Writing Proficiency Requirement
An important aspect of the mission of the University of Massachusetts Boston is to develop the ability of students to become intellectually active and publicly engaged. The inevitable social change demands citizens be able to reason through complex problems. To foster the ability to reason critically, the university learning outcomes focus on certain habits of mind that are often used when reflecting upon a variety of complex problems. Because the learning outcomes aim for lifelong learning, students should be able to apply the habits of mind independently; and, they should help to organize deep thinking that results in a reasoned position about a problem.
As a citizen your involvement in social, political, and intellectual issues will often be part of a broader social debate; the faculty at UMB believes that Writing Proficiency Evaluation (WPE) is an important demonstration of your ability to independently understand and interpret various points of view. Reading sets bring together the writing of people who are having a conversation, or thinking publicly about important problems. The WPE assesses your ability to enter this kind of social and intellectual conversation as a reader, thinker, and writer. It is important that you have the ability to work independently, publicly and competently outside the framework of a particular course; it is important that you are able to engage in larger social and intellectual conversations without the direct intervention and guidance of a teacher; and, it is important that you are able to satisfy the expectations not only of an individual faculty member but of a larger community of informed readers. Since one important aim of a university degree is to equip you to function confidently and competently in the world outside the university, the WPE provides an important opportunity for you to demonstrate the kinds of self-sufficient critical capabilities that we believe are necessary to your future intellectual and professional life, as well as your role as an educated citizen who is engaged in the world.
General Information:
The Writing Proficiency Evaluation (WPE) refers to the way that the university-wide Writing Proficiency Requirement (WPR) is met in three of the five undergraduate colleges at UMass/Boston: College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CNHS); the College of Liberal Arts (CLA); and the College of Science and Mathematics (CSM). The Writing Proficiency Evaluation is a junior-level assessment designed to ensure that matriculating students have acquired the necessary analytical, reading and writing skills for advanced-level courses. Students in the College of Management (CM) and the College of Public and Community Service (CPCS) also must meet the University Writing Proficiency requirement. Every student at UMass/Boston must demonstrate an intermediate level of writing proficiency, even if they do so in a different manner.
(Please note that the WPE is not the same as the Writing Placement Test. All first year students must take the Critical Reading and Writing Placement Test to determine your readiness to complete the Writing Proficiency Requirement (WPR) of your college. Please see http://www.uac.umb.edu/testing.html#step1 for further information.)
Students in the College of Management demonstrate writing proficiency through required coursework. Students in the College of Management should follow this link for information regarding the WPR.
Students in the College of Public and Community Service demonstrate competencies with a writing portfolio. Students in the College of Public and Community Service should follow this link for information regarding the WPR.
Students in the College of Liberal Arts (CLA), the College of Science & Mathematics (CSM) and the College of Nursing & Health Sciences (CNHS) should complete the WPE after they have taken an Intermediate Seminar. All CLA and CSM students should complete the WPE by the time they have earned 75 credits whether or not they have completed an Intermediate Seminar.
Transfer students who will have earned 75 or more credits at the end of their first semester who transfer into CLA or CSM should complete the WPR by the end of their first semester.
Students in CLA or CSM who reach 75 credits without completing the WPE must plan and sign a formal Learning Contract, which may restrict the number of courses and credits they can take that semester, or they will have a hold placed on their University accounts. Students will be offered as many as two learning contracts of 12 credits, as long as they remain under 100 credits.
Students in CNHS, who are generic nursing students are to successfully complete the WPE before enrolling in NURSNG 310. RN nursing students in the online program must do so before enrolling in NURSNG 445 (or, if you are in the Online Nursing Program, Nursng 461). EHS students must do so before enrolling in EHS 490.