Author: Patrick Bahls

Carolinas WPA Call for Nominations

President-Elect and Executive Board At-Large Representatives for SC and NC

The Executive Board of Carolinas Writing Program Administrators invites nominations for three positions: 1) President-Elect, 2) At-Large South Carolina Representative, and 3) At-Large North Carolina Representative.

 

The Carolinas WPA serves as an affiliate of the Council of Writing Program Administrators. All Executive Board members should be members of both the Council of Writing Program Administrators and the Carolinas WPA (or be willing to obtain such memberships upon election to the board).

 

Nomination Process

Review the open positions below. You may nominate yourself or someone else with their permission. Those elected are expected to attend our upcoming February “Meeting in the Middle” at UNC-Charlotte and the annual fall conference.

 

This nomination requires the nominee’s name, role at their institution (assistant professor, doctoral student, etc.), their institutional affiliation, the role for which they are nominated, and a brief biographical statement from the nominee to be included on the ballot.

 

• Nominations close October 28.
• Online ballots will be available October 31.
• Voting will end November 14.

 

The Executive Board will announce the new board members and their respective positions after the votes have been verified.

 

Nomination form

Open Positions

1. President-Elect

This person will serve a term of two years in this role: January 1, 2019–January 1, 2021, and is expected to move into the President role upon completing a term as President-Elect.

The President-Elect is responsible for organizing the Meeting in the Middle (working with the host institution, developing the theme, inviting speaker/s, food, program, etc.) in collaboration with the President. Second, the President-Elect works directly with the President to encourage a Carolinas WPA presence at other conferences (such as CCCC, CWPA, TYCA, NCETA, SAMLA and/or NCEI). The President-Elect also helps in other capacities like contributing to the Annual Fall Conference each year.

 

2. At-Large Position: South Carolina Representative

This person will serve a term of two years in this role: January 1, 2019–January 1, 2021.

 

3. At-Large Position: North Carolina Representative

This person will serve a term of two years in this role: January 1, 2019–January 1, 2021.

 

At-Large positions on the board serve multiple purposes. One is to ensure representation from both states (NC/SC). Another is to conduct outreach within the representative state to recruit other members from NC/SC and community colleges. At-Large positions help to organize both the Meeting in the Middle and the Annual Fall Retreat. At-Large positions are responsible for managing or otherwise putting together panels for conferences like SAMLA, TYCA, NCETA and/or NCEI. They may contribute in other ways as initiatives arise.

 

Nomination form

 

Please recall that only active Carolinas WPA members can vote! To renew your annual membership prior to voting, you can visit the Carolinas WPA website. The cost of annual membership is just $20.00 for tenure track faculty and $10.00 for all other positions.

 

 

15th Annual Fall Carolinas Writing Program Administrators Conference

September 17-19, 2018 | Wildacres Retreat, Little Switzerland, NC (Directions) | $220/$210 (includes 2 nights lodging, 5 meals)

 

• Proposal deadline:11:59PM Friday, August 24, 2018
• Registration deadline: 11:59PM Monday, September 10, 2018

 

Monday Evening Keynote Speaker: Wendy Sharer, East Carolina University

Tuesday Workshop Leaders: Wendy Sharer and Kerri Bright Flinchbaugh, East Carolina University

 

Promoting Metacognition in the Classroom

 

Metacognition—monitoring, evaluating, and adjusting one’s own approaches to learning—is essential for a writer’s development. Our Monday evening interactive session will introduce participants to research about and fundamental practices for fostering metacognition.

 

Our Tuesday workshop will focus on two related areas: 1) strategies for helping students develop metacognitive awareness of their writing processes, and 2) promoting metacognitive pedagogy through WAC–based professional development. Time will be provided for participants to begin planning activities and assignments for their courses and/or to sketch out structures for metacognition-focused faculty workshops.

 

Conference Schedule and Format. The conference begins at 5:00 pm on Monday, September 17, and concludes at 10:00 am on Wednesday, September 19. Wendy Sharer’s Monday evening interactive keynote session on metacognition will be followed by a full day Tuesday of workshops and presentations for and by writing teachers and program administrators. Non-tenure track members and attendees are invited to gather to talk shop and make connections during the NTT Network portion of the retreat. Paula Patch will convene that group. Unscripted time will be available, too, on the beautiful mountaintop of Wildacres Retreat, with a closing session Wednesday morning. All meals are provided.

Wildacres Retreat is a low-tech, informal setting conducive to relaxing, collaborating, and learning with friends and colleagues across the Carolinas. We welcome teams or solo participants from across our region.

 

Call for Proposals. You are entirely welcome to attend without presenting, but those whose proposals are accepted will be listed on the formal agenda. This may help you advocate for travel funding. Proposals also help us plan appropriate groups and design activities around members’ goals.

 

We encourage individual or team proposals from people in the Carolinas who are working in any teaching, research, or administrative positions related to writing. We also welcome creative interpretation – and deviation – from this year’s theme of Promoting Metacognition in the Classroom.

 

Three different presentation types reflect members’ interests:

 

1. Problem:  Describe a teaching, program leadership, or research problem that you would like help thinking about with other attendees.  20 minutes includes feedback time.
2. Showcase: Share a teaching method or writing program leadership strategy that is working well at your site. Or present findings from a study you’re involved in that would interest writing teachers and WPAs. 20 minutes includes feedback time.
3. Other:  You have an idea for Wildacres that doesn’t fit either category.  Explain! Include how much time you would need between 15-60 minutes.

 

Proposals include:

 

• Names and contact information (email, phone, home institution) for each person associated with your proposal
• Type of presentation (problem, showcase, other)
• A title and brief description for the program
• Your specific goals for presenting

 

Submit your proposal by completing this online proposal form.

 

Registration and Cost. The registration fee of $220 for full-time tenure track faculty and $210 for other faculty and graduate students includes 2 nights’ lodging, and 5 meals at Wildacres, as well as all conference materials and annual voting membership in Carolinas Writing Program Administrators.

 

Deadline. Conferencegoers must register by 11:59PM Monday, September 10, 2018.

 

Plans changed? Registration will be fully refunded if we are notified by 11:59PM Friday, September 7.

 

Questions or Comments? – Contact Collie Fulford, cfulfor1@nccu.edu

 

Keynote Speaker and Workshop Leader: Wendy Sharer

 

Wendy Sharer is professor of English at East Carolina University where she directs the Quality Enhancement Plan, “Write Where You Belong.” Previously, she was ECU’s Director of Writing Foundations for six years. Her interests include composition pedagogy, writing program administration, feminist theory, and the history of rhetoric and composition. She has served as President of the Carolinas Writing Program Administrators and has just completed a term on the Executive Committees of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC).  Additionally, she is Vice President of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition (CFSHRC) and a member of the editorial boards for the journals WPA: Writing Program Administration and Peitho (the journal of CFSHRC). Now that her term as QEP Director is wrapping up, she plans to return to a research project focused on writing instruction in the camps of the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s.

 

Workshop Leader: Kerri Bright Flinchbaugh

Kerri Bright Flinchbaugh is a former high school English teacher who currently serves as the Assistant Director of East Carolina University’s University Writing Program while also working on a PhD in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication. As Assistant Director, she coordinates and facilitates faculty development on various aspects of teaching and utilizing writing in courses across the disciplines, develops and organizes programmatic assessment, and directs ECU’s WAC Academy and Advanced Academy – a series of workshops fashioned after the National Writing Project model of professional development for instructors from across the university. She also serves on the leadership team for the Tar River Writing Project. Her research and academic interests include writing studies, writing center & program administration, identity theory, transfer of writing skills, and threshold concepts in composition across the disciplines.  At this time, she is focusing on finishing and defending her dissertation.​

 

 

We are delighted to announce the results of the most recent election of Carolinas Writing Program Administrators Executive Board members! The following folks will join the Board for a two-year term beginning on January 1, 2018:

 

• At-Large Representative, North Carolina: Jan Rieman, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
• At-Large Representative, South Carolina: Jessi Ulmer, Midlands Technical College

 

Congratulations to the new Board members!

 

Candidates’ Statements

 

To Vote: If you are on cwpa@lists.carolinaswpa.org, you will receive an email with a ballot link. Voting closes Sunday, November 26 at 11:59 p.m.

 

Representatives serve two year terms from January 2018-January 2020.

 

Candidate for South Carolina At-Large Representative (vote for one)

 

Jessica Ulmer is an instructor of English at Midlands Technical College in Columbia, SC and a doctoral student in Technical Communication and Rhetoric at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX. Though she began teaching at the middle and high school level back in 2006, as she was completing her second master’s degree, Jessi began teaching at the two-year college level in Massachusetts and Rhode Island while searching for full time work. She soon joined the Two-Year College Association of NCTE and realized her love for all things two-year college. As such, Jessica has been working on an article for Teaching English in the Two Year College called “Writing about Writing at the Two-Year College,” stemming from her master’s thesis on the same topic. She has presented about this at the annual conferences for the Two-Year College Association – NorthEast chapter, the Two-Year College Association – SouthEast chapter, the Two-Year College Association – West chapter and the Council of Writing Program Administrators. An avid proponent for quality composition instruction across the Carolinas, Jessi presented at Wildacres in September 2017 about “Building Bridges” across both states in terms of English department collegiality and composition pedagogy. Since returning to Columbia, she has begun researching WPAs and department chairs at all of the colleges across South Carolina, in the hopes of bolstering SC attendance at CarWPA events as well.

 

Candidates for North Carolina At-Large Representative (vote for one)

 

Cat Mahaffey is the Associate Director of First-Year Writing and a Senior Lecturer in the University Writing Program at UNC Charlotte. She also serves as a Quality Matters Faculty Fellow for the Distance Education Department at UNC Charlotte. Cat has been an active member of Carolinas WPA for five years. Her research interests include online writing instruction (OWI), digital composition, technical and professional writing, and accessibility. Her list of professional affiliations includes the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA), the Global Society of Online Literacy Educators (GSOLE) and the OWI Standing Group of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC).

 

Jan Rieman is a Senior Lecture in the University Writing Program at UNC Charlotte where she currently serves at First-Year Writing Director. She has taught First-Year Writing for over twenty years at a number of different institutions, from small, private colleges to large, public universities like UNC Charlotte, where she has been since 2007. Her research interests include writing program assessment, translingualism, and anti-racist writing assessment. She is co-editor of Next-Steps: New Directions in Writing about Writing, forthcoming from Utah State UP. Jan has been an active member of Carolinas WPA for five years and is interested in continuing to build on the collective power of the group to affect change for good in the current landscape of higher education in the Carolinas.