A Field Resource for Writing Program Administrators
A collaborative, searchable collection of resources for WPAs, WAC administrators, department chairs, and writing faculty. Each resource turns disciplinary knowledge into institutional action.
Choose the statement closest to your situation. The search icon in the header covers every entry on the site.
Four resources, developed by writing program practitioners across institution types. Each is built for use and adaptation, and each draws on current scholarship.
A structured process and scenario-based guidance for WPAs working on course caps, workload, curriculum policy, and institutional resistance, across institution types and career positions.
View the Playbook →Heuristics for collecting, analyzing, and presenting program data in persuasive and ethical arguments to administrators, with national course cap benchmarks.
View the Data Guide →A translation table mapping administrative language to writing studies concepts, for chairs, WPAs, and course leads who work between disciplinary and institutional discourse.
View the Crosswalk →Kirsti Cole's claims-based map of what writing studies holds about writing, learning, language, and labor, with the limits of each claim and the evidence behind it.
View Field Commitments →The resources draw on professional statements issued by CCCC, CWPA, TYCA, NCTE, MLA, AWAC, and AAC&U, and on published scholarship. Each page lists its sources beside the claims they support.
CCCC statements are cited by title and date of adoption. Links lead to archived copies in the CCCC-L position statement repository (opens in a new tab). See the note on CCCC.
Where a claim rests on professional consensus and not on experimental evidence, the resources say so. Field Commitments explains the distinction.
Key professional issues addressed
The Writing Program Exchange began with a collective of writing program practitioners committed to making disciplinary expertise accessible and actionable in institutional contexts. It is a searchable, updatable resource, and not a policy document or a fixed position statement. It adapts to the range of institutions, positions, and challenges WPAs face.
The Exchange does not depend on listserv archives for searching and sorting. It is a stable web environment built to grow over time.
Disciplinary knowledge, organized for institutional action.
Kirsti's research spans institutional ethnography, WAC/WID program administration, AI and digital writing pedagogies, and feminist rhetorics. She is a co-author of the AWAC Statement on AI and Writing Across the Curriculum (2025) and an elected member of the MLA AI and Research Working Group.
kirstikcole.com → (opens in a new tab)Holly's scholarship focuses on writing program administration, labor equity, and faculty governance in higher education. She is co-editor with Kirsti Cole of three collections on academic labor, feminist leadership, and writing program change work.
The Writing Program Exchange grows through contributions from practitioners across the field. A WPA with a scenario to share, a researcher with relevant data, and a practitioner who has worked through a specific institutional challenge each strengthen the resource.
Upload materials to the shared Google Drive folder, or write to the co-directors with questions, corrections, and proposals.
Suggested citation
Cole, K., & Hassel, H. (Eds.). (2026). The Writing Program Exchange. https://thewritingprogramexchange.org
Share an institutional scenario, a data visualization, or a crosswalk entry for possible inclusion in the Exchange. Upload it to the shared Google Drive folder.
kkcole2@ncsu.edu · hjhassel@mtu.edu
Statement locations are changing. Tell us when a link fails or a citation needs an update.