The University Curriculum Committee has approved a new Minor in Writing for undergraduate students at MSU. The new minor, housed in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures, will be available to students starting Fall Semester 2021.

Kate Fedewa, the Assistant Director of WRAC’s Undergraduate Programs and lead learning experience designer for the minor, is thrilled. “This is a great opportunity for students who are specializing in a non-writing major but want to bring a writing toolbox to their work,” she says. “The minor is flexible and student oriented — just about every student would benefit from signing up.”

The new program will mix core courses with electives that help students tailor their experience to their own goals. All students in the minor will take WRA 202 (Introduction to Professional and Public Writing) and WRA 330 (Writing and Research in Communities and Cultures); they will then choose three or four more courses that fit their major field, the media that interests them, and the writing skills they most want to develop.

“We interviewed faculty across campus and industry professionals,” says Kate Birdsall, a member of the minor’s curriculum design team. “Almost everyone we talked to shared stories about the importance of effective writing in their field. They insisted the minor include classes on digital and print writing as well as professionalization skills and working with specific audiences.”

To learn more about WRAC’s new Minor in Writing, contact a member of the undergraduate programs team: Casey McArdle, director; Kate Fedewa, assistant director; and Casey Miles, advisor.