Grant Empowers Students to Write with Purpose

The Davis Educational Foundation award will align curriculum, support faculty and give students a unified writing experience

Sacred Heart University has received a two-year grant from the Davis Educational Foundation to enhance the University’s already innovative First-Year Writing Seminar (FYWS), a required course for all undergraduates, by supporting faculty development, funding creation of a student-centered digital catalog of teaching resources and improving alignment of the curriculum across sections.

The Davis Educational Foundation was established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Stanton retired as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc. It supports undergraduate college and university programs throughout the six New England states.

The grant will fund major enhancements to a redesign of SHU’s introductory writing course to make it more consistent, engaging and connected to the University’s mission. While FYWS has long emphasized writing as a process, many students reported feeling the course lacked relevance or connection to their personal and professional goals. The redesigned program grounds all sections in a shared framework of sustainability and social justice—topics students identified as highly important through internal and national surveys.

Amie Reilly, assistant teaching professor in English and director of writing studies, said the grant will strengthen both community and purpose. “When every student is drafting the same type of assignment at the same time, it creates a shared rhythm,” Reilly said. “Students can talk to each other, swap ideas and see themselves as part of a larger conversation. At the same time, linking assignments to sustainability and social justice gives them the freedom to write about issues they truly care about.”

Kirk Bartholomew, professor emeritus of biology and co-principal investigator on the grant, emphasized the relationship of the grant to the mission of the University’s Laudato Si' Office of Sustainability & Social Justice (LOSSJ), and emphasized the importance of addressing perceptions of sustainability within the SHU community. “In the year of information gathering that led up to creating the Laudato Si’ Office of Sustainability & Social Justice, a clear issue arose that there was a disconnect in Sacred Heart’s community perception of ‘sustainability’ and ‘social justice,’ with sustainability being more linked to environmental issues and social justice being more associated with problems of equity,” he said. “In reality, both are part of a single systemic problem, and this is reflected in Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’. One of our goals in seeking this grant was to address this disconnect by creating robust curricular materials to improve the already strong work that has been occurring in First-Year Writing Seminar under Amie Reilly’s direction.”

The project integrates three mutually reinforcing elements—curriculum development, faculty development and creation of an open-source catalog. For the curriculum work, faculty will refine four common core assignments—including expository, research, multimodal and reflective writing—so that expectations and rubrics are clear across all sections.

Summer workshops and monthly meetings will bring together adjuncts and full-time faculty, ensuring they share strategies and build a unified teaching community. Visiting writers and scholars will further support professional development.

Also, SHU faculty will write essays and create activities directly tied to FYWS assignments. These new resources will be easily accessible in the University’s Digital Commons to benefit students taking the course as well as the wider writing studies community.

The FYWS redesign responds to both national and local data. In spring 2024, a survey conducted by Sacred Heart’s Institute for Sustainability & Social Justice (now the LOSSJ) found that students rated the importance of teaching sustainability and social justice at eight out of 10 but rated Sacred Heart’s current opportunities at only five-to-six out of 10. Nationwide surveys conducted that summer and in spring 2025 echoed these findings—nearly three-quarters of 15- to 29-year-olds said colleges should teach about these issues along with strategies for acting on them.

“Writing is a tool for personal growth and social change,” Reilly said. “When students see their writing connected to identity, culture and community, the work becomes meaningful. That sense of purpose carries into other courses, their careers and their lives.”

Mark A. Beekey, dean of Sacred Heart’s College of Arts & Sciences, said the grant ties into the University’s mission. “At Sacred Heart University, we strive to educate students ‘in mind, body and spirit,’” Beekey said. “This initiative, supported by the Davis Foundation, advances that mission by embedding sustainability, social justice and community into our core curriculum. It will empower our students to become thoughtful, engaged global citizens prepared to make meaningful change in their communities.”