The OPEN HOUSE experience convinced the English faculty that the "Writing Across Engineering" format could indeed provide a credible vehicle for first year composition. Thomas Lisk, Head of English, agreed to provide appointment resources sufficient to teach as many sections of English 111, 112, and 112H as were taught for a parallel first year laboratory course (also a SUCCEED development).
This agreement is a "win-win" result for English and Engineering. A new literature base for first year writing is being established, following the pilot experiment and the subsequent OPEN HOUSE assessment, discussions between English and Engineering, and conversations within the English Freshman Council itself. The salary cost for the implementation is zero, since the new course is accepted as another version of a required course (no change in total English sections taught) and since the increased student numbers in the new section(s) is(are) offset by a corresponding enrollment decline in other sections.
The pilot offering was judged by English as equivalent to the regular 112H course (We note that in the "regular" sections, instructors have complete independence in choice of reading matter, hence the current experiment provided just one more among many different reading bases). These materials were the basis for a successful repeat as a regular English 112H course for 21 students (section limit) in Fall of 1996, and we take this example as a fully realized implementation of our initial version of Writing Across Engineering in our first year offerings.
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