Program in Writing and Communication
The Program in Writing and Communication (PWC) is the parent program that provides academic communication support across all modalities (written, oral, visual) to all members of the Rice community (faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students). It is both an academic unit, with credit-bearing courses, and a support unit. The PWC is overseen by a director as well as two directors of sub-programs and is composed of three sub-programs:
First-Year Writing Intensive Seminar (FWIS)
These courses fulfill Rice’s Writing and Communication Requirement for graduation, which all undergraduates must complete in order to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University. FWIS courses are capped at 16 students to support group discussion and foster relationships between students and faculty. The small class size also ensures that students receive substantive feedback from instructors on their writing, speaking, and visual communication skills. Courses are taught by instructors across the university, in a variety of specialties. Based on the summer composition evaluation, some students are required to take an additional writing course in the fall, FWIS 100: Introduction to Academic Writing, before enrolling in a FWIS in the spring. FWIS 100 introduces students to academic writing through topic-based courses designed to develop skills in college-level reading and writing. Students in FWIS 100 participate in workshops and group discussions, as well as individual consultations with writing coaches outside of class time. Typical assignments might include mapping an academic argument, summarizing a scholarly article, or writing a response to a reading.
Center for Academic and Professional Communication (CAPC)
The CAPC serves as the communication support hub of the University for written, oral, and visual communication projects within and across disciplines. To that end, staff members and peer consultants assist undergraduates, graduates, post-docs, faculty, and staff through one-on-one consultations, workshops, and other resources. The Center has a leadership staff of four and a peer consulting staff of 25-30 students. Students with a NetID may make appointments for consultations through the Center’s website; faculty, staff, and postdocs may contact the Director for support. The CAPC also offers in-class presentations, workshops, and workshop series on a variety of topics such as research writing (e.g., literature review, methods section, results, and discussion); citation; avoiding plagiarism; giving effective oral presentations; and best practices in poster design, slide design, and data visualization, among many others. All presentations are tailored to the discipline, course level, and course assignments.
Communication-in-the-Disciplines (CID)
Housed within the CAPC, the CID program assists faculty in integrating communication assignments within their courses, allowing students to develop the communication skills needed to succeed in their field while acquiring a deeper understanding of the course material. Staff members work closely with individual instructors, departments, and academic programs to help them reach their goals for student development. They also assist departments and faculty with developing discipline-specific communication assignments (oral, written, or visual) within courses.
English as a Second Language (ESL)
The ESL program offers courses, consultations, and resources to international students for whom English is not their home language. Under the auspices of the PWC, the ESL program offers three courses for graduate students, each of which carries two hours of credit. Assignments in these courses are linked to students’ area of study. The courses are:
- Comm 600: Introduction to Academic Reading and Writing for International Graduate Students, which teaches fundamental academic reading and writing skills to first- and second-year graduate students
- Comm 601: Oral Communication Skills for International Graduate Students, which enables students to overcome challenges related to pronunciation, clarity, small group interactions, and formal presentation.
- Comm 602: Advanced Academic Writing for International Graduate Students, which addresses academic writing tasks such as critiquing, reporting, and interpreting research findings, illustrating and justifying the significance of research, and grammatical topics.
Website: https://pwc.rice.edu/
Source: Jennifer Shade Wilson, Director
Last Updated: March 2026