UWRB is located under the Office of the Provost, meets monthly (or as needed) and consists of individuals committed to the improvement of the critical reading and writing skills of UMKC students, the teaching of writing and UMKC’s writing culture.
Keichanda Dees-Burnett, Division of Student Affairs and Multicultural Student Affairs
Owen Belcher, Conservatory
Antonio Byrd, Department of English
Stephen Christ, Honors Program
Crystal Doss, Department of English
Thomas Ferrel, UWRB Co-Chair; ASM, Writing Studio; Department of English
Julie Hartwell, Miller Nichols Library
David Kenner, Bloch School of Management
Margaret Kincaid, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences
Marcus Meade, Graduate Writing Specialist in Writing Studio and School of Graduate Studies
Steven Melling, Department of Communication Studies
Alexis Petri, Provost’s Office
Alice Reckley, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature
Aaron Reed, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences
Michael Tripp, School of Law
Omiunota Ukpokodu, School of Education
Henrietta Rix Wood, UWRB Co-Chair; Honors Program
The board sends invitations to join, reviews any requests to join and elects its own chair(s). Personal communication and dialogue are key components of UWRB recruitment efforts. The UWRB includes the following ex-officio members: Director of Composition and Director of the Writing Studio. All members of the UWRB are voting members.
Individuals from (though not limited to) the following units may be members of the board or may be non-member consultants to the board: Academic Advising, Composition, University Libraries and the Writing Studio.
The duration of UWRB service terms is open. At the beginning of the Spring semester, board members communicate with the UWRB whether they intend to serve on the UWRB during the next academic year. The UWRB then reviews its membership together and collaboratively decides its recruitment needs to maintain a diverse membership in three senses.
The Campus Writing Board (CWB) existed in the College of Arts and Sciences for many years as a subcommittee of the Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee with appointments made by the dean. The director of writing across the curriculum was the founding chair, and the CWB included faculty members representing Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences. At its December 5, 2011, meeting, the CWB became a university-wide board located under the Office of the Provost and changed its name to the University Writing and Reading Board. The UWRB created and supervised the launch of the RooWriter Writing Assessment in September 2013 and advised the RooWriter Coordinator until the RooWriter was discontinued in Summer 2020.
On this page
Contact Thomas Ferrel and Henrietta Rix Wood, UWRB co-chairpersons.