This testimonials page was started in the summer of 2009, and the (unsolicited) comments were received via email after that point (they are organized chronologically from most to least recent).
"Your visit was wonderful and impactful, to say the least." ~Teaching & Learning coordinator, St. Mary's University, Minneapolis, Sept., 2019.
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"I found the week I spent examining how WAC could support/enhance student learning in my course(s) perhaps the most rewarding faculty development experience I have had." ~Faculty member, University of St. Thomas, Jan., 2018.
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"Thank you so much for your informative and mind-expanding workshop today! Definitely getting jazzed about incorporating creative low-stakes writing into my classroom!" ~Faculty member, Hollins University, Jan., 2017.
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"Thank you so much for an insightful and engaging seminar and for making yourself available to provide us with feedback!" ~Faculty member, University of St. Thomas, Jan., 2017.
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"Thank you for your stellar work facilitating Writing Across the Curriculum!" ~Faculty member, University of St. Thomas, June, 2017.
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"Thank you for taking the time to teach such a helpful workshop. I completed the workshop feeling rejuvenated in my attitude and strategies on teaching. I also left thinking, “Man, I wish I had this workshop at the beginning of my career!” ~Faculty member, University of St. Thomas, June, 2017.
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"I also wanted to say thank you for this workshop. It is by far the most helpful, well organized, practical, and encouraging workshop of its kind that I have attended. Thanks for setting all of this up. I think my teaching will see great improvements solely because of this workshop and its effect on how I can implement writing into my courses." ~Faculty member, Longwood University, May, 2015.
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"This symposium opened my eyes to new possibilities and ideas for making my leadership course exemplarily - for both faculty and student. I learned so much!” ~Faculty member, Drexel University, April, 2015.
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"I really enjoyed the workshop and found it very useful (by far the most useful of the workshops/seminars I’ve taken)." ~Faculty member, University of St. Thomas, June, 2014.
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"I was a skeptic at first, but you won me over, and the seminar was most helpful and thought-provoking! I bet you hear that a lot." ~Faculty member, University of St. Thomas, June, 2014.
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"Yesterday was fantastic!! I loved your presentation. I actually used some of your techniques in class today. You have inspired me to re-think my classes in a very positive way. I have also had so many faculty tell me how much they enjoyed your presentation. ~Faculty member and Chair of Humanities, Louisburg College, Apr. 2014.
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"Thank you so much for all your wonderful presentations and conversations with our faculty yesterday. A number of faculty told me how much they enjoyed hearing from you and how many good ideas they gleaned from your sessions. I felt lots of positive energy in the workshops and felt like faculty left with concrete plans for how they could use writing to help students learn. Many, many thanks! ~Host and workshop/presentation coordinator, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Feb. 2014.
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"The session was fantastic: we are all inspired and energized, and people are eager to keep working together on their courses. I couldn't ask for a better result! A representative comment (from a humanist): "This was the single best faculty development event I've ever attended." My colleagues also deeply appreciated your thoughtful, supportive, and uncluttered approach. Because we all care so much about teaching, it was deeply rewarding to see a master teacher at work -- the structure of your presentation (especially the parts that messed with our assumptions and shibboleths) was brilliant." ~Host and workshop coordinator, Gustavus Adolphus College, Jan. 24, 2014.
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"Thank you so much for such a great workshop today. I know that I have taken away so many wonderful ideas for both my classes and my interactions with my students' writing. And I know that my colleagues felt the same way because the discussion continued in the room for some little while after we ended, even at the end of the day/week when we were a bit tired, because your work with us today was quite reenergizing. Thank you so much for an exciting and inspiring day." ~Faculty member, Sociology, Gustavus Adolphus College, Jan. 24, 2014.
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"People have been raving about your talks -- the one on Thursday and the ones at the retreat -- all weekend via email and at an event where I saw lots of folks yesterday." ~Host, Writing Program, University of California at Santa Barbara, Sept. 22, 2013.
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"I want you to know how deeply grateful Macalester is to you for coming to campus yet again and helping our colleagues get a much better understanding of the various ways to help their students improve writing performance. Once again, we got such high praise for your instruction and wonderful feedback about the workshop. Truly, we are indebted to you." ~Workshop coordinator, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN, June 5, 2013.
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"I must tell you that I went into the seminar being fairly skeptical; old dog, new tricks and all of that. However, much to my surprise and delight, I found myself engaged in the process and, at the end of the day, took away what I think are some very useful and worthwhile ideas and strategies. After almost 30 years in the classroom this was a very nice outcome indeed!" ~Participant (Political Science), University of St. Thomas, June, 2013.
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"You were a smashing success at the workshop. I've received at least 8 emails today from happy participants who are already planning how they can use some of your creative ideas in their spring classes." ~Workshop coordinator, Gwynedd-Mercy College, Gwynedd Valley, PA, Dec. 2, 2012.
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"I would need a three-page letter to adequately convey the enthusiasm of the positive reviews from this group [of workshop participants]. . . . Many of the participants felt that, even with their boxed responses, they needed to add marginal remarks on the evaluation forms: "This was my favorite seminar so far in the PTP series," or, "This was the best session so far in terms of giving me practical, useful ideas I can apply," or next to the rankings (all "5"), a participant wrote, "Seriously, 5's!" ~Workshop coordinator, Preparing the Professoriate seminars, NC State University, Fall, 2012.
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"Thank you very much for coming to Macalester and leading a fantastic workshop for us. . . . This past week I have received a stream of emails from my colleagues who said things like, "The writing workshop was terrific and made me rethink how I approach all of my courses, not just the First Year course." Hooray! ~ Workshop coordinator, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN, May 2011.
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"I just want to thank you again for a wonderful day. Throughout the day today, I received emails and talked with colleagues about the sessions--and everyone is so pleased! I just received an email from one of our Biology professors who will teach a WIC next semester, and she felt the workshop was very informative and useful. Our Dean of Health and Life Sciences told me several times (both during and after the afternoon session) that she was so impressed with you, and she wished all faculty could hear your discussion about creating assignments." ~Workshop coordinator, Piedmont Virginia Community College, Charlottesville, VA, Jan. 2011.
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"Thank you is not enough for the wonderful job you did yesterday. Our faculty truly enjoyed the ideas you presented and several told me this morning they are going to revisit their writing assignments and try some of the WTL strategies. One instructor just stopped by my office and said he was revamping everything in his course." ~Workshop coordinator, Randolph Community College, Asheboro, NC, Oct. 2010.
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"Dear Professor Anson: Wow! You have really put together an excellent--very informative and useful--workshop. You have done so much work, so many handouts, and given us to much to think about--so much to incorporate in our teaching. Thank you for making the long journey to Saudi Arabia to teach us. Although we are already teachers, we welcome new ideas, new methods, and certainly workshops like this, which bring so much benefit. We have learned a lot indeed!" ~ Workshop participant, Dar al-Hekma University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 2010.
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"You did a wonderful job! Yesterday and today, I have heard, 'I used the one-minute writing in my class;' ' I did the facebook thing;' 'He is the best I’ve heard;' etc." ~Workshop coordinator, South Carolina State University, Oct., 2010.
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"Thanks again for such a wonderful and transformative experience. I cannot say enough on how much it has changed my perspective on teaching writing. This workshop has really made a difference." ~ Faculty member, University of St. Thomas, July, 2010.
"The workshop by far was one of the most useful I have ever attended. I also had the best student evaluations that I have ever had for this course and I think the WAC piece made all the difference in the world." ~Faculty member, University of St. Thomas, July, 2010.
"I am finding WAC transformative—and that’s exactly what I was hoping for because I felt that what I had been doing recently wasn’t exactly engaging the majority of students fully." ~Faculty member, University of St. Thomas, July, 2010.
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"We have received extremely positive feedback from attendees, some of whom have already used your "Dialogues" assignment. This was such a valuable presentation for faculty and supports the pedagogy of our Writing Program as well as our efforts to establish a writing-active culture." ~ Workshop coordinator, Rutgers University-Newark, April, 2010.
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"I just wanted to let you both know that I have TOTALLY revolutionized my approach to student writing after attending Chris Anson’s talk and workshop. . . . [T]hey have had a huge impact on my class already. I’d been putting off (dreading) the design of an “analytical paper” assignment until that very week in my Geography of NM and the Southwest class. The paper was in my syllabus, although I hadn’t decided on the assignment details, and the fortuitously-timed workshop really opened my mind in terms of what I could ask students to do." ~ Faculty member, University of New Mexico, March, 2010. [unsolicited note to workshop coordinators]
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"I've been to many academic workshops ranging from fine, ok, better than a poke in the eye with a rusty spoon, to just please kill me now. But I have to say that yesterday's workshop was the best one I've ever attended. I've used some of the ideas before but a number of them I'll be using this semester. I really hope Chris can come back next year to do a presentation on high stakes writing. I'd love to see him again!" ~ Faculty member, St. Francis University, Aug. 2009. [unsolicited note to workshop coordinator]
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"Usually, as a Math Teacher, there are not too many things that I get out of these writing seminars (never much I can apply), but Chris Anson gave me lots of ideas that I can immediately use this semester. Many were ways to engage the students, and keep them focused and on task (regardless of the subject). . . . like mix[ing] the order of a logical sequence of events. . . . That would be an excellent activity for testing thinking skills when constructing mathematical proofs, in higher level classes. He also had some nice ideas for the low level writing that we do in Jr and Sr seminars, in class. Well I wont bore you anymore, but as you can tell, I was really excited about his presentation. What I liked best was the constant stream of excellent concrete examples, that sparked ideas." ~ Faculty member, St. Francis University, Aug. 2009. [unsolicited note to workshop coordinator]
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"I (and others) have received many positive comments about the workshop -- more than any faculty workshop has ever received since I have been here, I believe. You made it look easy, but I know from experience that it is not easy at all, and I know too how much experience and study has to lie behind such a compact presentation. People are already asking when we can have you back." ~ Workshop coordinator, St. Francis University, Aug. 2009.
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"You're a great presenter, and a great model of teacher." ~ Workshop coordinator, New College of Florida, August 2009.
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"It was a fine, fine workshop! I get the feeling that your workshop today will really have a long-term, positive effect on teachers here, and through them, on students." ~ Workshop coordinator, Rivier College, August 2009.
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"Chris Anson was fantastic in explaining and modeling best practices for WAC. This was the most helpful of the many things that Faculty Development has done for my teaching. A+." ~ Faculty member, University of St. Thomas, June 2009.
"Excellent seminar! Chris is incredible." ~ Faculty member, University of St. Thomas, June 2009.
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"Overall, I am very grateful for this workshop. Thank you for your hard work!"
"Excellent presentation and workshop; highly inspiring!"
"A wonderful and insightful workshop!"
"I have been inspired by the interactive quality--and the food--at this workshop. Most compelling are the multitude of writing assignment ideas, particularly the lower-stakes activities, that we have discussed over the course of the day."
"This workshop has made things so much clearer to me and assures me of what I want to do."
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Comments from faculty at Hong Kong Baptist University after a workshop on June 9, 2009.
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"Just wanted to send you a quick note to thank you for your wonderful presentation yesterday. As always, you were entertaining and instructive -- and had valuable information to pass along. You have a marvelous ability to excite people about the teaching of writing. Thank you again -- and I'll look forward to what I can learn from your next visit." ~ Faculty member, McDaniel College, Feb. 2009.
