Center for Integrative Studies
Sean Anderson, Environmental Science and Resource Management
I strongly encourage all of my colleagues to avail themselves of the opportunity to
participate in the Science Writing Initiative. I was fortunate to be able to work
with Sean Carswell this past semester and he was fantastic! Having an in-house consultant
and partner who is an accomplished writer who has spent years working with students
on the craft of clearly articulating their thoughts was very helpful. I have worked
with composition faculty and others for several years on a more haphazard basis to
tweak and expand the writing-related components of my teaching. But having a dedicated
faculty member who was focusing on my particular class for the duration of the semester
was unique. While I was already practicing many of the obvious techniques to boost
the caliber and depth of writing in my science courses, Sean was able to give me numerous
new prompts and more effective ways to motivate/encourage writing as a process. Our
collaboration was so successful, it has inspired me to think about how we might continue
such faculty cross fertilization beyond writing and critical thinking. I hope all
of my colleagues take advantage of this unique opportunity to bolster the tools in
the pedagogical quiver.
