ODU Hires Director of Writing and Faculty Development

Remica Bingham-Risher has been hired as Old Dominion University's director of writing and faculty development, with responsibility for the school's Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP).

ODU's QEP is intended to improve upper-division undergraduate students' disciplinary writing - that is, writing that demonstrates a reasoning process supported by research and reflection on a problem, topic or issue - through faculty development and engagement initiatives.

Bingham-Risher received a bachelor's degree in English, magna cum laude, from ODU in 2002, with a minor in African American studies. She earned an M.F.A. from Bennington College in Vermont.

She was an adjunct instructor for ODU in 2005 and again in 2010, and has also served as an instructor in the university's Lambert's Point Summer Program.

Bingham-Risher comes to ODU from Norfolk State University, where she served as writing competency coordinator in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment. She coordinated and oversaw NSU's comprehensive writing competency assessment program and worked on developing a university-wide Quality Enhancement Plan.

ODU's QEP focus on student writing emerged from campus-wide conversations with faculty, staff, students, alumni and employers, and was supported by analysis of the university's institutional effectiveness data. The QEP will develop faculty knowledge, skills and abilities in teaching effective writing, without adding an unmanageable burden to faculty workloads. In addition, university support for students has been increased at the Writing Center.

Students' writing skills will be demonstrated by six learning outcomes that will be assessed through evaluation of written artifacts. Students will be able to:

• Clearly state a focused problem, question,or topic appropriate for the purpose of the task;
• Identify relevant knowledge and credible sources;
• Synthesize information and multiple viewpoints related to the problem, question or topic;
• Apply appropriate research methods or theoretical framework to the problem, question or topic;
• Formulate conclusions that are logically tied to inquiry findings and consider applications, limitations and implications; and
• Reflect on or evaluate what was learned.

Progress toward achieving the QEP goal and meeting student learning outcomes will be assessed by the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, working with the QEP director, using the QEP Writing Rubric, national surveys of students and faculty, and ODU surveys and focus groups of faculty and programs participating in the QEP.