Christopher Thaiss

CHRIS THAISS is Clark Kerr Presidential Chair and Director of the University Writing Program at the University of California at Davis. He holds a dual appointment as Professor of English and is a member of the Language, Literacy, and Culture Graduate Group. Until 2006, he was Professor of English at George Mason University, where he directed the composition and writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) programs and served as chair of the English Department. In 2005, he received the University's David King Award for  career contributions to teaching excellence. Active in the development of cross-curricular writing in colleges and universities since 1978, Thaiss coordinates the International Network of WAC Programs (INWAC) and works with teachers in the elementary, middle, and high schools through sites of the National Writing Project. He frequently consults on writing and conducts workshops on teaching and program development for schools and  colleges. 

Books he has written or edited include Engaged Writers and Dynamic Disciplines: Research on the Academic Writing Life (with Terry Myers Zawacki; Heinemann, 2006)); The Harcourt Brace Guide to Writing Across the Curriculum; WAC for the New Millennium: Strategies for Continuing Writing-across-the-Curriculum Programs (with Susan McLeod, Eric Miraglia, and Margot Soven); Writing to Learn: Essays and Reflections; Speaking and Writing, K-12 (with Charles Suhor); Language Across the Curriculum in the Elementary Grades; two textbooks for English composition classes, Write to the Limit and A Sense of Value (with Ann Jeffries Thaiss); and three writing texts (Allyn and Bacon, publishers) for specific disciplines: Writing about Theatre (with Rick Davis), Writing for Law Enforcement (with John Hess); and Writing for Psychology (with James Sanford). He has contributed chapters to many anthologies, most recently two chapters on the history of writing across the curriculum to the collection Composing a Community (Parlor Press, 2006) . Current projects include working with a team of international scholars to "map" writing in the disciplines worldwide.

In addition, he serves on the editorial boards of Across the Disciplines, Inventio, and Writing on the Edge.