The Board of Trustees honored outgoing Dean of Trinity College Robert Thompson by renaming the University Writing Program after him. The announcement was made during a presentation by Provost Peter Lange in the Gothic Reading Room May 3.
"He's the perfect person to name the Writing Program after," said Joseph Harris, director of the Writing Program. "He made [the program] possible. I'm proud to continue that work."
Thompson helped design and structure the Writing Program-now known as the Robert J. Thompson, Jr. Writing Program-to support students as academic writers through Writing 20 courses, the Writing-in-the-Disciplines Program and the Writing Studio.
One of Thompson's major goals as dean was to improve the Writing Program and focus on writing as an intellectual skill, he said.
Thompson added that he was proud of the program's expansion to a position of national leadership, and noted that the Writing Program is the single academic experience touching every Duke undergraduate.
"Having the Writing Program named in my honor is the most meaningful recognition I could have received for my 11 years as dean," he said.
Thompson was responsible for forming a task force to design a program that would be "distinctive and distinguished," he said. He also recruited the leadership of the program, assured the implementation of the plan, secured funding, fostered a commitment to assessment and evaluation and promoted the program's accomplishments at national meetings.
In addition to designing the program, Harris credits Thompson with helping to "safeguard the independence of the Writing Program." Harris said this benefited recruitment, securing the best possible professors to teach Writing 20 courses.
"He had a vision of the role writing could play in undergraduate education," he said.
In Fall, Thompson will return to teaching in the department of psychology and neuroscience in addition to being the principle researcher for a study about the improvement of undergraduate education in research universities.
Nonetheless, Thompson said he plans to remain actively involved with the Writing Program.
"I will continue to be an advocate for the program and assist with evaluations of the program that serve to foster a process of systematic and continuous improvements," he said.
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