Who's Who
As director of the Writing Center, Aleene Rose plays a major role in students' lives as they prepare to enter and, years later, leave Old Dominion.
Determining whether students have the "write stuff" is a top priority for Rose and her Writing Center staff, who assess the students' writing placement tests on the front end of their education here and again when they near their final chapter at the university.
Rose's operation handles all of the tabulation and follow-up for the incoming freshman and transfer student placement tests; teaches developmental writing, including classes for students whose first language is not English; offers writing workshops for those who could use a little extra help; and oversees and assesses the results of the Exit Exam of Writing Proficiency, which undergraduate students must pass before they can receive their degree.
While a few students may complain each year about the placement test and exit exam, faculty love the services the Writing Center provides.
"We have high standards for writing here," Rose said. "The English department is very supportive of what we do. As Joyce Neff (director of composition) said to me, thanks to the placement tests they don't have to prepare their instructional staff for a wide range of abilities among incoming freshmen."
Students are encouraged to take the placement test during Preview. Those who pass it on the first try enroll in English 110. Those who don't 23 percent of the incoming freshman and transfer students last year make an appointment with Rose, who goes over their papers with them and helps them develop a plan to improve their writing.
All undergraduates, even those who have transfer credit for freshman composition, are required to pass the 90-minute writing sample placement test, for which they are asked to write an expository essay. Graders look closely at development, organization, sentence structure, mechanics and spelling. Evaluation standards for the Exit Exam are much higher, Rose said. The exams are given throughout the year, and students are advised to take it their junior year, after they have completed 58 credit hours.
Old Dominion was the first state college or university in Virginia to implement an exit writing exam back in 1981 and, to Rose's knowledge, is the only one that still has the requirement. She strongly believes the exam is worthwhile. "No matter what field you go into, you will be required to write, and you need to be prepared for that," she affirmed.
According to Rose, the Writing Center and the Exit Exam requirement came into being as a result of an employer who complained to then President Al Rollins that he had hired an Old Dominion graduate who, he said, couldn't write. Disturbed by the complaint, Rollins created a task force on literacy and, from its recommendation, the Writing Center was born. That was about 22 years ago, Rose said, and the Exit Exam became a requirement a few years later.
The exam consists of a 500-word essay on a topic supplied by the colleges and the Writing Center. From July 1998 through March 1999, 69 percent of the students who took the Exit Exam passed the test. Those who don't pass get suggestions from the Writing Center for improving their writing and some are sent to tutors.
Rose joined the university 18 years ago, starting part time as an instructor in the English department. Previously she had taught composition, literature and English as a second language at higher education institutions from Wisconsin to Kansas to Washington, D.C. She managed the English as a Second Language program at the University of Virginia for two years.
She was hired by Clare Silva, former director of the Writing Center, to serve as coordinator of the Exit Exam. Today, she oversees a staff of four full-time employees and two part-time workers, plus a stable of student workers and a cadre of adjunct faculty who grade the placement tests and Exit Exams.
Rose prides herself on having maintained the integrity of the center's operations. The sheer numbers in the Writing Center's annual report are staggering. From August 1998 to March 1999, the center:
Rose is also actively involved in other aspects of the university. For several years she has served on the Restructuring Report Writing Committee, and for the past two years has teamed with Nancy Wade, professor of biological sciences, to staff a Learning Community. She chaired the university's Academic Skills Center Committee last year, and she works closely with several faculty in the English department to track the progress of students in English 110.
"I honestly think I have the best job at the university because it combines teaching and working with students one-on-one," Rose said. After a short pause, she added with her characteristic, understated wit, "And on a good day I like administration."
Rose is married to Bob Rose, professor of biological sciences. The youngest of their three children, Anne, graduated from Old Dominion in 1997 with a degree in international business.
- Steve Daniel
