Our Writing Across the Curriculum program, program leadership, and WAC-affiliated faculty are regularly recognized for impactful pedagogy, research, and scholarship. We are happy to showcase some of these highlights here.
FIU WAC Program receives national award
The WAC Clearinghouse and Association for Writing Across the Curriculum recognized the FIU WAC Program as the 2026 Exemplary Enduring WAC Program. This award honors programs that exemplify the principles and best practices of writing across the curriculum, demonstrating commitment to the field’s scholarship and models as well as innovation as they respond to their local contexts. In addition, this year’s winners are deeply integrated into their colleges and universities.
According to the award selection committee, the WAC program at Florida International University stands out as an enduring program that continues to innovate while sustaining broad, visible support for writing across the curriculum. The committee was especially impressed by the program’s development of micro-credentials as a way to invite new participation, recognize faculty engagement, and respond to changing instructional needs. This turn toward micro-credentialing shows how a long-standing WAC program can remain generative rather than static, adapting its structures to meet faculty and student needs across time.
FIU also impressed the committee with its ability to balance commitments across two campuses, maintain a strong calendar of events and collaborations, and communicate program work through a compelling newsletter. The program’s efforts to turn conference presentations into publications further demonstrated the kind of scholarly contribution and public-facing knowledge-making expected of enduring WAC programs. Taken together, FIU’s work offers a strong model of continuity, innovation, and ongoing contribution to the WAC community.
Program Highlights
Emilie Christiansen Wins 2025 UGS Excellence Award for Outstanding Paper or Manuscript
WAC Writing Fellow and former IWTA Emilie Christiansen won the 2025 University Graduate School Excellence Award for an Outstanding Paper or Manuscript for her manuscript: "Exploring bicycle theft through topography, street centrality, and the built environment: A spatial analysis of Toronto, Canada." Emilie's manuscript has led to conference invitations and citations in emerging research on environmental criminology. Emilie is earning her PhD in International Crime and Justice. Congratulations, Emilie!
Christine Martorana Wins Award for Excellence in Learner Engagement Award from FIU Online
WAC Associate Director Christine Martorana won an FIU Online award for Excellence in Learner Engagement for her fully online course ENC 4381: Zine Writing. In this course, Christine adopts a holistic approach to student engagement that invites students to interact with one another, the professor, the course content, and their communities in innovative ways. Congratulations, Christine!
Ivan Lopez Wins 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award
WAC-affiliated faculty Ivan Lopez won a Faculty Senate Award for Excellence in Teaching. Ivan is a regular participant in WAC events, including our AI in Action workshop series and our Teaching with Writing in the Disciplines micro-credential. Congratulations, Ivan!
Dr. Ming Fang Wins 2024 Faculty Convocation Award
WAC Associate Director Dr. Ming Fang won a Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching at the 2024 Faculty Convocation Awards Ceremony.
Christine Martorana Featured on Inside Higher Ed
WAC Associate Director Dr. Christine Martorana was featured in an Inside Higher Ed article on the value of working with students to collaboratively design a course AI policy: Struggling to Create AI Policies? Ask Your Student.
UGS Fellows Featured on FIU News
FIU News featured WAC’s collaboration with the University Graduate School to train graduate students to be writing mentors: Graduate Writing Fellows Coach Peers to Success.
New WAC Student Badge
The WAC student badge has been a great success in Dr. Ryan Winter’s Research Methods course in the Psychology Department, and it will now be rolled out to all students taking the course. We’re excited for this next major step to enhance student writing and engagement across the department!
2023 IWAC Conference
At the 2023 International Writing Across the Curriculum conference, we presented our micro-credentialing program, aimed at integrating writing into the best practices of faculty and students alike.
Article Featured in Adapting the Past
Our article "Furthering WAC Influence Through Strategic Partnerships" was published in Adapting the Past to Reimagine Possible Futures: Celebrating and Critiquing WAC at 50.
Nomination for Exemplary WAC Program Award
In 2022, FIU's Writing Across the Curriculum Program was nominated for an Exemplary WAC Program Award, which "recognizes the extraordinary achievements of WAC teams to establish, maintain, and sustain programs that foster exemplary engagement with writing across the curriculum at their institution."
Jessica Liberles Gives Talk on Bioinformatics
WAC-affiliated Assistant Professor Jessica Liberles from the Department of Biological Sciences gave a talk titled "Bioinformatics for Biologists – teaching bioinformatics and research with writing and learning assistants" to FIU's Discipline-based Education Research community.
Uma Swamy Discusses WAC at 26th Biennial Conference of Chemistry Education
WAC-affiliated Senior Lecturer Uma Swamy from the FIU Department of Chemistry presented on her collaboration with WAC at the 26th Biennial Conference of Chemistry Education in her talk titled "Authentic Learning in an Online Chemistry Non-Majors Lab Course."