The CarolinasWPA Board has developed and endorsed a constitution in order to maintain in good standing as an affiliate of the Council of Writing Program Administrators. Members will vote to ratify the constitution in November 2014. To read the proposed constitution, visit: http://www.carolinaswpa.org/about-2/constitution/.
The proposed constitution largely reflects practices followed (and fine-tuned) by the organization since its founding in 2003.
If you have any questions about the proposed constitution, please contact a Board Member or current President, Tony Atkins.
4:00-5:30pm: Check-In | North Lodge Lobby |Light snacks will be available in the Canteen
6:30: Dinner | Cafeteria
7:45: Auditorium
Tony Atkins | Welcome & Opening Session
Mike House |“Need-to-know stuff” & the fascinating history behind The Wildacres Retreat Center
Featured Speaker:David Blakesley | “Researching and Publishing in the University”
As if the WPA’s job weren’t challenging enough! We also have the responsibility to ensure that our decisions are based on solid research from both internal and external sources, that our successes are public, and that we foster change with our results, both locally and in the WPA community at-large. How do we do it? I’ll tell the story of one dramatic institutional change in a time of crisis, how we approached the various problems faced by the writing program, and the university, and how we also pre-planned for publication of our story and the research that supported it. Jumping ahead, the presentation will then focus on the state of publishing in our field, how WPAs can find their niche, and what we need to do to ensure a bright future for research in the field.
Tony Atkins | Carolinas WPA President’s Report
9:00: Social/Networking | Canteen (South Lodge)
Tuesday, September 16
8:00am Breakfast |Cafeteria
9:00: Tony Atkins |Announcements & Agenda |North Lodge Meeting Room
Workshop Facilitator:David Blakesley: “Making Your Work as a WPA Public: A Workshop for the Carolinas WPA” (writing “charge” for the day)
The word publishing means “to make public.” For the long-term health of a writing program, there may be nothing more important than publishing your work as a WPA, as well as making the excellent teaching and writing of your instructors and students as public as they can be.
In this workshop, we’ll discuss the challenges of performing the public work of the WPA, opportunities and exigencies for publishing our own research and the writing of students and writing program faculty, the importance of managing our professional and programmatic identities, and of, in short and as Austin Kleon puts it, “showing your work.” Although it appears at first to be a daunting task, it needn’t be, and you’ll learn some secrets for building the profile of your programs, deepening the networks of collaboration in your university, and, in the end, making your job as a WPA easier and more rewarding.
10:00: Round-Table Discussions | Concurrent Session I (A&B)
Session A
Patrick Bahls | UNC Asheville| “WAC/WID on the move: Charting the Changeover from one General Education Writing Requirement to Another”
Gwendolynne Reid and Bridget Kozlow | NCSU | “Modularizing the Writing Program: Researching the Implications of the One-Credit WID Course”
Session B
Megan Hall | NCSU | Activist Mentoring and Collaborative Teaching: Reinventing a GTA Program across Tenure Lines
Jan Rieman | UNC Charlotte | “Assessment, Professional Development, and the Question of Expertise”
11:00: BREAK
11:15: Round-Table Discussions | Concurrent Session II (A&B)
Session A
Susan Miller-Cochran | NCSU | “Examining Multilingual Writers’ Perceptions of an Ideal Classroom Space”
Jessica Pisano | UNC Asheville | “Enhancing Connections: Two Service-Learning Based Approaches to Freshman Composition”
Session B
Aaron Weekes | UNC Wilmington (UG Researcher) | “Truth is Dead: A Comparison of Gorgias and Nietzsche on Language and Truth”
Collie Fulford | NCCU | “A Way Out of No Way: Program Development in Hard Times”
September 15-17, 2014 | Wildacres Retreat, Little Switzerland, NC (Directions) | $185 (includes 2 nights lodging and 5 meals)
*Proposal deadline: Monday, August 25, 2014
Photo by Kerri Bright Flinchbaugh
Conference Theme and Design
Carolinas Writing Program of Administrators is accepting proposals for its Eleventh Annual Fall Conference at Wildacres. This year, we want to celebrate the research we do as WPA’s. We encourage proposals that allow participants to present their research in different stages—from manuscript-ready to collected raw data to seeds of ideas—and that will lead to discussion about future directions that work might take. We also encourage proposals that focus on balancing a research agenda with the demands of being a WPA. As part of the conference, David Blakesley from Clemson University will provide a brief keynote and facilitate a workshop to help us consider the work we do as research by illustrating the various avenues, methods, and methodologies of publishing. In addition, time will be allotted for small group discussion so those presenting can work through their questions with attendees.
Conference Schedule and Format
The conference will begin at 5:00 pm on Monday, September 15, and will conclude at 10:00 am on Wednesday, September 17.
The format of the conference will encourage full engagement of participants from a broad variety of institutions and programs. We will mix small, working group discussions with larger presentations/conversations about who we are as writers, researchers, and WPA’s. Proposals will be accepted pending space.
Keynote Speaker and Workshop Facilitator
David Blakesley, Clemson University
David Blakesley is the Robert S. Campbell Chair in Technical Communication and Professor of English at Clemson University, where he also serves as the Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees. He is the publisher and founder of Parlor Press (http://www.parlorpress.com), now in its twelfth year. Two Parlor Press books have won the Best Book Award from the Council of Writing Program Administrators, including the award this year for GenAdmin: Theorizing WPA Identities in the Twenty-First Century by Colin Charlton, Jonikka Charlton, Tarez Samra Graban, Kathleen J. Ryan, and Amy Ferdinandt Stolley. In 2014, he became an Adobe Education Leader. Prior to joining Clemson, he served as the WPA for Purdue University’s Professional Writing Program for ten years, and, prior to Purdue, as Director of Writing Studies at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
He has authored, co-authored or edited six books, including The Elements of Dramatism (Longman), The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film (SIUP), and Writing: A Manual for the Digital Age (Cengage). His articles have appeared in WPA: Writing Program Administration, JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Composition Studies, The Writing Instructor, First Monday, Kairos, and numerous other journals and anthologies. He is also a recipient of the Charles Moran Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Field from Computers and Composition and the Distinguished Service Award from the Kenneth Burke Society.
Proposals We invite proposals from individuals or groups from schools across the Carolinas. Each proposal should be no more than 700 words and should contain the following:
* One paragraph that describes a research project you are currently working on or one you envision
* One paragraph about your intended audience
* A sentence or two about how the research writing workshop might advance your project to submission
Provide the names and contact information (email, phone, professional affiliation) for each person associated with your proposal. Be sure to title your proposal and submit it via email to Anthony T. Atkins (atkinsa@uncw.edu) and Tracy A. Morse (morset@ecu.edu) by Monday, August 25, 2014.
Titles and authors of accepted proposals will be included on the conference schedule as formal presentations or contributions. We hope this will open up travel funding for all participants. NOTE: You do not need to present to attend the conference, but if presenting will help you secure funding, we hope you will consider submitting a proposal either individually or with colleagues from your institution.
Registration and Cost
Registration Fee: the fee of $185 includes 2 nights’ lodging and 5 meals at Wildacres, as well as all conference materials.
The registration deadline is Friday, September 5, 2015 with no refunds after Monday, September 8.
Questions or Comments? – Contact Anthony T. Atkins at atkinsa@uncw.edu and Tracy A. Morse at morset@ecu.edu
In Dr. Patrick Bahls’s introductory calculus courses at UNC-Asheville, it is not unusual to see his students on trial. In addition to filling out pages of problem sets, Bahls’s students have the opportunity to live and write mathematics history as they perform a mock trial of the co-creators of calculus, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz.
While this is far from an ordinary mathematics assignment, Bahls says, “the students get into that kind of assignment because it’s fun. They get to use aspects of their creative side that they wouldn’t ordinarily access in a math class, an alternative form of expression. Getting them to write in a more conversational style can get them to really understand the ideas.”
Though Bahls teaches a range of mathematics courses at UNC-A, from precalculus to senior mathematics seminars, much of his class curriculum centers on teaching writing. Writing assignments, even in math, can help students to understand course content while giving them necessary skills they will need in their future careers. “No matter what a student’s major is, they’ll have to do some sort of written communication,” Bahls says, “whether it’s consulting work or lab work or academic study. They’ll have to communicate their ideas.”
Stereotypically, mathematics and other STEM students reject the idea that they need to learn to write in addition to learning about the specifics of their disciplines. However, Bahls has found ways around this resistance. “I am able to counter the resistance if I’m able to show students that writing really is helpful,” Bahls says. “Writing needs to be integral, not an add-on. If it’s pitched as an add-on, it’s definitely not something that gets internalized and valued. When you use writing in authentic situations, students will buy it, in that case.” He does this primarily by assigning “low-stakes” writing assignments that allow students to work through difficult ideas in conversational ways, making the concepts accessible and encouraging students to ask questions when they have them.
Faculty, Bahls says, are just as resistant to give writing assignments as mathematics students are to do them. Professors in the STEM fields often reject the idea of incorporating more writing into their curricula because they believe that they do not have the time to craft and grade writing assignments, or because they believe they are unqualified to teach it. “Not only are they not unprepared to teach writing,” Bahls says, “but they are the ideal person to teach writing in their discipline. Nobody knows better about writing in [mathematics] than a mathematician.”
Bahls recently published Student Writing in the Quantitative Disciplines, which he describes as a resource manual for faculty who want to teach writing in the STEM fields. His book responds to what he saw as a gap in educational literature. Typically, books about writing for STEM at the college level take one of two approaches: a disciplinary approach, which narrowly focuses on the products of writing in any given field, or a rhetorical/technical writing approach, which teaches writing but often ignores or only barely touches on the more specific needs of STEM. Bahls wanted his book to do both: teach necessary writing skills to college students, but acknowledge the real-world work of STEM disciplines. The book and his seminars on the subject have been well received at universities nationwide.
Bridging the gap between the STEM fields and the humanities, Bahls says, is important not only for preparing students for the workforce, but also for the world. “I think we do a disservice to our students and our society when we neglect the humanities,” he says. “Look at hiring practices, look at employers – they’re not just looking for technical skills. They’re looking for people with creativity and problem solving skills. Folks who eschew things like writing in their disciplines are doing everyone a disservice.”
Sarah Paterson is an English major at Elon University with a concentration in Professional Writing and Rhetoric. She is completing an undergraduate thesis about multicultural rhetoric in adolescent slam poetry.
Hood Theological Seminary invites application for the full-time position of Learning Commons Librarian at the Hood Library.
Position Summary
Hood Theological Seminary seeks a full-time Learning Commons Librarian. The person in this position will work with the library director to create a new Learning Commons for the seminary, hire and train writing tutors, provide reference services for both research and technology issues, assist with circulation services, assist with cataloging, and other library related tasks.
Qualifications
The successful candidate for this position will have:
An advanced degree in a related field (MLS, MA, MEd)
Experience advising academic writing
Experience with basic computer programs including Microsoft Office and integrated library systems
Familiarity with trends in educational technology and libraries
An academic background in religious studies (preferred)
At least two years of experience in an academic library (preferred)
Salary and Benefits
Salary commensurate with experience
Application Information
To apply, please send a cover letter, a resume, and the names and contact information for three professional references to
Jess Bellemer
Library
Hood Theological Seminary
1810 Lutheran Synod Drive
Salisbury, NC 28144
jbellemer@hoodseminary.edu
Dr. Anthony Atkins is an associate professor of English at UNC-Wilmington and the current president of CarolinasWPA. His work in writing program administration began while he was working on a Ph.D. in rhetoric and composition at Ball State University, when he served as a graduate assistant for their writing program, and eventually ran a writing center and a “developmental” writing program. From 2007 to 2012, he was the Composition Coordinator at UNC-W and oversaw the university’s required two-course composition program. Currently, he specializes in integrating technologies, applied learning, curriculum development, and professional development, and involving undergraduate students in research projects.
Tony Atkins with Susan Miller-Cochran at the 2014 CarolinasWPA event at CCCC.
Research, he says, can teach English students vital skills that will help them later in life. Through working on a research project, students gain an understanding of style guides, research designs and methodologies, as well as how to formulate good questions and present data in both qualitative and quantitative ways. “Paramount to being successful in any field or occupation is the ability to understand data, but even more importantly to write about and communicate data to others,” Atkins said. “Cultivating undergraduate research helps students further understand the nature of argument and persuasion and illustrates that writers and communicators have the power to control the display and interpretation of types of data, statistics, and arguments.”
According to Atkins, Honors students at UNC-W who work on undergraduate projects are doing graduate-level work. Students completing research in Wilmington’s professional writing and rhetoric/composition programs “often become IRB certified, develop (and revise) research questions, determine the best method and methodology [for their projects], and often they also learn about technologies that can help them collect, distribute, and display data and results.”
Atkins is currently working on research projects with two ENG Honors students – one with senior Tabitha Shiflett on “The Rhetoric of Fashion” which includes a rhetorical analysis of Vogue and Cosmopolitan magazines, and one with student Aaron Weekes, whose research about Gorgias and Nietzche he presented at the CarolinasWPA retreat last fall. With these projects, Shiflett and Weekes have been able to attend conferences, get involved with events for non-profit organizations, and win grants from UNC-W for conducting research.
There are some struggles to working on research with undergraduate students. “Undergraduates sometimes have a notion about what they want to do (or research) and when it does not quite work out the way they think it will, they sometimes become ‘frozen,’” Atkins says. Instead, undergraduates should be taught about research more broadly and have an open mind about what kinds of questions, methodologies, and styles they can use to conduct research, because “when things do not work out the way one thinks they will during a research project, that is often the place to begin.” Students should keep in mind that “one can research almost anything imaginable” and be open to their research going in unexpected – and compelling – directions.
Atkins notes that many professors are hesitant to engage students in undergraduate research projects due to a common lack of “tangible rewards” offered to university faculty for this type of teaching. He suggests an alternative. “I think that if universities recognized faculty who take time to teach undergraduates how to conduct research, publish research with them, or attend/present at conferences with them that it would be much more likely that university professors would involve undergraduates in their research,” he said.
Fortunately for Atkins, UNC-W encourages students to pursue research projects and often provides technology, equipment, travel funds, and even stipends for undergraduates doing research work. UNC-W also hosts ceremonies every fall and spring to celebrate student work. Additionally, they recognize faculty who take on a mentorship role in undergraduate research. “I can say, too, that this part of the job is definitely the most rewarding and the most fun I have every year,” Atkins says.
Sarah Paterson is an English major at Elon University with a concentration in Professional Writing and Rhetoric. She is completing an undergraduate thesis about multicultural rhetoric in adolescent slam poetry.
Center for Undergraduate Publishing and Information Design at Elon University
Elon University’s Center for Undergraduate Publishing and Information Design (CUPID) has been an integral part of the university’s English department for the last twelve years and primarily serves students in Elon’s Professional Writing and Rhetoric (PWR) concentration. CUPID is intended to teach students real-world skills while providing them with the resources to practice in a classroom setting. In the CUPID computer lab, students have access to desktop publishing software, as well as video and audio recording equipment. The desks are organized in pods to foster an environment of collaboration.
Each semester, three Professional Writing students are chosen to be CUPID Associates. The associates, picked based on their breadth of courses in the PWR concentration and work outside of the classroom, organize workshops for the wider campus community and assist students with technological resources available through the CUPID lab. Recent workshops have taught students how to create a personal logo, how to use the website Digication to perfect their portfolios, and how to use hidden tools in Microsoft Word.
Students can become CUPID Associates only after they have taken the CUPID Studio course, which is a graduation requirement for students completing the PWR major. The PWR curriculum intends to bridge traditional liberal arts study with real-world application, and the CUPID course is one way PWR helps students stretch their knowledge and skills in a professional context.
CUPID Associates Rachel Lewis (foreground) and Dannie Cooper (background)
The CUPID Studio course begins with lessons about how to brand one’s self, tailor a resume, and start developing a portfolio. Rachel Lewis, a PWR student who works as a CUPID Associate, appreciated the opportunity CUPID Studio gave her to develop her professional identity: “It went beyond defining rhetoric and professional writing to applying those concepts to our identities. I ended the course with the ability to explain myself as a student, put experiences behind my skills, and a solid start to a resume.”
After spending time developing students’ professional identities, the CUPID course integrates client work to give students a hands-on opportunity to work in a professional environment. CUPID Studio, like many courses in Elon’s PWR concentration, focuses on service learning. The class often partners with local non-profits and university programs to create promotional materials, plan social media campaigns, and update existing organization documents. This semester, CUPID students are creating advertising materials for the university Writing Center and the Multimedia Authoring minor, writing a new edition of the English department’s newsletter The Back Page, and updating the website for Elon’s Professional Writing Studies minor. Past service learning partners include The Conservators’ Center, which rescues threatened animal species, and Family Abuse Services, a non-profit that works for domestic violence prevention in Alamance County. Through these projects, students of the CUPID course get practice writing and editing copy, using design software, communicating professionally with clients, and developing marketing strategies.
Dannie Cooper, a junior English major and current CUPID associate, valued the chance to work with clients in a real-world situation. “CUPID Studio taught me that working with clients challenges you to approach projects in a new way,” she says. “Our client was very set on the format of one document and it required my group to change the way in which we used the CUPID technologies in order to reach this goal. It was a rewarding experience to go through and I learned how to approach projects creatively and be open to new ideas.”
CUPID Workshop on CSS and Digication
CUPID also runs a collaborative blog to show the Elon community what’s going on writing-wise on campus. The three associates are regular contributors to and maintainers of the blog, but all students taking a CUPID course are expected to write posts about their experiences working on client projects and other class activities. Previous blog topics have included undergraduate research projects, visual rhetoric, and tips for resume design.
Sarah Paterson is an English major at Elon University with a concentration in Professional Writing and Rhetoric. She is completing an undergraduate thesis about multicultural rhetoric in adolescent slam poetry.
The Carolinas WPA will host a Recruitment and QEP event at the Conference on College Composition and Communication in Indianapolis on Friday, March 21, from 8:00pm-10:00pm. Click here to learn more!
At this event, feel free to bring program or department publicity/marketing materials like brochures, flyers, CFP’s, etc. that pertain to your department’s programs. We will have space available to share such materials at the venue. Should you have interesting ideas to involve and engage your faculty in your university’s QEP (Quality Enhancement Plan) initiatives, we would like to share those as well.
Importantly, we aim to share what we do in our writing programs and highlight the strengths of the colleges and universities in both NC and SC.
