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Advisory Board

Since its establishment in Fall 2017, the Merritt Writing Program’s Advisory Board has had one overall purpose: to support regular opportunities for representative MWP faculty voices in program planning. 

Ideally, the MWP Advisory Board includes no fewer than nine (9) MWP lecturers with assigned Workload Equivalencies (IWEs) and three (3) elected volunteer positions. The board also has input from MWP administration, Writing Studies Senate faculty, and other invited constituencies, such as the Writing Center Director (added as a member in Spring of 2019), and a librarian representative.  The MWP Advisory Board meets on a routine basis. Board meetings are scheduled outside of teaching assignment times. 

The goal of this structure is to:

  • Share and strengthen writing program administrative activities;
  • Promote diversity, equity and inclusion;
  • Sustain pedagogical rigor and professional engagement opportunities;
  • Foster regular communication of planning within the program;
  • Maintain shared record of board activities, featuring individual and cooperative planning. 

AY 2022-2023 MWP Advisory Board

Creative Writing Committee Chair:  Brigitte Bowers (bbowers@ucmerced.edu)

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee Chair:  Helen Sandoval (hsandoval2@ucmerced.edu

First-Year Writing Committee Chair/Assistant Director:  Angela Winek (awinek2@ucmerced.edu)

Inclusive Pedagogy and Multimodal Literacy Coordinator/Assistant Director: Iris Ruiz (iruiz4@ucmerced.edu

Personnel Committee Chair:  Mariana Abuan (mabuan@ucmerced.edu

Professional Development Coordinator: Cindy Chavez (cchavez27@ucmerced.edu)

Professional Writing Committee Chair:  Philip Lovas (plovas@ucmerced.edu)

MWP At-Large Member:  Chloe Rae (cray2@ucmerced.edu)

MWP At-Large Member: John Bultena (jbultena@ucmerced.edu)

MWP At-Large Member: John Haner (jhaner@ucmerced.edu)

Additional Members

MWP Administrators: Estee Beck (ebeck2@ucmerced.edu), Director, and Sam Ocena (socena@ucmercced.edu), Associate Director

Writing studies minor lead: Paul Gibbons (pgibbons@ucmerced.edu) & Writing Studies Senate Faculty: Eileen Camfield, Paul Gibbons, Yiran Xu, Anne Zanzucchi

UC Merced Library representative: Elizabeth McMunn-Tetangco (emcmunn@ucmerced.edu)

UC Merced Writing Center representative: Erin Goldin (egoldin@ucmerced.edu)

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