In September 2025, SPU’s Faculty Senate voted to approve a revision to the undergraduate General Education curriculum. These changes will go into effect beginning with the 2026–27 academic year. The revised Gen Ed curriculum includes significant changes to undergraduate writing requirement.
What is Staying the Same:
- Writing 1000: Academic Inquiry & Writing Seminar, which is taught primarily by English and Communication faculty
- An emphasis on the Writing Program Outcomes of rhetorical knowledge, critical inquiry, process, and conventions
- A focus on disciplinary writing and research within students’ majors
What is Changing:
- Writing 1100: Disciplinary Research & Writing Seminar will be discontinued. This course will be replaced by courses in majors that include instruction on the research, reading, and writing processes that are specific to the disciplinary communities of the major.
- These classes will carry a W2 requirement.
- W2 classes will carry disciplinary-specific page requirements that are appropriate for the program the course is being taught in.
- Students will be required to complete a minimum of 5 credits of W2 coursework.
- The new W2 standards can be found here.
- W-Courses will be relabeled as W3.
- The standards for W3 Courses will be the same as the existing W-Course standards, including the disciplinary-specific page requirements that are appropriate for the program the course is being taught in.
- The minimum requirement will be reduced from 8 credits of coursework to 5 credits.
- The new W3 standards can be found here.
- Overall, the writing requirement will be reduced from 18 credits to 15 credits:
- WRI 1000: Academic Inquiry & Writing (W1) 5 credits
- W2 course taught within majors 5 credits
- W3 courses taught within majors 5 credits