Staff
Howe Writing Across the Curriculum (HWAC), a division of the Howe Center for Writing Excellence (HCWE), keeps a staff of full-time administrators and part-time Graduate Assistant Directors. Our staff come from a range of academic backgrounds and are dedicated to keeping writing at the center of the Miami University experience.
Dr. Elizabeth Wardle, Director, HCWE
Elizabeth Wardle joined Miami in July 2016 and is the Roger and Joyce Howe Distinguished Professor of Written Communication and the Director of the Howe Center for Writing Excellence. She takes primary responsibility for the faculty-facing writing across the curriculum program. She previously served as chair of the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Central Florida (UCF) (2012-16), director of writing programs at UCF (2008-2012), and director of writing programs at the University of Dayton (2006-2008). Her administrative experiences have fed her ongoing interest in how students learn and how they transfer what they learn in new settings. At UCF, she won teaching and SoTL awards, and led the first-year composition program to a CCCC Certificate of Excellence. She speaks frequently around the country on writing program design, ways to teach to encourage transfer, and ways to identify and engage students in the threshold concepts of various disciplines.
Dr. Mandy Olejnik, Assistant Director, HWAC
Mandy Olejnik joined the HCWE staff as a graduate assistant in 2017 and works now as the Assistant Director of Writing Across the Curriculum. Her research centers on graduate student writing support and how writing across the curriculum (WAC) programs can take leading roles in creating meaningful, structural change in systems of graduate writing. At the HCWE, Mandy leads faculty workshops, assists with the Faculty Fellows Program, writes Miami Writing Spotlights, conducts research on HWAC programming, and handles other administrative tasks.
Will Chesher, Graduate Assistant, HWAC
Will Chesher is a Ph.D. student in Composition and Rhetoric. He researches how graduate programs prepare students as researchers, how research methods and methodologies offer diverse frames of knowing and question-making, and how programs prepare faculty and students to teach writing in their local contexts.
Rena Perez, Graduate Assistant, HWAC
Rena Perez is a Ph.D. student in Composition and Rhetoric. She researches how and why examples of writing are used by writers and teachers of writing across disciplines and the benefits and challenges of using examples in writing instruction.
Loretta Parker, Administrative Assistant, HCWE
Loretta Parker has been at Miami University for 18 years, working in Accounts Payable and the English Department before heading to the HCWE. She is the financial contact for the HCWE department and handles budget transfers for contest prizes, student payments, and grants for students, faculty, and departments. She also coordinates student-centered events, graduate and faculty boot camps, and national and local board meetings.