Welcome to The Lake Effect!

MCC-Longview’s Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Program is about to enter its 25th year. What better way to celebrate than to provide a space for sharing ideas about writing and learning as well as a forum for instructors to identify their own successes and struggles in using writing as a learning tool.

Some history to note: this program began in the mid-1980s as a broad-based WAC approach involving faculty from general education and occupational curriculums at the college. Early efforts focused on infusing writing into courses that had not traditionally relied on writing, like Math and Music, and emphasized incorporating strategies based on writing theory and best practice, like having students produce drafts of projects and encouraging them to revise.

Eventually, large-scale General Education writing assessment efforts in the mid to late 1990s led by WAC faculty, which by now included instructors from all divisions and most disciplines, including Math and Music, culminated in the adoption of a Writing Intensive course requirement as a way to formally extend students’ opportunities to develop as writers during their time at the college.

In 2001, MCC-Longview was honored as a "College of the Year," along with Clemson, Cornell, and Sarah Lawrence College, based on its WAC Program.

Today, the WAC Program at MCC-Longview continues to enjoy broad faculty interest and participation as well as strong administrative support, and, fortunately, our students find themselves writing at every turn during their time here.

The campus of MCC-Longview sits next to Longview Lake and our sports teams are known as the Lakers. Given the strong culture of writing that has prevailed here for so long, it seemed fitting to honor the entire academic community at MCC-Longview for its deliberate and sustained efforts to value writing as a critical tool for learning by calling this WAC blog The Lake Effect.