WSU Honors College Professor’s Assignment Published on National Curricular Resources Website
PULLMAN, Wash. – An assignment used as part of an arts and humanities class at the Honors College at WSU was one of just eight national submissions to be highlighted as a curricular resource on the website of the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA).
“The people at the CWPA were looking for concrete examples of excellent assignments,” says Diane Kelly-Riley, co-director of the Writing Program in the University College at WSU and member of the CWPA. “The aim of each assignment is to help students gain the rhetorical skills that are critical for college success.”
The writing activity “Who Is That Person” is part of a class taught by Pamela Lee, associate clinical professor of art history, who is also Honors College faculty.
Students in the class are asked to look at a slideshow of unmarked portraits. Keen observers must select one portrait and write about the subject’s identity and character using clues in the art.
Once their speculative piece is complete, students are given the title and artist of the portrait. This becomes an opportunity to learn more about the work, involving library research methodology and careful annotations.
The culmination of the assignment is a narrative essay about the impact of the research and a reconciliation of the true identity of the piece compared to the subjective speculation.
“Students really embark on a journey researching these portraits,” says Lee. “This results in excellent writing and research habits that exemplify the work of our Honors students.”
Lee has taught “Exploring the Art of Portraiture” each spring since 2009 as an Honors contextual understanding in the arts and humanities course. She also teaches an Honors thesis seminar class and has won numerous awards, including the Harold and Jeanne Rounds Olsen Award for Exemplary Writing in the Major Course, the WSU Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Eric W. Bell Learning Communities Excellence Award.
Other assignments on the site tackle everything from communication in a field of work to research writing and cognitive development.
MEDIA CONTACT: Jared Brickman, Communications Assistant, Honors College at WSU, 509-335-8070, UCHCCommMar.4@email.wsu.edu
Source: Diane Kelly-Riley, Co-Director, Writing Program, University College at WSU, 509-335-1323, dokelly@wsu.edu