New Professional Writing Option Fosters Connections and Collaborations

We are thrilled to be boosting our professional writing offerings as we have recently launched a new professional writing option within the English major. Now Western students can choose to minor or major in professional writing. This past year we offered courses in technical communication, introduction to professional writing, rhetorical theory, rhetorical grammar, editing and reviewing, and digital writing and multimedia texts. In Fall 2023 undergraduate students can take grant and proposal writing, writing for the web, digital writing and multimedia texts, or technical communication.

Briza Dure Alvarenga (senior English major/professional writing minor) explains, “Professional writing courses are the best option to learn in an interactive way how to exploit the maximum potential of writing. Through the projects and interactions with peers, one also develops an idea of what one would like to practice in the future.”

In addition to collaborating on cool class projects, many of our students also gained experience outside of the classroom working on four publications, from our department creative writing journal, to our annual collection of winning student essays, to a collection of nonfiction essays written by honors students in collaboration with community members, and even Mirror itself. Others are pursuing internship opportunities and writing, designing, and publishing on their own. Peter Hostert (senior English major/professional writing minor) notes, “It’s in professional writing that I have seen the most growth while attending Western. These classes have all been challenging and have shown me new technical programs and methods to communicate. Each time I take a class in my professional writing minor I know I will learn many new things and be challenged!” All in all, students are having fun, faculty are having fun, and it’s an exciting time for professional writing in the English Department!