Trustees’ Award for Faculty Excellence

Richard Bullock, Ph.D., is professor and assistant chair of English, and director of writing programs in the College of Liberal Arts.

Richard Bullock, Ph.D., is a nationally recognized leader whose achievements as professor and assistant chair of English, and director of writing programs in the College of Liberal Arts, encompass the full spectrum of scholarship, teaching, and service.

As writing programs director for more than 20 years, Bullock has created programs for university writing that have benefitted Wright State students regardless of their major or college, among them the Writing Across the Curriculum program. Because of his efforts, the Wright State Writing Program received the Program Excellence Award from the national Association for General and Liberal Studies in 2010.

With his colleague Nancy Mack, he also created the Wright State Institute on Writing and Teaching for Ohio public school English and language arts teachers. Over 19 years, the institute grew from one to three summer courses and a yearlong classroom research course. It has drawn significant funding from the Ohio Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Ohio Board of Regents.

More colleges and universities currently use Bullock’s textbook, The Norton Field Guide to Writing, than any other rhetoric textbook. More than 500 colleges have adopted the book for their writing programs. “Clearly, Dr. Bullock’s approaches to teaching college writing are influencing teachers and students nationwide and further enhancing Wright State University’s reputation,” said Carol Loranger, chair of the English department.

Examples of Bullock’s leadership abound. In the winter of 2011, Bullock led a research graduate seminar that found opportunities for improvement of the developmental writing program. The students proposed a comprehensive program that resulted in the Wright State Academy, a summer program that helps at-risk students acquire strategies that may help them achieve their goal of a college degree.