Critical Writing: Dr. Ross

Dr. Valerie Ross has been appointed Director of the Critical Writing Program in the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, Dr. Al Filreis announced recently. "She is a person of extraordinary talents as an administrator, a highly evaluated teacher and mentor to teachers, greatly dedicated to the teaching of writing," he said. Dr. Ross' work as director will begin on July 1, 2003--the date when the Center opens its offices at 3808 Walnut Street. Dr. Ross will join Dr. Gregory Djanikian, Director of the Creative Writing Program, as one of three directors affiliated with the new Center. The third, a new Director of the Kelly Writers House, will soon be appointed to succeed Dr. Kerry Sherin Wright.

Dr. Ross earned her Ph.D. in English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she was trained in composition and taught many sections of Introduction to College Writing & Research and Freshman Composition, and served as a pilot instructor in the Adopt-a-Class writing project, a partnership between the university's Composition & Rhetoric Program and the Milwaukee public schools. In addition to composition, she specialized in American literature, cultural studies, and critical theory. As assistant professor of English at Miami University (Ohio), she taught both undergraduate and graduate students, including courses on composition in the multicultural curriculum and College Research & Writing. At Penn, Dr. Ross has taught graduate and undergraduate courses, and has also taught Introduction to College Writing in the Penn Summer High School Programs.

Since 1999, Dr. Ross has been the Director of Summer Sessions in CGS of the School of Arts and Sciences, responsible for curriculum development, planning, advising, and budget, acquiring an extraordinary depth of experience in recruiting, hiring, supervising and evaluating faculty, instructors, graduate students and staff.

During her tenure, enrollments in summer sessions have increased nearly 20%, and she has created a series of innovative programs, such as the Penn Summer Arts Studio. In the past two years she has served simultaneously as the Director of the certificate program in Communications for Professionals, a curriculum that offers courses in writing, among other topics.

Previously Dr. Ross was the staff editor of Literature at Esquire Magazine, a writer and editor with Wall Street Publications, and the Director of Marketing at Anderson/Roethle & Associates. She was also the Founder and Co-Director of JAZZSCHOOL, a nonprofit organization with an innovative approach to teaching jazz to elementary and high school students.