The University Center for Writing-based Learning is dedicated to the proposition that the activity of writing is fundamental to the depth and quality of student learning, regardless of academic discipline. It is through writing that democratic societies emerge and prosper, and it is by writing that individuals express personal identity, create knowledge, and participate in the mutual exchange of ideas and values that defines contemporary public and institutional life. We believe that fostering self-conscious attention to writing best prepares students to excel at academics and participate fully in the professional communities they go on to join.

Our objective, then, is to make the power and consequence of the activity of writing salient for both students and teachers. At our LPC and Loop locations, graduate and undergraduate peer consultants meet with DePaul students from across the university. Our consultants, who are encouraged to think of themselves as co-learners rather than experts, stimulate among their fellow students a reflective, recursive writing process. Through our Faculty Services division, we design and deliver seminars and workshops and meet one-to-one with faculty from every college, facilitating discussion about writing within disciplines and within individual courses. We actively promote the use of writing as a mode of learning, assisting faculty in the search for alternatives to writing as a simple means of demonstrating knowledge already acquired.

The University Center for Writing-based Learning is grounded in the belief that one never stops learning to write, and that "good writing" is a function of success in context. Yet we also believe that writing can be taught, students and faculty can be motivated by high expectations, and improvement can be measured. To sustain these commitments, we must strive to listen and learn. We invite you to write, call or stop by to talk.

Peter Vandenberg, Ph.D.
Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse
Founding Director, University Center for Writing-based Learning