The College Writing Program at Buffalo State provides the basic writing experience for first-year students and supports and assists in the Writing Across the Curriculum upper-division writing requirement. Dr. Margo Figgins of the University of Virginia wrote that freshman writing "lays down the paths of discourse in an academic community." The College Writing Program is the place where those paths begin.
CWP 101 and CWP 102, the two-semester freshman composition sequence, introduces students to the rhetoric of academia. That rhetoric becomes the language students take with them into the world of work. The two-semester sequence offers concept and practice to students in the informal discourse that prepares them for formal writing, in formal writing on demand, and in fully processed formal writing. The sequence offers students training in the skills of research and in the production of prose supported by that research.
The upper-level writing requirement asks students to select two Writing Across the Curriculum courses during their careers at Buffalo State College. Some departments require the completion of a writing competency portfolio. The College Writing Program, along with other departments and programs, works to assist students in fulfilling college writing requirements. For example, walk-in writing help desks are available to students during day and evening hours at various locations across campus throughout the semester.
The College Writing Program teaches non-fiction writing, with courses taught by both full-time and part-time faculty. The program office is located in South Wing. Dr. Michele Ninacs serves as the director.