Dan Murphree, associate professor of History, is the inaugural winner of an innovative writing instruction award named in honor of Rick Schell, UCF’s vice president and chief of staff.
The Schell Award for Implementing Innovative Writing Instruction in the Disciplines will be given annually to a faculty member who has demonstrated commitment to and success in improving student learning through writing instruction in his or her courses. The award commemorates Schell’s enduring commitment to improving student writing at UCF.
For the past two years, Murphree’s American History survey courses have included 10 “writing Fridays.” His students fill blue books with what he calls “their history”—writing the “themes and legacies” of the historical period they have read about and discussed that week in class.
Accepting the award, Murphree told this year’s audience of Writing Across the Curriculum Fellows that his experience as a fellow “transformed” his teaching practice.
Murphree will receive $500 in travel funds to present Writing across the Curriculum topic at an academic conference in his discipline.
Established in 2010, the Writing Across the Curriculum program is an interdisciplinary program coordinated by the Department of Writing and Rhetoric that assists faculty in all disciplines in their efforts to strengthen student writing and use writing to improve learning in their courses and programs.