Visiting engineers promote communication
For the Maroon & Write Speaker Series, Mississippi State University hosted, from left, Warren Waggenspack, associate professor of LSU's College of Engineering, and Warren Hull, director of the Chevron Center for Engineering Education. Photo by: Randall McMillen
In the latest installment of Mississippi State University's Maroon & Write Speaker Series, two Louisiana State University engineers explained how they spearheaded their institution's Communication Across the Curriculum initiative.
Maroon & Write refers to MSU's quality enhancement plan of improving writing across all disciplines and curricula, and the speaker series is one aspect of the university-wide movement.
On Sept. 18, Warren Waggenspack, associate professor in LSU's College of Engineering, and Warren Hull, director of the Chevron Center for Engineering Education, presented "CxC in LSU Engineering: Effective Incorporation of Formal/Informal Writing" in Mitchell Memorial Library's Grisham Room.
"CxC means Communication Across the Curriculum," said Waggenspack, who also holds LSU's Ned Adler Professorship. "One of the top-ranked skills for any career is effective communication, whether it's in writing, presentations or other forms."
When the technical writing courses were eliminated at LSU, alumnus Gordon Cain, now deceased, offered a major donation to spur a focus on communication in the engineering college, Waggenspack said.
Administrators developed the LSU Distinguished Communicator Program, which is included on participating graduates' academic transcript, he said.
To receive the designation, Hull said students must take at least four communication-intensive courses, develop a digital portfolio showing their communication skills and demonstrate communication capabilities in oral, written, technical and visual forums.
Waggonspack said graduates who earned the designation receive starting salaries between $3,000 and $4,000 higher than students who do not have it.
"We're producing much better communicators. They hate it when they're doing it, but they're showing it off when they go to interviews," he said. "The person with the better communication skills has the better chance of getting the job and surviving layoffs."
LSU engineering students are required to take capstone courses in which they must keep reflective notebooks. Teaching assistants generally review them to determine whether they're contributing meaningful writing, but if a student disputes the TAs evaluation, he or she can go to the professor who then reviews the material, Hull said.
Additionally, students can access assistance through the CxC studios, he explained.
"CxC studios are a place where students can come in and get equipment, especially visual equipment. Once you can see information, it translates a lot better," Hull said. "Whether focused on writing or oral presentations, the studios give general guidance. When they have problems, we give them some places they can go for support."
During the fall 2014 semester, MSU is featuring several courses including additional writing elements.
They include African-American music, architectural theory, fundamentals of planning design, honors forum, integrated language arts instruction, marriage and family, principles of paleobiology, problem-solving with real numbers for education majors, processes and practices for interior design, rhetorical theory and sociological and psychological aspects of clothing principles.
Visit http://qep.msstate.edu to learn more about Maroon & Write.
MSU is online at www.msstate.edu, facebook.com/msstate, instagram.com/msstate and twitter.com/msstate.
Leah Barbour | Public Affairs
