A 2004 survey of 120 American corporations, commissioned by the College Board’s National Commission on Writing, found that one-third of employees in the nation’s “blue-chip” companies wrote poorly. Bellevue University has launched a corporate writing initiative to help companies address this ongoing problem.
Recognizing that writing inefficiencies directly impact a company’s bottom line, the university, through its Corporate Writing Center, partners with corporations to design customized writing instruction that addresses their specific needs. Bellevue University offers instructional workshops on-site at the corporations or, beginning this fall, completely online.
Bellevue University recently completed a pilot corporate writing course with Union Pacific Railroad. Twelve UP employees – from throughout the company with diverse educational backgrounds – volunteered to attend five, three-hour sessions at the company’s Omaha headquarters. On-site sessions were accompanied by online follow-up activities.
Bellevue University Assistant Professor Gloria Lessmann facilitated the sessions, which covered writing topics that responded to Union Pacific’s requests. The class met every other week, beginning in February and finishing in late April. According to evaluations collected by Union Pacific’s human resources department, the response from the railroad employees who completed the course was overwhelmingly positive. As a result, Bellevue University is offering the business writing course at UP again in September 2008.
Filed under: Corporate | Tagged: Bellevue University, Union Pacific, Writing
