The Center For Writing Excellence’s annual Multimodal Writing Contest was created to celebrate the innovative multimodal writing students are producing across the university, in their classes or in their on-campus or professional experiences. Hosted annually, all ������Ƶ undergraduate and graduate students are invited to submit entries.

There are nine entry categories, divided according to the program, school, or experience in which the multimodal text was produced: arts and sciences, communications, business, education, health sciences, law, CORE curriculum, campus involvement, and internships. The contest welcomes any composition using two or more modes, such as text, images, video, and audio.

Winnters

Campus Involvement

Winner: Monika Jurevicius, for their Today at ������Ƶ article titled “Power+Place Collaborative feeds both mind and body with new culinary collaborations,” created in the Center for Design Thinking.

������Ƶ College, the College of Arts and Sciences

Winner: Maeve Draper, Hailey Youngman, Adelaide Malynn and Nina Doble for their infographic “The Buzz on Longer Freeze-Free Seasons,” produced in Kelsey Bitting’s ENS1710 class.

Runner-up: Zhikun Hao for the essay “Facing the Inner Upside Down: Trauma Psychology and Zen Meditation in Stranger Things,” produced in Pamela Winfield’s REL1175 class.

School of Communications

Winner:��Anjolina Fantaroni for the multimedia story “Human Trafficking in Alamance County and the Fight Led by CrossRoads,” produced in Kelly Furnas’s Journalism 4970 class.

Runner-up: Landon Lepley for their short documentary and article “Savannah Ghost Tours,” produced in Alex Luchsinger’s Journalism 3150 class. The winner is

School of Education

Winner: Mia O’Brien for the advocacy brief “Access to After School Resources for At-Risk Youth,” produced in Heidi Hollingsworth’s EDU4670 class.

School of Health Sciences

Winner:��Caroline Reich for the poster “Differences in Infants’ Hip and Knee Joint Angles in a Novice Versus Experienced Crawler,” produced with.
Srikant Vallabhajosula as part of URP 4999 independent study.

Runner-Up: MacKenzie Dudley for the project “Hand Under Hand,” produced in Alys Giordano’s DPT 7150 class.

Internship

Winner: Paige Millard for the multimedia bulletin board created as part of an internship with Lavender Hill Farm Marketing.

CORE Curriculum

Winner:��Lily Mosbacher for the podcast “Degrees of Change: An Intergenerational Podcast,” produced in Olivia Choplin’s COR 1100 class.

Runner-up: Julia Raynor, Louis Diamond, and Jay Johnson for the slideshow “Modern Day Redlining in North Carolina,” produced in Heather Barker’s STS 1100 class.

Martha and Spencer Love School of Business��

Winner: Oskar Zimmer for the slideshow “Adobe Stock Valuation,” produced in Andrew Schwartz’s FIN4130 course.

Runner-up: Isabella Heredia for the slideshow “Duke Energy Valuation Project,” produced in Andrew Schwartz’s FIN4130 course.

Grand Prize

This year’s grand prize winners, selected from all category winners, are Anjolina Fantaroni for “Human Trafficking in Alamance County and the Fight Led by CrossRoads” and Lily Mosbacher for “Degrees of Change: An Intergenerational Podcast.”

Catherine Bowlin, assistant teaching professor in English, presented “A Liberating Way��to��Take a Course: Linguistically Just, Collaborative Feedback and Assessment in First-Year Writing,”��a pedagogical intervention she began piloting in her Fall 2025 courses (ENG 1100 and COR 1100). This question-based feedback model requires students to��submit��specific questions about their drafts before receiving peer or instructor feedback.

This approach is part of Bowlin’s broader commitment to linguistically just assessment practices that center student agency and challenge traditional grading structures that often reinforce linguistic hierarchies. Bowlin shared preliminary findings from three courses and received valuable feedback from scholars in writing studies. Early data suggests that structuring feedback around student-generated questions can increase students’ confidence, sense of ownership over their writing, and engagement with the revision process.

Paula Patch, associate teaching professor in English and associate director of the Common Reading and First-Year Foundations in the ������Ƶ Core Curriculum,��participated��in a roundtable discussion on career options after a faculty member has served as a Writing Program Administrator. Titled “‘Learning on the Bones’: Life After Writing Program Administration,” the roundtable featured five mid- to late-career faculty who spoke about their experiences as administrators, what they decided to do next in their careers, and advice they have for others. Patch spoke about the unique opportunities��and��sense of belonging that program and campus leadership offers for non-tenure track faculty.  The presenters also debuted a call for proposals for an edited collection on the same topic. Patch was the Coordinator of the College Writing Program at ������Ƶ from 2012 to 2019.

Associate Professors��of English��Heather Lindenman, first-year Writing coordinator, and��Julia Bleakney, director of The Writing Center, and��Associate Teaching Professor��Greg Hlavaty presented the findings of a Spring 2025 study that piloted two versions of AI-integrated first-year writing courses (ENG 1100). This presentation, “Navigating Control and Trust: A Study of Two Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching First-Year Writing with Generative AI,” detailed two pedagogical models for engaging AI in the FYW classroom; shared an overview of the study’s findings from both survey and focus group data; and discussed pedagogical and curricular interventions being currently piloted in ������Ƶ’s first-year writing courses as a result of this study’s findings and implications.

������Ƶ and ENG1100 have been leaders in research surrounding��generative AI and��writing pedagogy. These presentations contributed to��conversations��among Writing Studies scholars��regarding��pedagogical adaptations to support student and faculty engagement.

This national celebration is hosted on or around Oct. 20 every year, and this year, the Center for Writing Excellence, as in previous years, sponsored various campus-wide events. This year’s events were coordinated by Writing Center Lead Consultant Grey Carr ’27. Hosts included The Writing Center in the Center for Writing Excellence, the Curriculum Resources Center in the School of Education, Live Oak Communications, Student Professional Development Center and Koenigsberger Learning Center, Undergraduate Research Program and The School of Law. The full list of events is below, and more details about the School of Law event are in this Today at ������Ƶ article.

Students attending the events were entered into a drawing to win one of several gift cards. Congratulations to all the winners who joined us on the National Day on Writing to celebrate the power of words!

Full list of events:

The Curriculum Resources Center,�� “Thank a Professor” Gratitude Card Writing

The Writing Center,�� “Words, Words, Words!” Magnetic Poetry drop-in

Student Professional Development Center & Koenigsberger Learning Center, “Peer Educators Cover Letter Workshop”

The Undergraduate Research Office,��“Reflecting on your Research Journey Using the Fire Toolkit” drop-in event

Live Oak Communications, Tagline Tournament

������Ƶ Law-Greensboro campus, “������Ƶ Law Poetry Slam”

Charlotte Flex Law program, “Poetry Slam”

Myers is a freelance health writer and content strategist. While at ������Ƶ, she studied professional writing and rhetoric, worked in the writing center, and conducted a rheotrical analysis of sexual violence prevention communication on campus. Since graduating, her writing has been published in outlets like Forbes,��AARP and Healthline. She also consults for leading healthcare startups, helping them craft content strategies that get their brands featured in Google searches, on social media, and in AI-powered search. While most of her clients are US-based companies, she currently lives in London and spent three years traveling to over 20 countries as a digital nomad.

Myers will share strategies for freelancing, how she built her business while exploring the globe, and how professional writing & rhetoric prepared her for what she’s doing now.

The event is co-sponsored by the professional writing & rhetoric major, the professional writing studies interdisciplinary minor, the AI and professional writing Badge, and the Center for Writing Excellence (������Ƶ Alumni Writers Grant).

The event features a poster session and a catered reception, providing an opportunity for faculty to share their SoTL projects and reflect on their research journeys. It is co-sponsored by the Center for Engaged Learning (CEL), the Center for Research on Global Engagement (CRGE), the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) and the Center for Writing Excellence (CWE).
Faculty members who have participated in programming from these centers will present their research on innovative teaching practices. This year’s presenters include:

From the (CEL):

• Aaron Trocki, associate professor of mathematics, presenting his 2023-2025 CEL Scholar work.
• Olivia Choplin, associate professor of French, presenting her multi-institutional team’s project from the 2023-2025 research seminar on Mentoring Meaningful Learning Experiences.

From the Center for Writing Excellence (CWE) and the Writing Across the University (WAU) program:

• Travis Maynard, assistant professor of English/professional writing & rhetoric, presenting on his WAU-supported work.
• Cheng Chen, assistant professor of communication design, and Qian Xu, professor of Strategic Communications, presenting on their WAU-supported work.

From the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL):

• Elizabeth von Briesen, assistant professor of computer science.
• Courtney Liu, assistant professor of music theatre.

From the Center for Research on Global Engagement (CRGE):

• Sandy Marshall, associate professor of geography and CRGE Intercultural Learning Scholar, presenting his work on Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL).
• Bill Burress, director of assessment and accreditation; Heidi Hollingsworth, associate professor of education and director of Master of Education; Mark Enfield, associate professor of education and chair of the Department of Education and Wellness; and Jeffrey Carpenter, William S. Long Professor and professor of Education, presenting their research on the benefits of international field experiences for pre-service teachers.

The Center For Writing Excellence’s annual Multimodal Writing Contest was created to celebrate the innovative multimodal writing students are producing across the university, in their classes or in their on-campus or professional experiences. Hosted annually, all ������Ƶ undergraduate and graduate students are invited to submit entries.

There are nine categories in which to enter, divided by program, school or experience in which the multimodal text was produced: Arts and Sciences, Communications, Business, Education, Health Sciences, Law, CORE Curriculum, Campus Involvement and Internships. Any multimodal project could be submitted: any composition using two or more modes, such as text, images, video and audio.

In the School of Communications category, Ryan Kupperman won for his multimodal project “Detaining Futures.” Kupperman also won the contest’s Grand Prize for this entry. The runner-up in this category is the entire Journalism 3200 class, with “Out of State Vote Guide.”

In the Campus Involvement category, Aaron Chan won for his video project titled “The Legacy We Leave.” Aaron created this multimodal project while working with the Center for Design Thinking.

In the School of Arts and Sciences category, Brianna Sowell won for “Calmness of Water,” a story map produced in an ENG1100 course. The runner-up is Hannah Peterson, with “The Dress: A Media History,” an article produced in an ENG1100 course.

In the School of Education category, Janeeta Smith won with “Are We Protecting Young Girls in Our Schools From Entering Into Prison?”

In the School of Health Sciences category, the winners are Syndie Fearrin, Molly Boda and Kiera Oyen, with “Effects of Age and Dual-Tasking on Endurance Performance While Walking.” The runners-up are Sixela Caballero and Clarke Oliver with “Blood Flow of the Body.”

In the the School of Law category, the winners are Jennifer Benavides and Ayo Onasanya, with “Los Derechos de Trabajadores H-2A.” The runner-up in this category is Melanie Dutel, with “Demand for Damages.”

Monday, Feb. 10, 12:30-1:40 p.m., Belk Library 113. Lunch will be served. Please
This workshop begins with an overview of a functional, critical and rhetorical approach to integrating GenAI-supported writing processes into your writing instruction. This framework gives us a way to understand different approaches to writing with GenAI, helping faculty decide if and how to incorporate GenAI into their writing pedagogy in an assignment, class or across the curriculum. The rest of the workshop will be spent brainstorming together how faculty might integrate this approach into their existing writing assignments and courses, and we’ll experiment with using GenAI to generate possibilities.

Enhancing Student Learning through Collaborative Writing & Research Posters
Kim Epting, professor of psychology and Srikant Vallabhajosula, professor of physical therapy education

Thursday, Feb. 20, 12:30-1:40 p.m., Belk Library 205. Please ��
Join us for this session featuring two faculty members who received the Center for Writing Excellence’s Writing Pedagogy Grant to design innovative assignments that enhance student learning through writing. They will explain the best practices in writing instruction embedded in each of their assignments—one focused on improving collaborative writing and assessment, the other on scaffolding research poster writing and design. Each presenter will deliver a 10-minute talk, followed by 20 minutes of interactive discussion, providing practical insights and takeaways for your own courses.

Developing & Sustaining A Scholarly Writing Agenda
Jessica Merricks, assistant professor of biology; Jessie Moore, director of the Center for Engaged Learning and professor of English; and John Su, associate professor of engineering

Thursday, March 6, 4:15-5:15 p.m., Belk Library 102. Snacks will be served. Please
In this informal panel discussion, three faculty from different disciplines will share their insights into maintaining a successful scholarly writing agenda. Panelists will discuss their writing routines; strategies for developing new projects, selecting publication outlets, responding to editor feedback and sustaining long-term productivity. Whether you seek to refine your writing habits or gain inspiration from experienced scholars, this discussion will provide practical insights into building a sustainable academic writing practice.

Speed-Teaching: AI-Enhanced Writing Assignments
Hwayeon Ryu, associate professor of mathematics; Lina Kuhn, lecturer in English; and Bob Frigo, assistant dean of Campus Life and director of the Kernodle Center for Civic Life

Tuesday, March 11, 2:30-3:30 p.m., Belk Library 113. Snacks will be served. Please
Explore innovative, AI-enhanced writing assignments in this interactive speed-teaching session. Three presenters will share assignments they developed for a writing and math class after participating in the Center for Writing Excellence’s Designing AI-Enhanced Writing Assignments and Developing Students’ AI Critical Literacies summer 2024 institute. Participants will rotate to each of the three presenters who will give a 10-minute overview of their assignment followed by a 10-minute discussion on how participants might adapt the activity to their own classrooms and contexts.

AI & Scholarship Panel Discussion
Tim Peeples, professor of humanities and senior associate provost emeritus; Amanda Sturgill, associate professor of journalism; Aaron Trocki, associate professor of mathematics; and Keshia Wall, assistant professor of dance.

Monday, April 14, 4:30-6 p.m., Innovation Atrium; Snacks will be served. Please
Panelists will first share their perspectives on integrating AI into scholarship in five minute prepared statements before opening the floor for discussion and questions. They will examine issues such as the ethical use of AI in scholarship, the impact of AI on their fields and the implications for their professions. Co-sponsored by Data Nexus, the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning and the Center for Writing Excellence.

Disciplinary Writing Consultant Program for 2025-26 (Due: April 24, 2025)
The Disciplinary��Writing��Consultant��Program pairs an experienced Writing Center consultant��with a faculty member’s undergraduate disciplinary course to collaboratively support student��writing. Faculty receive a stipend for participation.

Further details about the DWC Program can be found on the��CWE website.����for Fall 2025��and/or Spring 2026��are due��April 24, 2025.

������Ƶ School of Law’s 6th Annual “High Rhymes & Misdemeanors” Poetry Slam on October 22, 2024, welcomed dozens of audience members to the Cemala Foundation Commons for performances of original work by students, faculty, and staff.

Serving on the five-judge panel was , who returned to ������Ƶ Law for the second consecutive year to perform an original work before evaluating the competitors alongside four members of the ������Ƶ Law faculty and staff.

Savannah Stinson L’25 took home the top award from judges and the People’s Choice Award for “Black Like Me.” This fall marked the second year in which Stinson joined the poetry slam.

“I had a lot of requests from professors who wanted to make sure I entered again!” she said. “It was hard to stand in front of a bunch of people with a poem that not many in the audience could relate to, and everyone who read a poem? They were all unique and they were all wonderful. It was an honor for me to be recognized with the award.”

Hosted by ������Ƶ Law’s Legal Method & Communication Program with support from ������Ƶ’s Center for Writing Excellence, the poetry slam commemorated the established by the National Council of Teachers of English.

“The best thing about today is to see that law students can go outside of the box and not talk law and not be so analytical that it sounds boring,” said Assistant Professor Bob Minarcin, a member of the Legal Method and Communication Program faculty who emceed the poetry slam. “They showed creativity!”

Student Awards

1st Place & People’s Choice Award (Selected by Audience Vote)
“Black Like Me”
Savannah Stinson L’25

2nd Place
“T������”
Adriana M. Demercurio L’26

3rd Place
“the lightkeepers”
Dmitri McKinney L’25

Staff Performances

Faculty/Staff Award
“Commonly Used Words Redefined”
Danny Little
������Ƶ Law Environmental Services

“To All the First Years”
Krista Contino Saumby
Associate Director of Career Development

“You’ve Chosen the Right Path!”
Mitchel Sommers
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theatre

“Professor Ross’s Law School Citation”
Susan Ross
Visiting Professor of Law

2024 Judges

• Josephus Thompson III, Greensboro Poet Laureate
• Kristopher Caudle, Visiting Professor of Law
• Susan Ross, Visiting Professor of Law
• Janet Keefer, Writing Specialist at ������Ƶ School of Law
• Mitchel Sommers, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theatre

Bail, founder of the Polarization Lab and author of “Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing,” will be presenting on “Bridging Political Divides with Artificial Intelligence.”

The Active Citizen Series is designed to cultivate the next generation of informed leaders who will help strengthen communities and shape our democracy. This series allows students to gain a deeper understanding of how government works and to develop the necessary skills to engage in civil discourse across political divides.

This event is sponsored by the Kernodle Center for Civic Life, Global Education Center, Council on Civic Engagement, ������Ƶ Political Engagement Work Group, the Center for Writing Excellence and the Election 2024 Committee.

For general information about how to register to vote or cast an absentee ballot, visit www.elon.edu/vote��