The Duke TWP was established in 2000 as an effort to increase the role of writing in the Duke undergraduate curriculum. In 2006, the (then) UWP received a CCCC Writing Program Certificate of Excellence for our support of both undergraduate students of writing and their teachers.
In 1999, Robert J. Thompson, Jr., Dean of Trinity College, directed the restructuring of the University Writing Program into three complementary parts: Writing 20 (renamed Writing 120 in 2009), a first-year seminar in academic writing designed and taught by a multidisciplinary group of scholars; Writing in the Disciplines, a set of advanced, writing-intensive courses taught by faculty in almost every department at the university; and the Writing Studio, a space for students to work one-on-one with tutors to improve their writing. In 2008, to recognize Thompson's leadership and vision, the Duke University Board of Trustees renamed the Writing Program in his honor.