Constituency and Terms of Service
All English faculty, regardless of tenure-eligible status, teach composition and participate in the evolution of the First-Year Writing (FYW) Program; the constituency of the FYW Committee reflects that diversity. Voting members of the committee are two tenured/tenure-eligible faculty (one junior and one senior representative) and three members from the instructor, lecturer and visiting assistant professor ranks. The Co-Directors of FYW will also serve as permanent, non-voting members of the committee. The Chair of the committee will be chosen from the tenured/tenure-eligible members.

A term of service is two years for tenured/tenure-eligible faculty, who will be chosen by their peers in spring elections. A term of service for an instructor, lecturer or visiting assistant professor is one year; these members will be chosen by their peers in fall elections. Members may be re-elected to successive terms.

Mission Statement and Reporting Structure
The FYW Committee advises and serves as a resource to English faculty primarily in relation to the composition sequence - English 1101 and 1102 - but may also confer with other committees as appropriate on issues involving writing in other areas of the curriculum.

The Committee will consider the following in relation to the FYW Program:

• course focus and design
  
• course formats such as Learning Community clusters and linked courses
  
• shared course goals and policies
  
• assessment options
  
• exemption exam procedures and course placement options
  
• implementation of computer technologies
  
• options for supplemental instruction, including the Writing Center
  
• textbook recommendations, particularly for new composition faculty
  
• the shared text project
  
• the FYW sequence's role in both the core and English curricula.

The FYW Committee may also be called upon to assume a leadership role in reviewing applications, interviewing candidates and offering recommendations to the Chair in relation to hiring instructors and visiting assistant professors, who teach the majority of the department's composition courses.

The FYW Committee also makes recommendations to the English Department in response to departmental requests. Questions to be considered may be brought forward to the committee chair by the department chair or by any other member of the English department.