Quinnipiac University’s WAC program has been funded through the Office of Academic Affairs, which:
- Provides resources for workshops
- Provides materials for faculty members
- Supports faculty participation in off-campus programs, such as the Bard Institute for Thinking and Writing
The WAC program has received two generous grants from the Davis Educational Foundation. In 2003, the Davis Educational Foundation awarded a $141,000 grant to provide broad development opportunities for the entire Quinnipiac University faculty. The grant also was used to offer more than 300 faculty members training in writing-to-learn techniques.
In 2008, the University was awarded a $250,000 grant from the Davis Educational Foundation to develop "Critical Thinking and Writing in the Majors," a program that will add deeper critical thinking and writing applications to upper-level undergraduate classes. The new program will launch in the Fall 2009 semester.
The grant will allow the University to build upon the key strengths of the existing WAC program, including:
- Creating linkages between formal and informal writing, or in cases where formal writing is not required, assisting faculty in seeing opportunities to use informal writing to advance course learning goals
- Strengthening the connection between writing and thinking in the classroom
- Better understanding of students' perspectives through the decentering process of the WAC workshops
- Adjusting syllabi and approaches to teaching in ways that are more oriented to the learning goals in courses
- Learning how to evaluate student writing consistently and clearly
- Creating a community of scholars that has been energized by teaching through writing