, Wea, Piankishaw, and Kaskaskia). We also acknowledge the thousands of Native Americans who now call Northeast Ohio home.
Case Western Reserve University and the greater Cleveland area occupy land officially ceded by 1100 chiefs and warriors who signed the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. Please visit the CWRU Social Justice website or the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture website to learn more about the practice of land acknowledgements.