In another life-not so far physically but, some would say, worlds away academically-Tom Cormen works with "FG" (pronounced "effigy"), short for Asynchronous Buffered Computation Design and Engineering Framework Generator, an approach to high-performance computing. But this past fall, the professor of computer science started a parallel career as director of Dartmouth's Writing Program. Why would someone who has dedicated his career to technology agree to direct a writing program?
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"Every computer scientist I asked said, 'Don't do it,'" Cormen remembers. "So, of course, I had to."
Cormen was recruited in the spring of 2004 by a special subcommittee of Dartmouth's Committee on Instruction. The subcommittee was planning the reorganization of the College's undergraduate writing courses, previously managed in the Department of English, into the Writing Program. At a faculty lunch, one of the subcommittee members had happened to sit next to Cormen and soon learned about his passion for good, clear prose.
Concerned about poor writing skills in his own field, Cormen had, in the fall of 2003, organized and taught Computer Science 88/188: How to Write, Evaluate, and Present Technical Papers in Computer Science.
"I'd seen a lot of computer science students go about their careers," Cormen explains. "Those who get programming jobs write Java, C ++, and other computer languages at first, not a lot of prose. But as they move up in the field, they have to be able to write. Ultimately, for these people it's going to be more important to write prose than to do programming."
Good writing shouldn't be stereotyped as something only for literature majors and aspiring novelists, Cormen says. "Writing isn't just the domain of the humanities. Everyone should be ... skilled in making a good argument in prose."
Cormen, who has written a leading textbook in his field, will serve a three-year stint as director of the new Writing Program in addition to his computer science duties.
In September 2004, he and his small administrative staff-including Karen Gocsik, associate director of the Writing Program and adjunct assistant professor of English; Stephanie Boone, director of student writing support and lecturer in English; and Susan Lord, the Writing Program's administrative assistant-moved into their new offices in Baker Library.
The Writing Program for first-year students includes English 2,3 and English 5, all designed to prepare them for writing in their undergraduate years. All sections use Joseph Williams's Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace. Students also choose from a wide variety of reading materials based on reading lists constructed by course instructors. Each class focuses not only on writing but especially revising.
A major thrust of Cormen's planning efforts will be to introduce writing instruction into academic specialties throughout Dartmouth, teaching writing as it relates to each field an undergraduate might pursue.
"It's what we're trying to figure out now-teaching writing in a discipline," says Cormen, who is holding exploratory meetings with various Dartmouth departments. "It's a pretty major initiative and a key task. In three years, this is what I really want to leave in good shape."
When he does, he might well have given Dartmouth something more than just his "effigy."
By PETER WALSH
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