Don Rothman joined the Oakes College (then College Seven) faculty in 1973, hired to teach writing and coordinate the writing tutoring program. Both of these quickly became models for the rest of the campus at a time when UCSC was poised (with some prodding) to improve instruction for all students by paying greater attention to the needs of under-represented undergraduates. In 1977 he founded a literacy education think-tank for k-university teachers, The Central California Writing Project (CCWP), which he happily directed for 27 years.
Before retiring in 2007 after 34 years of teaching writing and the Oakes Core Course, Don dedicated his work to exploring the promise of writing to enhance democracy, especially in the area of non-violent persuasion. CCWP summer institutes for teachers held at Oakes brought education activists together to think imaginatively and courageously about how to teach writing to change the world. Many of Don's publications address this subject, including a long interview in Higher Education Exchange published by the Kettering Foundation. He is fond of saying, "We write to avoid the humiliation of silence in the face of cruelty and injustice."
Don served on many Academic Senate and Oakes College committees, including the Committee on Planning and Budget, and was Acting Provost of Oakes twice. He is currently Vice-President of the Shakespeare Santa Cruz Advisory Board.
Since retiring, Don continued to give lectures on campus, speak at college commencements, and teach in the MARC/MBRS Program, helping students to write their personal statements for graduate school. In 2011 he combined his passions for writing and photography, publishing One Way of Seeing: Photographs and Essays During a Time of Reflection 2010.
One way of Seeing: Photographs and Essays During a Time of Reflection 2010 is available through blurb.com, Bookshop Santa Cruz and Baytree Bookstore.
