Welcome to Composition at Shippensburg University!

  The purpose of Writing Intensive First Year Seminar, WIFYS, is to introduce students to the critical writing and research skills they will need to be successful writers at the university level.  For the writing professors teaching WIFYS, good writing is more than simply jumping through hoops to get a good grade; instead, we emphasize the importance of audience.  WHO you write for is just as important as WHAT you are writing.  An awareness of audience is a skill students can take with them into other classes, and into their professional lives as well.  

There are a number of writing resources here at Shippensburg that can help students strengthen their writing skills.  Students can make an appointment at The Learning Center to work with a writing tutor.  They can also work with the new writing tutors working in the English Department Computer Lab: TJ Thomas, Allison Rossi, and Jayda Coons.  Students interested in the world of creative writing can join the team at The Reflector, a student-run creative journal.     

This year, we are fortunate to have a Scholar in Service, Julie Lark, working with the Composition Program.  Scholars complete 300 hours working as a liaison between an academic department and a community partner.  This year, we are excited to be working with the Franklin County Literacy Council to promote their services.  Julie will help with fundraising and support student efforts to create a collection of oral histories based on FCLC students.   

One of the most important ways that we celebrate strong writing here at Ship is through Write the Ship, a compilation of the strongest student essays from across the university.  If you are a student with an essay you’d like to submit, or a professor hoping to sponsor an essay, check out our submission page.
 

I look forward to another productive year as Director of Composition; if you have any suggestions or ideas for promoting good writing here at Shippensburg, please send me an email at ljcella@ship.edu. 

All the best for a great fall semester, 

Dr. Laurie Cella
Director of Composition
Assistant Professor of English