Eligibility: To be considered for a grant, individuals must be active members of a writing center in the SWCA region and must attend the 2012 IWCA Collaborative@CCCC (March 21st at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, St. Louis, MO). Special consideration will be given to individuals presenting at the Collaborative or first-time attendees.

Application Process: To apply, please send a brief letter describing your reasons for attending the Collaborative, including ways in which your attendance or presentation might benefit your institution or the SWCA region, to Mary Lou Odom, SWCA Scholarship Committee Chair, at modom3@kennesaw.edu.

Deadline: Application letters must be received no later than March 15, 2012. Grant recipients will be notified prior to the Collaborative.

For more information about SWCA, please visit http://www.iwca-swca.org/.

We have five excellent ways for you to be involved in ECWCA.  As you wait for our newsletter to be released later this week, read through this email and follow the links to see the amazing ways you can enhance your ECWCA experience.

Below are the descriptions for each opportunity.  You will find more information for each when you follow the appropriate links.

Call for ECWCA Student Editors (2 positions)

• Here is your chance to get professional editorial experience and enhance your resume.  Meet and work with members throughout the ECWCA region while honing your editing skills.  Deadline: February 26th.  (Selected editors will be notified via email and announced at the annual ECWCA conference.)  FOLLOW LINK HERE

Call for ECWCA Outstanding Tutor of the Year Award and the Tutor Leadership Award Nominations (1 award for each)

• ECWCA distributes two awards each year at our annual conference.  Whether you are a tutor nominating a peer or a director nominating a tutor, the end result is the same—we all have the chance to see the great work going on in our region.  Award recipients receive recognition and a cash prize. Deadline: February 28th.  (Winners are announced at the annual ECWCA conference.)  FOLLOW LINK HERE

Call for ECWCA Board Member Nomination (1 position)

• Here is your chance to work with a talented group of individuals on projects designed to support ECWCA.  This position is designated for graduate students and full-time writing center staff, administrators, or academics interested in writing center work.  The position is an elected position.  Elections are held during the annual ECWCA conference.  The winner is announced at the same conference.  Deadline: February 24th. FOLLOW LINK HERE

Call for 2013 ECWCA Conference Hosts

• There is no one defining aspect of ECWCA more rewarding and more important than our annual conference.  Without the hard work of conference hosts, such an event would not be possible.  Here is your chance to ensure the important dialogues held each year continue.  Host the conference at your institution and steer the conversation through the next year.  FOLLOW LINK HERE

5 for 2012 ECWCA Annual Conference Travel Award Applications (Multiple awards)

• Thanks to the generous donations received at last year’s annual ECWCA conference, we once again announce ECWCA Travel Awards.  With tutors in mind, these awards are designed to subsidize the costs associated with attending the annual ECWCA conference.  Deadline: March 1st.  FOLLOW LINK HERE

Dr. Trixie G. Smith
Director, The Writing Center
Michigan State University
300 Bessey Hall
East Lansing, MI 48824
Web: http://writing.msu.edu

Eligibility:
To be eligible to apply, applicants must be current graduate students enrolled in a master’s or doctoral program at an accredited institution, and they must be accepted as presenters at the 2012 CCCC Annual Convention. Additionally, they must be members of the Council of Writing Program Administrators. (For information about how to join CWPA, go to http://wpacouncil.org/join-renew .)

Selection Committee:
Grant applications will be evaluated by members of the WPA Graduate Committee (WPA-GC).

Application Deadline and Timeline:
Travel grant applications are due by February 24, 2012. Winners will be notified by March 5, and they will receive a check and a certificate of recognition during the CWPA Breakfast at CCCC on March 22, 2012.

Application Materials and Procedure:
Travel Grant Applications should include the following in a single PDF file:
1.) Cover Page with applicant’s name, applicant’s institution, applicant’s phone number and email address, and title of the applicant’s 2012 CCCC presentation. Also, please indicate whether you have received other sources of funding for this conference. (Applicants who do not include information about funding will not be considered.) Please do not include identifying information on any materials other than the Cover Page.
2.) A one-page Cover Letter articulating your current interests and future goals related to WPA work as well as explaining how your presentation at CCCC will contribute to these interests and goals as well as the field.
3.) Copy of your 2012 CCCC Proposal as submitted to CCCC for acceptance.
Applications should be e-mailed as an attachment to wpago1@gmail.com with the subject “CCCC 2012 Travel Grant Application.” The committee will review only applications that are submitted under this subject line. Email any questions to wpago1@gmail.com .

Register for the Collaborative here.

Download the preliminary program here.

Writing Center Activism: From Ideals to Strategies

In Facing the Center (Utah State UP, 2010), Harry Denny explores the ways in which identity politics impact writing center work. He observes that identifying such politics within the center marks only the beginning; writing center professionals must continue to examine how the “larger socio-cultural forces” of race, class, gender, and nationalism (to name a few) “commingle with institutional histories and cultures” (145). He insists that our responses to the tensions that arise from such commingling can “provide critical lessons to our colleagues beyond the spaces of our writing centers,” and he identifies such responses as the stuff of “everyday activism” (145). For Denny, understanding activism as a daily choice—or performance—creates at once tremendous potential and challenges for writing center professionals and workers.

For Linda Adler-Kassner, activism is the task of changing “the dominant story about the work of writing instruction” (2). In The Activist WPA (Utah State UP, 2008), Adler-Kassner counters widely-circulated stories in which students are deficient and writing instructors are to blame, with the possibility of alternative stories that rely on the assumptions that “everyone can write; that students are astoundingly knowledgeable about composing in contexts that some teachers know relatively little about; that schools are being put in virtually untenable situations with regard to literacy instruction; or that it might be worth questioning the criteria by which ‘quality’ is being determined” (1). To change the stories told about writing instruction, she asserts, our field must move beyond the safety of idealism to reconsider and articulate our fundamental beliefs about our work and boldly devise real strategies for change.

For many of us, activism is an ideal meant to counter the stories often told about writing center work—be it remedial instruction, improved writing skills, or improved writers (whatever that may mean)—to include more progressive, transformative, subversive, or even revolutionary agendas. And while writing center people may have strong ethical commitments to educational or civic ideals, we often feel uncertain about how to operationalize those ideals in practice. At the same time, others may cringe at the suggestion that writing center work have some sort of political undertone, viewing activism as an unjustified agenda that competes for precious time and resources in our centers. For most, the invocation of “activism” unsettles questions about our values and ethics—questions which ultimately underlie how we do our work. Denny’s and Adler-Kassner’s works challenge us to reconsider our definitions of activism, to tell new stories about our work, and to turn those stories into action. For the 2012 Collaborative @ CCCCs, we invite participants to likewise draw upon the everyday to craft different narratives about activism in the writing center.

The IWCA Collaborative @ CCCC 2012 is an untraditional (“un”)conference that will provide a forum for highly-interactive conversation and hands-on activities that allow participants to investigate the function of activism in writing center work. We invite proposals from writing center consultants, scholars, researchers, and administrators to serve as facilitators in leading discussions or activities that explore the following types of questions:

• How do we define activism? What tensions among our definitions are productive? In what ways does our field need to reach consensus?

• Should writing centers be engaged in activism? What are our ethical obligations? Is it necessary, problematic, or unavoidable to politicize our work?

• How might our interest in activism impact our tutors, positively and/or negatively? How can/should/might our tutors’ social activism impact their writing centers?

• What are our ideals? For what causes can or should writing centers advocate? Racial, gender, sexual, linguistic, ability, religious, or labor equity? Disciplinary status and just assessment? Local issues or global and systemic oppression?

• What real strategies will enable just, effective, and ethical activism? How might we ally with other units on or beyond our campuses committed to social change?

Session Formats

For this year’s IWCA Collaborative @ CCCC, we plan to experiment with a growing trend in regional writing center association conferences inspired by the “unconference” model in other fields and industries. While more traditional formats, such as roundtable sessions, are available, traditional conference papers and panel presentations will not be included. Instead, proposals that explore new modes of collaborating and making meaning will be given priority in the review and selection process, including:

• Laboratories: Facilitators use the session time with the participants to conduct an experiment or test a hypotheses (e.g. administer and discuss a survey, have participants be guinea pigs in an activity you plan to use with your staff, etc.) (1.5 hours)

• Collaborative writing circles: Facilitators guide participants in a group writing activity intended to collaboratively produce a document or materials (e.g. mission statements, petitions, position statements, letters to the administration, etc.) (1.5 hours)

• Workshops: Facilitators lead participants in a hands-on activity (rather than presenting a paper or power point) to teach tangible skills related to writing center work and activism (e.g. how to advocate for resources, facilitate intergroup dialogue among staff, or speak confidently at a faculty meeting, etc.) (1.5 hours)

• Roundtable Sessions: Facilitators lead discussion of a specific issue related to writing center praxis and activism; this format might include short remarks from between 2-4 presenters followed by active and substantive engagement/collaboration with attendees prompted by guiding questions. (1.5 hours)

• Fishbowl Conversations: Facilitators initiate a large-group discussion then rotate off the panel to allow other attendees to join in and contribute to the discussion. (1.5 hours)

• Round Robin Discussions: Facilitators introduce a topic or theme (e.g., racial justice in the writing center) and organize participants into smaller break-out groups to continue the conversation. In the spirit of “round robin” tournaments, participants will change groups after 20-30 minutes to extend and expand their conversations. After at least two rounds of conversation, facilitators will reconvene the full group for a concluding discussion. (1.5 hours)

• Research Projects-in-Progress Workshops: In facilitated small-group workshops, participants present in-progress research or assessment projects and receive feedback from colleagues in attendance in response to questions posed by the researcher. Each participant will have 5 minutes to present his/her project and 25 minutes to receive feedback and discuss it. (2.5 hours)

• Other new and engaging models! Have a format in mind that we haven’t included? Propose it (and be sure to include a description and rationale)!

The proposal process closed on October 17, 2011.

IWCA Collaborative @ CCCC Overview

The all-day IWCA Collaborative @ CCCC is an independent, annual IWCA event and will not appear on the CCCC program. The Collaborative @ CCCC focuses on providing an interactive, informal, and invigorating day for all comers. As of 2010, IWCA hosts an annual Collaborative @ CCCC and Fall IWCA conferences in even numbered years. The schedule reflects IWCA’s effort to respond to difficult financial circumstances, to reduce conflicts between spring IWCA conferences and CCCC, to strengthen writing center presence in conjunction with CCCC, and to encourage strong participation in regional conferences.

This year the event will take place from 8 am to 7 pm at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, across from the landmark Gateway Arch and 0.6 miles from the CCCC convention location. The day will be well worth the registration fee, which will include beverages, lunch, and an evening reception. Registration information will be posted on the IWCA website as it becomes available. We look forward to joining you for a great day in St. Louis!

The Crowne Plaza Hotel
200 N. Fourth Street
St. Louis, MO 63102

New! Register for the conference here.

Registration FAQs

What is the IWCA Collaborative @ CCCC?

The Collaborative @ CCCC is an independent, annual IWCA event separate from the CCCC program. The event represents IWCA’s effort to respond to difficult financial circumstances, to reduce conflicts between spring IWCA conferences and CCCC, to strengthen writing center presence in conjunction with CCCC, and to encourage strong participation in regional conferences.

What makes the Collaborative special?

The Collaborative focuses on providing an interactive, informal, and invigorating day for all comers. In place of paper presentations and panels, sessions take the form of interactive roundtable discussions, hands-on workshops, writing circles, and more.

When and where is the Collaborative held?

This year the event will take place from 8 am to 7 pm on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, across from the landmark Gateway Arch and 0.6 miles from the CCCC convention location.

What is the registration fee?

$105.00

What is included in the registration fee?

Registration includes a full day of interactive shared-experience and break-out sessions, lunch, beverages, and an evening reception.

I am presenting (facilitating) at the Collaborative. Do I still need to register?

Yes.

I am already registered for CCCC. Do I still need to register for the Collaborative?

Yes. The Collaborative is a separate event from CCCC and requires separate registration. The Collaborative is not listed as a CCCC pre-conference workshop.

I am not planning to attend CCCC. Can I still register for the Collaborative?

Absolutely!

Can I register onsite the day of the Collaborative?

No, we regret that we will not have registration capabilities on site.

When is the deadline to register for the Collaborative?

Registration will close on Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Are scholarships available to help with registration expenses?

Registered presenters will be eligible to apply for a limited number of registration fee reimbursements. Opportunities to apply will be communicated directly to presenters nearer to the Collaborative date.

Will the program of sessions be available in advance?

Yes, we expect to have it on the web in early February.

What if I have more questions?

Please contact this year’s Collaborative Co-Chairs, Laura Greenfield and Kristen Garrison, at collaborative2012@gmail.com.

Meet you in St. Louis!

To register for the 2012 Collaborative@CCCC, complete both Step 1 and Step 2 below. Step 1 provides the conference organizers with your registration information (name, institution, etc.). Step 2 allows you to pay by credit card (Visa or Mastercard only). Be sure to complete Step 1 and click the “Submit” button first (you will remain on this screen after your information is submitted). Then move on to Step 2 by clicking the “Pay for Registration” button (takes you to a secure PayPal site).

If you need to register more than one person, you will need to complete the two-step process separately for each registrant.

If you have any questions about the registration process, contact Laura Greenfield and Kristen Garrison at collaborative2012@gmail.com .

Important Links:

• Find the conference program and links to join the sessions here.
• Find directions on how to join sessions using Collaborate here.

Overview:
Two-year college writing centers are distinct for many reasons: institutional missions, student bodies, administrative expectations, faculty involvement, and funding priorities. This live, interactive, on-line conference will amplify our voices in the discussions about writing center work, without the fees or travel expenses of traditional conferences.  Presenters are encouraged to focus on one of five areas:

• Addressing diverse student populations
• Facilitating successful tutoring sessions
• Assessment and research
• Incorporating technology
• Peer tutoring in the 2-year college

Two-year college writing center directors, peer and professional tutors, and the writers who visit 2-year college writing centers are encouraged to present.  Single presenters, panels, and special-interest-group discussions are all welcome; an accompanying power point component is strongly encouraged and will be made available in an archive through the IWCA.

The conference will take place in Elluminate. The Elluminiate environment is an interactive webinar in which the speaker is visible to all participants via webcam, power point slides are visible to all participants, and live oral and written exchanges with the presenter are encouraged and possible.

Conference Wiki:
http://wc2ycwiki.pbworks.com/w/page/38449931/wc2ycwiki%20Home

This Talk Time is sponsored by the International Writing Centers Association.

We are happy to invite you to the eduhub webinar:

“Writing Centers to enhance Learning and Instruction in Swiss Teacher Education”, presented by Gisela Bürki (PH Bern) and Gerd Bräuer (ZHAW/PH Freiburg, Germany) on Thursday, June 30, from 11 AM – 12 NOON Central European Summer Time (CEST). PLEASE ALSO SIGN UP IF YOU WANT TO WATCH THE RECORDING AND DOWNLOAD THE WEBINAR MATERIALS AFTERWARDS! (signup instructions s. below)

Topic of the webinar:

Writing centers have been spreading throughout the world in higher education in the past 50 years. There are now writing center associations in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. In the Swiss system of higher education over a period of only a few years, writing centers were established in Zurich (2), Zug, Aarau and Bern. A most recent discussion under the roof of “Forum Schreiben”, an association of academic writing experts in Switzerland and abroad, indicated that there may be more writing centers to come in the near future. What makes writing centers so attractive for higher education? Are writing centers in Switzerland different from those in other places of the world? What institutional model(s) are being used? Since most writing centers in Switzerland were established in teacher education, this webinar will provide some insight in the establishment of the writing center at the University of Education in Bern. Gisela Bürki, initiator of the writing center in Bern, and Gerd Bräuer who facilitated the college steering group, will share “lessons learned” with those who are interested in further developing writing support in higher education in Switzerland and abroad.

Info & registration here:

http://www.eduhub.ch/events/webinars/11june30-writingcenter/index.html

The webinar will be presented online with SWITCHpoint Adobe Connect.

We are looking forward to your participation!

Please contact us, if you want to hold a webinar yourself, or if you have wishes for a certain topic we should present a webinar about. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome!

Kind regards,

Nathalie Roth
Rolf Brugger

Please note: This webinar will be organized in collaboration with www.international-literacy-management.org <http://www.international-literacy-management.org> .

To subscribe to the EWCA listserv, visit http://www.ewca.sabanciuniv.edu/eng/?listserv/listserv.html .

For complete details, see the IWCA SI website at http://writingcenters.org/links/iwca-summer-institute-2/ .

To go directly to the registration page at http://ltw.ou.edu/si2011/ .

To inspire participants in re-visionary thinking, we will gather at a unique venue. A renovated meatpacking plant, the Catalyst Ranch is a dynamic and funky space where modern meeting necessities meet your mom’s glorious ‘70s kitchen! Check out their website (http://www.catalystranch.com/) and be inspired to think differently about working with your peers! From possible kitchen table conversations about 21^st Century missions to round-hammock workshops on re-imagining use of space, this venue will allow us to come together to deeply and thoroughly consider the notions of revision through conversations, workshops, presentations, panel discussions, or possibly some new format we haven’t even dreamed of yet.

More specifically, at this year’s IWCA Gathering@NCTE, we invite center directors and tutors to consider the idea of REVISION[1] in terms of how we best assess, evaluate, maintain, educate, pose, posture, position, and possibly re-create ourselves in order to fulfill our missions on a daily, weekly, and annual basis. How do we keep our centers alive and active? How do we make sure that our centers challenge the status quo? How do we embrace the power or avoid the stigma of “other?” How do we help our tutors to feel like they reside in a unique place in the universe while granting them access to the rich and colorful history that is their legacy? How do we revise our present work so that we meet the needs of tomorrow? How do we reach out to our educational community to share our wealth of pedagogical knowledge? How do we envision our centers as places of educational inspiration?

Please use the following website to submit your proposal: https://sites.google.com/site/chicagoowllc/iwca-gathering-ncte

At this site, you will be asked to provide

• the session leader’s contact information
• a description of the session, including a title, 50 word synopsis, 500 word (maximum) detailed description of session including how participants will be engaged, and names and contact information for additional facilitators
• audio/visual/space needs

Sessions will be approximately 45 minutes long. The submissions will be reviewed by a committee. Not all submissions will be accepted.

Submissions are due by August 1, 2011. People will be notified by September 1, 2011 as to the status of their proposals.

Please contact the chair, Andrew Jeter (andjet@d219.org), if you have questions or concerns about this conference.

The institute offers a focused and interactive opportunity for WAC directors, discipline faculty, and college administrators to learn practical strategies for starting and sustaining a WAC program in a community college or two-year college setting.

The institute offers two threads, one for those seeking to design or launch a WAC program and another for those who have established a program and want to keep it energized and plan for its continued growth.

This experience includes a mix of plenary, workshop, panel, and discussion sessions on these topics:

• program models and design
• determining program features
• troubleshooting existing or potential challenges
• designing general education writing assessment
• ensuring effective engagement of faculty

More details are available on our new blog, The Lake Effect: a WAC Blog at http://wacblog2010.blogspot.com/p/wac-institute-for-community-colleges.html .

Registration and lodging information will be forthcoming.

Signal interest or send queries to Mary.McMullen-Light@mcckc.edu

Proposal Deadline: April 25, 2011
Conference Website: http://ncptw.net/2011-conference.html

Keynote Speaker: Brian Fallon, Fashion Institute of Technology, 2010 Maxwell Award Winner

Theme: Tutors, Tutoring, and the Teaching of Tutors

The 2011 NCPTW convention invites writing center tutors and directors to come to Miami, FL, for a weekend of sun, fun, and tutor talk. This conference aims to focus squarely on the work tutors and directors do each day in their centers. We welcome presentations, interactive workshops, and posters that explore, question, and celebrate this work.

The theme, a play on Pat Hartwell’s 1985 College English essay “Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of Grammar,” encourages participants to examine different definitions of what it means to be a tutor, events that happen during a tutoring session, and how we educate tutors. In short, we invite discussions about tutors, tutoring, and the teaching of tutors.

Here are some questions to consider:
What innovative tutoring techniques are you using?
What do you want to share with your colleagues across the country?
What are you researching?
What can people learn from you?
What’s exciting at your center?
What moments do we use as triggers for tutor education/training sessions?
This is your opportunity to share with the writing center community, and we want to hear from you!

If you have questions or need help drafting a proposal, please contact the conference co-chairs:
Paula Gillespie, pgillesp@fiu.edu
Kevin Dvorak, kdvorak@stu.edu
Shanti Bruce, bshanti@nova.edu

Registration

Visit http://ltw.ou.edu/cccc11/ to register for the Collaborative.

Location and Date/Time

April 6, 2011 – Omni/CNN Center, Atlanta, GA

Overview

The all-day IWCA Collaborative @ CCCC is an independent, annual IWCA event and will not appear on the CCCC program. The Collaborative @ CCCC focuses on providing an interactive, informal, and invigorating day for all comers.

As of 2010, IWCA hosts an annual Collaborative @ CCCC and Fall IWCA conferences in even numbered years. The schedule reflects IWCA’s effort to respond to difficult financial circumstances, to reduce conflicts between spring IWCA conferences and CCCC, to strengthen writing center presence in conjunction with CCCC, and to encourage strong participation in regional conferences.

This year the event will take place from 8 am to 8 pm at the Omni/CNN Center.  Whether you present on the program or not, the day will be well worth the registration fee, which will include refreshments, lunch, and a reception.

Theme: Fair Trade: Importing and Exporting Writing Center Work

Writing center people have long recognized that our work offers endless opportunities for learning about the literacy practices of student writers, the dynamics of teaching and learning writing, the impact of curricular and institutional formations on students’ experiences and learning, and much more. At the same time, we have also long understood that while writing center scholarship productively draws on a rich and diverse body of theory and practice—from process theory and social constructionism to postcolonial theory and situated learning—few scholars, researchers, and teachers beyond writing center studies draw on our work to enrich their own. This trade imbalance, if you will, can both impoverish the disciplines that have much to learn from our work and lull writing center people into the false belief that we must always look beyond our own centers for fresh ideas and new theoretical lenses.

For the 2011 IWCA Collaborative @ CCCC, we invite writing center consultants, scholars, researchers, and administrators to explore how we might transform the “trade balance” between writing center studies and disciplines near and far. Our invitation does not presuppose that all imports to writing center work are unwelcome or unnecessary—in fact, recently, some writing center scholars have argued that we must broaden the scope of our research beyond the discipline even more intentionally. Likewise, our invitation does not endorse an evangelical zeal to convert others to writing centered ways of teaching and learning. Rather, our invitation requires that we look critically and creatively at what constitutes writing center work in order to develop more complex understandings of how our field produces knowledge and what we do with that knowledge. In doing so, we must necessarily confront the contested binary that we have created between writing center and non-writing center practice and consider how we might more clearly delineate, broaden, redefine, or blur the boundaries of our work.

The 2011 IWCA Writing Centers Collaborative @ CCCC invites you to explore the possibilities and pitfalls of importing, exporting, or defining writing center work. As you plan to attend and to develop a session for the Collaborative, please feel free to use the following questions as starting points:

• How do we define and interpret the boundaries of writing center work? What are the consequences of those boundaries? How, why, and to what ends might we contest those boundaries?
• What fields might we “import” from? How might these imports transform our work at all levels?
• What of writing center studies might we “export”? What fields might writing center studies speak more effectively to and how?
• How might such imports and exports inform our approaches to: tutor education, collaboration and collaborative learning, consulting practices, research and scholarship, administration, program and curricular design, and more?
• What writing center orthodoxies and standard practices can and should we revision?
• In what ways can we, as scholars, think critically and creatively about the trajectory and future of our field and its discourses? Where are we headed and how are we getting there?

Program Format

For this year’s IWCA Collaborative @ CCCC,  we plan to “import” a growing trend in regional writing center association conferences inspired by the “unconference” model in other fields and industries. While more traditional formats, such as roundtable sessions, are available, traditional conference papers and panel presentations will not be included. Instead, proposals that explore new modes of collaborating and making meaning will be given priority in the review and selection process.

The 2011 IWCA Writing Centers Collaborative @ CCCC will consist of a variety of sessions, such as:

• Fishbowl Conversation: A facilitated large-group discussion initiated by featured participants who rotate off the panel to allow for other attendees to join in and contribute. (1.5 hours)
• Round Robin Discussion: A series of facilitated small-group conversations on a particular theme or topic led by featured participants who begin and wrap-up the session. Facilitators will introduce a topic or theme (e.g., responding creatively to fiscal crises) and organize participants into smaller break-out groups to continue the conversation. In the spirit of “round robin” tournaments, participants will change groups after 20-30 minutes to extend and expand their conversations. After at least two rounds of conversation, facilitators will reconvene the full group for a concluding discussion. (1.5 hours)
• Roundtable Session: Discussion of a specific issue related to writing center praxis, including short presentations by/conversations between 2-4 presenters and active and substantive engagement/collaboration with attendees. (1.5 hours)
• Research Network Forum @ The IWCA Collaborative: Facilitated small-group workshops in which participants present in-progress research or assessment projects and receive feedback from colleagues in attendance. Each participant will have 5 minutes to present his/her project and 25 minutes to receive feedback and discuss it. (2.5 hours)
• Other new and engaging models! Have a format in mind that we haven’t included? Propose it (and be sure to include a description and rationale)!

Preliminary Schedule

8 – 9: Coffee & tea; sign-in

9 – 9:20: Opening/Welcome

9:30 – 11:00: Session A

A.1 “Shifting the Boundaries: Importing and Exporting Writing Center Practices Between the University and the Community”
Elisabeth Miller, Rachel Carrales, David Hudson, Antonia Massa-MacLeod, Ann Wheeler, and Stephanie White; Roundtable/Pine/Table A

A.2 “Exporting Writing Center Best Practices/Importing Best Technologies: Improving Student Engagement in Online Conferencing Environments”
Barb Lutz, Lauren Hornberger, and David Taylor; Roundtable/Pine/Table C

A.3 “Fair Trade—Importing and Exporting Organizational Work Across Regional Lines: Regional Leaders Network, Part II”
Kevin Dvorak, Shareen Grogan, and Roberta Kjesrud; Workshop/Break out room 1

A.4 “Centering the Writing Center: Drafting the Process”
Karen Nulton and Rebecca Ingalls; Workshop/Break out room 2

A.5 “The Face of Ability: Initiating Fair Trade between Writing Center Scholarship and Disability Studies”
Kristen Garrison and Geneva Canino; Round Robin/Break out room 3

11:00-11:15: Break

11:15-12:45: Session B

B.1 “Open Education Resources and the Writing Center”
Charles Lowe, Terra Williams, and Elizabeth D. Woodworth; Roundtable/Pine/Table A

B.2 “Trading Assessment for Evaluation—Writing Center Certification and Accreditation and What It All Means”
Frances Crawford Fennessy and Diane Dowdey; Roundtable/Pine/Table B

B.3 “Everyday Activism: Conversations on Writing Center Practices”
Angela Clark-Oates, Andrea Lewis, Kim Toms, and Edie Buchanan; Fishbowl/Break out room 1

B.4 “Reading Our Research: Becoming Critical Consumers of Writing Center Work”
Steve Price, Harry Denny, and Kerri Jordan; Roundtable/Break out room 2

B.5 “Facilitating the International Flow of Ideas: Exporting New Writing Center Practices for Supporting English Language Learners”
Jennifer Halpin, Jessica Jungwirth, Garrett Strain, Camille Dodson, and Karl Eckhardt;
Round Robin/Break out room 3

12:45 – 2:15: Buffet Lunch & UnKeynote Session

2:15 – 3:45: Session C

C.1 “(Little) Five Points: Navigating the Boundaries of Graduate Student Administrative Experience”
Beth Burmester, Andrew Davis, Jennifer Forsthoefel, Oriana Gatta, Juliette Kitchens, and Alice Myat; Roundtable/Pine/Table A

C.2 “FaceTime: The Impact of Social Media on Writing Centers”
Paula Harrington, Nicole Ziemlak, Coline Delaporte, Adan Hussain, Jessica Acosta, and Samah Mahmood; Roundtable/Pine/Table B

C.3 “Cultural Rapport: Negotiating International Students’ Identities”
Joseph J. Spencer, Cindy Ruthford, and Gin Brewer; Roundtable/Break out room 1/Table A

C.4 “The Role of Editing in Writing Center Work”
Stephen Kuntz and Jared Featherstone; Roundtable/Break out room 1/Table B

C.5 “The Hinterlands of Writing Center Work”
Lisa Zimmerelli, Cynthia A. Cochran, Lane Anderson, Andrea Rosso Efthymiou, Charlotte Brammer, Erec Smith, LeAnn R. Nash, Harry Denny, Mitch Nakaue, Clay Chiarelott; Fishbowl/Break out room 2

C.6 Research Network Forum
Break out room 3 (Please note that this session will run from 2:15 – 5:30pm)

“Assessment Study of a Writing Fellows Program within the Writing Center,” Judy Artzt and Jessyka Scoppetta
“Importing New Modes of Assessment: Adopting Rigorous Evaluations to Determine Effects of Writing Center Consultations,” Karen Johnson
“The Use of Verbal Approach Techniques and their Correlation to Learning in Writing Center Tutorials,” Kathryn Raign and Kristinna Carlson
“Training Peer-Tutors: Assessing Impacts on Student Writing, Language Acquisition and Metacognitive Reflection,” Sheena Wilson and Eva Lemaire
“In Directing Speech: Constructing Stance in Writing Center Interactions,” Jaclyn Vasquez, Courtney Scarborough, Bridgette Callahan, and Elisa Johnson

3:45 – 4:00: Break

4:00 – 5:30: Session D

D.1 “Exporting Writing Center Work to Other Spaces: Solving a Trade Imbalance”
Rachel Greil, Imani Marshall, Jared Miller, and Mary Lou Odom; Roundtable/Pine/Table A

D.2 “Teaching Writing Consultants to Listen Beyond Themselves: Importing Dialogue Theory”
Nicole Munday and Sherita Roundtree; Roundtable/Pine/Table B

D.3 “Developing a Writing Center Strategic Plan: Importing and Exporting in the (Fair) Trade of Resources”
Megan, Schoen, Tammy Conard-Salvo, Laurie Pinkert, Cristyn Elder, and Elizabeth L. Angeli;
Workstations/Break out room 1

D.4 “Writing Center Practice Redefined: How a Writing Center of an American Institution in the Middle East is Constructing Academic Writing Orthodoxies”
Hanouf Aljuhail; Roundtable/Break out room 2/Table A

D.5 “Before Us: The WPA as Writing Center Director as WPA”
Joe Janangelo and Michele Eodice; Roundtable/Break out room 2/Table B

D.6 Research Network Forum
Break out room 3, Continued from previous session

5:30 – 7:00: Reception

Proposals

[The proposal process is closed. This information is retained for archival purposes.]

This year’s chairs, Laura Greenfield (Mount Holyoke College) and Karen Rowan (California State University-San Bernardino), and a committee of reviewers will select proposals based on their relevance to the theme, their contribution to writing center work, and their articulated plan for participation and collaboration with attendees. This is a competitive process; not all proposals will be accepted. Submissions should be no longer than 500 words, and they should include:

1. Contact presenter information: Please include name, title, institutional affiliation, phone number, and email address. List names/affiliations for all other presenters.
2. Description of session (proposal): Please include a) title; b) a description of the session topic, its importance and anticipated appeal to participants; and c) each presenter’s anticipated contribution. For works-in-progress proposals, please describe the nature of the project, methodologies used, anticipated stage of completion by April 2011, and types of feedback desired.
3. Format of session and rationale (fishbowl, round robin discussion, roundtable, works-in-progress, etc.): Please include a brief rationale describing why the selected session format both best suits the topic and facilitates attendees’ engagement. Please note: no proposals for traditional presentation formats will be accepted.
4. Audio/visual needs: If your session relies on audio/visual elements, please provide a rationale. We will have very limited audio/visual capabilities and thus will only be able to accommodate a select number of AV requests.

As you prepare your proposals, we encourage you to contact either or both of the chairs with any questions or concerns you may have about session topics or formats.

Email proposals (WORD DOC) to both chairs by Friday, November 12 Wednesday, November 24 (deadline has been extended). Chair emails are lgreenfi@mtholyoke.edu and krowan@csusb.edu. Proposers will be informed of their program status by mid-December. We look forward to joining you for a terrific day in Atlanta.



We hope leaders from each writing center region will join together at this important event to share ideas for creating localized professional development opportunities and for fostering growth among regional writing center communities. RLN participants, working individually and collaboratively, will create action plans for writing center professionals and regional associations to collaborate with each other on a more regular basis.

For more information about the IWCA Regional Leaders Network, feel free to contact the session leaders:

Kevin Dvorak, St. Thomas University (kdvorak@stu.edu);

Shareen Grogan, National University (sgrogan@nu.edu);

Roberta Kjesrud, Western Washington University (Roberta.Kjesrud@wwu.edu).

For general information about the IWCA Collaborative@CCCCs, please visit: http://writingcenters.org/2011/02/iwcacccc-collaborative/.

Registration for the Collaborative is $105 and includes morning coffee/tea, full lunch, and an evening reception, in addition to a full day of fabulous sessions. You can access the registration page from the IWCA homepage or directly at http://ltw.ou.edu/cccc11/.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Best,
The Regional Leaders Network Task Force

The Chicagoland Organization of Writing, Literacy, and Learning Centers (COWLLC) is proud to announce its 2011 Tutor Conference!

Conference Overview

NOTE: We are extending our deadline for proposals for the March 4th Tutor Conference! Please have proposals submitted by January 10, 2011. We hope that will give you enough time to work with your tutors. Remember that we want our conference to have a wide array of sessions and learning opportunities. Submit here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/d219.org/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEQtcWptQVpma29sWUc0SmlKZTM4V0E6MQ#gid=0.

The 2011 Tutor Conference will be an opportunity for tutors to come together to share with each other their best practices, team building exercises, and experiences.

The conference is also designed for college and university tutors to come share what it is like to be a tutor in the post-secondary context and to recruit high school tutors to their institutions. It will be a day of sharing and learning.

The Call for Tutor Presentations

Our theme for this conference is Coming Together: Unlocking Our Potential as Tutors.

As we have all come to learn, in order to become better peer tutors, we need to practice our tutoring as often as we can. We have also learned that in order to create a center that thrives, we need to create a team of tutors who makes our spaces inviting and exciting.

For high school tutors, this conference gives you the opportunity to collaborate with your peers who tutor in many different settings. You will get to share what you have learned as a peer tutor and to learn from your peers about their experiences with tutoring and team building.

For college and university tutors, this will be a unique opportunity for you to encourage young people to continue to be educational advocates and to promote your institutions of higher learning.

Click here to learn more about COWLLC and the Tutor Conference and to submit a proposal! <https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/d219.org/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEQtcWptQVpma29sWUc0SmlKZTM4V0E6MQ#gid=0>

We look forward to your submission!

East Central

Date
March 3-5, 2011

Location
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI

Conference Chair
Kim Ballard

Proposal Deadline
December 13, 2010; Acceptance Notification by Jan 10, 2011

Keynote Panel
Brian Huot, Kent State University
William Macauley, The College of Wooster
Ellen Schendel, Grand Valley State University
Michael M. Williamson, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Theme
Centering Assessment: Roles, Relationships, Respect, Resistance

Website: http://www.ecwca2011atwmu.com/

Additional Information about the conference: This conference is the first writing centers conference focused on writing center assessment.  We will have a distinguished panel of current and former writing center directors who are also writing assessment and/or writing center assessment scholars. They include

Brian Huot, who is currently a Professor of English and Writing Program Coordinator at Kent State University. A former Director of the Writing Center at the University of Louisville, Brian is the author of the Guide to College Writing Assessment (with Peggy O’Neill and Cindy Moore), Assessing Writing: A Critical Sourcebook (edited with Peggy O’Neil), and (Re) Articulating Writing Assessment for Teaching and Learning among other books.  He is a contributing scholar to the literature on the teaching and assessing of writing and has served as consultant for various institutions. He is currently a member of the NCTE Consulting Network.

William “Bill” Macauley is an Associate Professor and the Director of Writing at the College of Wooster.  He has also served as Associate Professor and Writing Center Director at Purdue University Calumet and at Mount Union College.  Dr. Macauley and Nicholas Mauriello are co-editors of Marginal Words, Marginal Work? Tutoring the Academy in the Work of Writing Centers, which won the International Writing Centers Association Scholarship Award for Best Book in 2007. Bill serves on the Executive Board of the International Writing Centers Association and is a founding member of the Northeast Ohio Writing Centers Association.

Ellen Schendel is an Associate Professor of Writing and Director of the Fred Meijer Center for Writing and Michigan Authors at Grand Valley State University.  She has authored publications in the field of writing assessment, and she served as the Assistant Director of the Composition Program at the University of Louisville from 1999-2000.  Ellen has been on the ECWCA Executive Board and on the International Writing Centers Association Executive Board as a regional representative. She currently serves on the editorial board of WPA: Writing Program Administration.

Michael Williamson is a Professor of English at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.   His contributions to the writing instruction and assessment fields include Validating Holistic Scoring for Writing Assessment: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations (co-edited with Brian Huot) and Writing across the curriculum: Bibliographies and indexes in education (with Chris Anson and John Schwiebert).  He also co-chaired, with Lee Masiello, the 1988 East Central Writing Centers Association conference, “Collaborative Pathways.”

European Assoc. for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW)

Date
Wednesday 29th June – Friday 1st July 2011

Location
University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
Hosted by the Regional Writing Centre in conjunction with the Centre for Teaching and Learning, UL

Conference Organisers
Íde O’Sullivan and Lawrence Cleary
Regional Writing Centre, University of Limerick

Proposal Deadline
January 10, 2011

Keynote Speakers
Prof. Peter Elbow, Professor of English Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Dr. Katrin Girgensohn, Writing Center Director, Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)
Prof. Sarah Moore, Associate Vice President Academic, University of Limerick

Theme
The Role of the Student Experience in Shaping Academic Writing Development in Higher Education

Website
http://www.ul.ie/rwc/eataw2011/

About EATAW and the Conference
EATAW is a scholarly forum which seeks to bring together those involved or interested in the teaching, tutoring, research, administration and development of academic writing in higher education in Europe.

The 2011 EATAW conference invites all those interested in academic writing development in higher education to contribute to the discussion on enhancing the quality of the student experience through writing. Enhancing the student experience is central to the vision and mission of most higher-education institutions in Europe and beyond. How both undergraduate and postgraduate students experience academic writing has a major impact on the students’ participation in academic and disciplinary environments and on the development of their identity. Writing programmes and initiatives that actively engage students in the practices of their academic communities can enhance the quality of the student learning experience.

Contributions addressing writing developments which attempt to respond to the student experience will be welcome. The conference will be a place to reflect on practices that aim to enhance the learning experience of both undergraduate and postgraduate student writers across and within the disciplines (for example, WAC/WID initiatives). Such reflections may also extend to programmes which aim to enhance staff/academics’ writing development.

Mid-Atlantic

Date
Saturday, April 16, 2011

Location
West Chester University, West Chester, PA

Conference Chair
Margaret Ervin

Proposal Deadline
January 17, 2011

Keynote Speaker
TBA

Theme
The Writing Center and the Campus Context

Call for Proposals
The conference theme “The Writing Center and the Campus Context” is intended to elicit conversation about the ways writing centers affect and are affected by their institutional context. We wish to serve the MAWCA membership by enabling conference attendees to share vision and language that will be helpful and practical in arguing for the vital importance of writing centers to the multiple institutions we serve. While the following list embraces a wide range of topics and ongoing scholarly interests, preference will be given to proposals that explicitly address the conference theme.

* Students’ Needs and Expectations
* Institutional Recruitment and Retention Efforts
* Fiscal Constraints
* Institutional Mandates for Outcomes Assessment
* Relationships with English Departments or Writing/Composition Programs
* Developmental Tutoring
* The Context of Campus Leadership

Session formats include:
* Presentations of 20-40 minutes
* Roundtable or panel discussion sessions of 10 minutes per presenter
* Workshops of 40 minutes (with audience participation)
* Poster Sessions

Proposals should be submitted electronically to mawca2011@gmail.com, and should include the following:
1. Presentation Title
2. Session Format
3. Name(s) of presenter(s)
4. Contact information
5. Institutional affiliation
6. 50-word description (for inclusion in conference program)
7. 250-word abstract referencing relevance to conference theme
8. If submitting a full panel (3 presenters) include 50-word panel discription.

Questions, comments, or concerns should be directed to Dr. Margaret Ervin, Conference Chair, at mervin@wcupa.edu.

Website
http://www.wcupa.edu/_academics/writingcenter/MAWCA/default.asp

Middle East-North Africa

Second bi-annual MENAWCA Conference will be held at the American University of Sharjah (AUS) on Feb 17 and 18th, 2011. CFP at http://www.aus.edu/conferences/wca2011/index.php. Submission deadline is November 1, 2010.

Midwest

Website: http://writing.wisc.edu/mwca2011

Date
October 20-22, 2011

Location
The Pyle Conference Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Conference Chairs
Angela Woodward, Edgewood College
Sarah Johnson, Madison College
Emily Hall, Terry Maggio, Melissa Tedrowe, Nancy Linh Karls, and Brad Hughes, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Proposal Deadline
Friday, March 11, 2011

Extended to March 25, 2011

Keynote Speaker
Professor Eric Darnell Pritchard, Department of Rhetoric and Writing, University of Texas at Austin

Theme
On the Isthmus

Proposal Submission
Proposals, which include a 50-word abstract and a 500-word narrative description, will undergo blind review. Proposals should be submitted using the “proposal submission” feature at https://c4w.cla.umn.edu/mwca . Proposals should be as specific as possible about the role of the presenters, the participation of others in attendance, and the contribution the session makes to writing center studies. The conference website (coming soon) includes annotated samples of successful proposals from previous MWCA conferences.

Questions about the call for proposals may be directed to Katie Levin, Chair of the Executive Board of MWCA and Assistant Director of the Center for Writing at the University of Minnesota, kslevin@umn.edu, 612.624.7720.

Download the full CFP here.

Northeast

Date
Saturday, March 12th and Sunday, March 13th, 2011

Location
Southern New Hampshire University, Hooksett, NH

Conference Chair
Kerry Rourke

Proposal Deadline
December 1, 2010

Keynote Speaker
Harry Denny, St. John’s University, NYC

Theme
The Writing Center as Community Garden

Call for Proposals
Like a community garden, much of the work done in the writing center involves similar shared acts of preparing, planting, cultivating and harvesting. Writing centers and community gardens are sites where diverse groups of people devoted to a common cause work together.  They create life, through physical effort, education, sharing, volunteerism, and continuous efforts to improve their own processes and products. The theme of this year’s conference, The Writing Center as Community Garden, provides us with new ways to look at our work through this metaphor and framework.

We enthusiastically call for tutors, administrators and students of writing centers to explore the metaphor of the community garden and its connection to writing centers, including the seeds we plant; the growth we nurture; the pests we control; the benefits we reap; and the transformations we see. We invite proposals for workshops, roundtable discussions and panel presentations.

To view the full CFP, visit our new website, http://www.northeastwca.org.

Submit your proposal by December 1, 2010, electronically to the chair of the NEWCA Proposal Reading Committee, Kathryn Nielsen-Dube, at NielsenDubeK@Merrimack.edu.

For other questions related to the conference, email the NEWCA chair, Kerry Rourke, at krourke@babson.edu.

Northeast Ohio Writing Centers Association

Updating ur Status: The 21st Century Writing Center

Date
Saturday, October 16, 2010
9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Location
Stark State College of Technology

Call for Proposals
Every Writing Center is a community unique to the populations we serve. However, one thing we have in common is technology. We email, IM, facebook, and tweet. We develop PowerPoints, webpages, and podcasts. Not only are Writing Centers jumping onto the technology bandwagon, but students are as well. They’re creating videos, visual arguments, and multimodal compositions, and they’re bringing them to the Writing Center. Because technology is becoming a more centralized aspect of what we do, it’s important to take a step back and assess the implication of its integration as well as share, explore, and develop new ways to take advantage of this ever-growing element of our work. This year’s NEOWCA conference will provide the opportunity to do just that – share, explore, and develop new ways to update our status and redefine who we are as tutors, Writing Centers, and advocates of literacy.

We invite proposals that focus on how you and your colleagues work with technology and how this work impacts tutors, students, and/or faculty. We will accept proposals for: 15-minute individual presentations 45-minute panels or roundtables 90-minute workshops.

These sessions should be interactive and invite participation from the audience. Please refrain from reading whole papers during your presentation. Feel free to consider the following topics: etutoring, synchronous and asynchronous Social networking – Twitter, Facebook, My Space, Second Life, etc. Technology and literacy Multimodalities in the Writing Center Digital natives and digital immigrants Training Social, virtual, and professional persona Outreach.

The deadline for proposals is midnight, September 12, 2010. Please send your proposal with the subject line “NEOWCA Proposal,” and include the text of your proposal in the body of your email in addition to including it as a Word or Rich Text format attachment. Anyone proposing or participating in a potential session must register for the conference.

Proposals and/or questions should be sent to:

Leah Schell-Barber, Writing Center Coordinator

LSchell@starkstate.edu

Stark State College of Technology

(330) 494-6170-4863

Rocky Mountain

Date
April 1-2, 2011

Location
Westminster College, Salt Lake City, UT

Conference Chair
Chris LeCluyse

Proposal Deadline
January 14, 2011

Plenary Address by
Tiffany Rousculp, “Growing Out of the Writing Center”

Theme
Writing Centers Come of Age

Call for papers available on the conference website at http://www.westminstercollege.edu/rmptc

South Central

Date
February 17-19, 2011

Location
The University of Houston-Clear Lake & South Shore Harbor Resort, Houston, TX 77058

http://www.uhcl.edu/writingcenter
http://www.sshr.com

Conference Chair
Chloé Diepenbrock, Writing Center Director, University of Houston-Clear Lake, Diepenbrock@uhcl.edu

Proposal Deadline
October 01, 2010. Please use online proposal form at http://ualr.edu/scwca/

Keynote Speaker
Dr. Lisa Ede, Oregon State University

Theme
Connect and Reflect

Call for Proposals
In keeping with the conference theme of Connect & Reflect, we invite proposals that consider and explore the connections we make as writing center professionals.  How do we join old things in new ways, making connections between theories, practices, programs, facilities, and colleagues?  How do we use reflection to revise these connections, purposefully rethinking what we do and how we do it?

Proposal form and registration information can be found at http://ualr.edu/scwca/2011%20Conf%20Website/index.html

Southeastern

Date
February 17-19, 2011

Location
The University of Alabama <http://www.ua.edu/>
Tuscaloosa, AL

Chair
Luke Niiler <mailto:lpniiler@ua.edu> , Director of the University Writing Center, The University of Alabama

Proposal Deadline
October 15, 2010
Email to Luke Niiler  <mailto:lpniiler@ua.edu>

Keynote Speaker
Elisabeth Piedmont-Marton
Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX

Theme
Turning the Tide

CFP: After four decades of the “modern” Writing Center, we are awash in tides of tired thinking, ways of seeing and being that we need to move beyond so that we can move forward. For example, we often claim to understand Writing Center work as “local”; we privilege “the writer, not the writing”; we view outreach as vital; we see connections between tutoring and teaching; we struggle with how to teach sentence-level topics. While these ideas do contain some valuable truths, they are also shopworn. SWCA 2011, then, is an opportunity to turn this tide, an invitation to think anew about what we do. The conference program will feature select, high-quality presentations that interrogate current conceptions of Writing Center work and extend our theory and practice in fresh, provocative, and compelling ways.

We invite proposals for 15-20 minute individual presentations, 45-minute panels or round tables (3-4 people), and 90-minute workshops (3-4 people). All proposals will be reviewed for relevance and quality; submission will not guarantee acceptance. If a submission is rejected, we will work with potential presenters to revise for resubmission.

Sample topics, proposal form and registration information can be found at http://iwca-swca.org/Conferences.html.

Southern California

Date
February 26th, 2011

Location
Riverside City College, Riverside, CA

Conference Coordinator
Denise Kruizenga-Muro

Proposal Deadline
November 30th, 2010

Theme
The Lay of The Land: Surveying Writing Center Geography

Call for Proposals
A unique feature of California is its diverse natural geography (oceans, lakes, rivers, deserts, mountains, glaciers, grasslands, volcanoes, beaches, swamps, forests). Environmental geography is a growing interdisciplinary field that combines geography with the social sciences. More specifically, it investigates relationships between physical geography (the natural environment) and human geography (how space is created, examined, and managed by humans and/or how humans influence the space(s) they occupy). Writing centers embody a dynamic, rich, diverse environment within their institutions. We ask participants to consider the geography of writing centers, provoking both literal and metaphorical questions about the relationships between writing center spaces (physical, institutional, ideological, theoretical) and the people within (and outside of) them.

Proposals must include:

• Title
• Topic/Question you would like to explore/Goal for your session
• How you will generate discussion in your session
• 250 words
• Because this is a workshop, please present anything you would like other participants to see in the form of a handout you will provide. Please bring 40 copies to share.

Registration fees: $20 per student, $25 per director, payable to SoCal WCA

Mail to:
Corrine Hinton
Learning Enhancement Center
University of La Verne
1950 Third Street
La Verne, CA 91750

For information on how to submit proposals, please visit http://www.socalwritingcenters.org/. For other questions, please contact the Conference Coordinator, Denise Kruizenga-Muro, at Denise.Kruizenga-Muro@rcc.edu

Northern California

Date
April 2, 2011

Time
9:00am-2:00pm

Location
UC Berkley Student Learning Center

Conference Coordinator
Sheryl Cavales Doolan

About the Conference
The 2011 NCWCA Salon
A Regional Meeting of Writing Center Administration

Come meet other Northern California writing center directors and coordinators at this half-day meeting where we will talk about common problems, share successes, and collaborate to find innovative solutions to the challenges we face with the State budget. Following the un-conference model, the Salon will feature break-out discussions on topics such as:

• Morale boosters – staying positive during hard times
• Dealing with budget cuts
• Writing center assessments
• Tutor training ideas
• Collaborating with other campus departments

Registration fees: $25, payable to NCWCA
Sorry, but we are unable to accept credit cards or purchase orders.

Complete Registration form, enclosed with a check payable to NCWCA, and  Mail to:

Sheryl Cavales Doolan, English Department
Santa Rosa Junior College
1501 Mendocino Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95401

Pacific Northwest

TBA

Japan

Writing Center Symposium in Japan in March 2011.

We are now announcing the Call for Proposals, in English or Japanese, for the 3rd Japan Writing Center Symposium, which will be held on March 9, 2011 at Kanda Institute of Foreign Languages in Tokyo. There are two main themes. ‘Nuts & Bolts’ will look at the practical side of setting up and running a successful writing center, while ‘Issues & Ideas’ will look at some of the academic issues that concern writing centers. Proposals for workshops (60 minutes), research papers (25 minutes) and Poster Sessions should be sent by February 1 to Herman Bartelen at herman-b@kifl.ac.jp

東京の神田外語学院にて2011年3月9日に開かれる第三回ライティングセンターシンポジュームに向けての英語あるいは日本語の提案書を現在募集しております。　テーマは2つあり、「Nut & Bolts」は成功するライティングセンターの構築と運営の実務的側面を考察します。　「Issues & Ideas」はライティングセンターに関するいくつかの学問的問題について考察します。　ワークショップ(60分)、研究報告(25分)、そしてポスターセッションの提案書は2月1日までにE-メールにてHerman Bartelen 宛 herman-b@kifl.ac.jpへ お送り下さいます様お願い申し上げます。

Conference Overview

NOTE: We are extending our deadline for proposals for the March 4th Tutor Conference! Please have proposals submitted by January 10, 2011. We hope that will give you enough time to work with your tutors. Remember that we want our conference to have a wide array of sessions and learning opportunities. Submit here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/d219.org/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEQtcWptQVpma29sWUc0SmlKZTM4V0E6MQ#gid=0.

The 2011 Tutor Conference will be an opportunity for tutors to come together to share with each other their best practices, team building exercises, and experiences.

The conference is also designed for college and university tutors to come share what it is like to be a tutor in the post-secondary context and to recruit high school tutors to their institutions. It will be a day of sharing and learning.

The Call for Tutor Presentations

Our theme for this conference is Coming Together: Unlocking Our Potential as Tutors.

As we have all come to learn, in order to become better peer tutors, we need to practice our tutoring as often as we can. We have also learned that in order to create a center that thrives, we need to create a team of tutors who makes our spaces inviting and exciting.

For high school tutors, this conference gives you the opportunity to collaborate with your peers who tutor in many different settings. You will get to share what you have learned as a peer tutor and to learn from your peers about their experiences with tutoring and team building.

For college and university tutors, this will be a unique opportunity for you to encourage young people to continue to be educational advocates and to promote your institutions of higher learning.

Click here to learn more about COWLLC and the Tutor Conference and to submit a proposal! <https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/d219.org/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEQtcWptQVpma29sWUc0SmlKZTM4V0E6MQ#gid=0>

We look forward to your submission!

The University of New Hampshire at Manchester is seeking candidates for the position of Director of the Center for Academic Enrichment (CAE), a comprehensive learning center providing reading, writing, mathematics, study skills, tutoring, and academic support programming. (View information about the CAE at: http://unhm.unh.edu/current-students/academic-support-services/center-for-academic-enrichment/index.php ) The Center for Academic Enrichment is affiliated with the National Association for Developmental Education, the Learning Assistance Association of New England, the New England Writing Centers Association, and the College Reading and Learning Association. The UNH Manchester tutor training program is certified by the College Reading and Learning Association. The CAE supports student learning within and across the disciplines to foster student academic success. The CAE and its Director are integral parts of the curriculum and critical to the academic mission of the college.

UNH Manchester is the sixth college of the University of New Hampshire. As the urban campus of the University of New Hampshire, UNH Manchester provides access to public higher education for people who live and work in the greater Merrimack Valley. Located in the heart of the I-93 corridor, UNH Manchester is a vital part of the educational, economic, and cultural life of central and southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts, serving the needs of a diverse urban population and bringing the resources of the state’s flagship university to the urban center. UNH Manchester is committed to the economic growth and welfare of the region, encouraging students to connect their work in the University with their lives in the community.

UNH Manchester offers selected liberal arts and professional degree programs at the associate and baccalaureate levels and makes available graduate programs offered by the University of New Hampshire; serves a wide variety of students: full-time and part-time, traditional and nontraditional and other students with diverse needs; actively strives to identify, recruit, and retain students, faculty, and staff from under-represented groups; maintains a small student/faculty ratio; and encourages and supports research and scholarship by the entire UNH Manchester community. The Director position is a 12-month professional/ administrative/ technical position with teaching responsibilities and reports to the Assistant Dean of Academic Student Services. Successful candidates will be expected to:

• Oversee the daily operations of the Center for Academic Enrichment including: supervise, evaluate, and foster professional growth of professional staff including Associate Director, professional science tutor, and administrative assistant; hire, teach, train, supervise, and evaluate the undergraduate peer writing tutors and the professional writing tutors.
• In collaboration with library faculty, oversee training of peer tutors for library mentor program.
• With Associate Director of the Center oversee CRLA re-certification and oversee budget and staff schedules.
• Provide direct service to students and faculty including: advise students, tutor students in reading and writing across the disciplines, create and deliver academic skills workshops, and provide services for students with disabilities. Liaison with college faculty for writing support and supplemental instruction.
• With Associate Director team teach Tutor Development course every semester.
• In collaboration with the Director of the First Year Writing Program, coordinate, administer, and score the reading and writing assessments and make recommendations for course placement. Serve on college-wide standing committees.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Evening hours expected.

Minimum Qualifications M.A. in English/focus in writing or comparable. Ph.D. preferred in education or English composition and rhetoric. Five years experience in academic support at the post-secondary level. Two years experience in management/leadership position in academic support.

Preferred Qualifications Successful candidates will demonstrate: Knowledge of learning theory Prior teaching, classroom experience or comparable Excellent communication skills which allow him/her to work with diverse student populations, faculty, and staff Experience working with ESOL students and students with disabilities Experience with electronic course management system (Blackboard) Excellent organizational skills Commitment to student success Review of applications will continue until December 15 January 26, 2011 (extended). Hiring is contingent upon eligibility to work in the United States and proof of eligibility will be required upon acceptance of an employment offer. Anticipated start date of June 2011. Background check required prior to
employment. If interested please submit a cover letter, resume/CV including references with contact information, and statement of learning center philosophy, including teaching philosophy at https://jobs.usnh.edu.

The University of New Hampshire is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access/Affirmative Action institution. The University seeks excellence through diversity among its administrators, faculty, staff, and students. The university prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, veteran status, or marital status. Application by members of all underrepresented groups is encouraged.

The full program is ready to download here (file size: 10 megabytes).

November 4-6, 2010 Baltimore, Maryland
At the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel

Welcome to IWCA-NCPTW 2010

The International Writing Centers Association and the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing invite you to be a part of this coming year’s joined conference to be held on November 4-6, 2010 in Baltimore, Maryland, at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel, just blocks from Baltimore’s beautiful Inner Harbor.

Hosted by the Mid-Atlantic Writing Centers Association, the conference will once again provide members of IWCA and NCPTW an opportunity to congregate and share innovative ideas, programs, tools and research critical to writing centers and writing studies.  To that end, the conference welcomes undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals from writing centers and writing programs from a variety of institutions: universities, colleges, two-year colleges, secondary schools and community centers.

What better place to hold this gathering than Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, one of the major seaports in the United States since the 1700s, one that has become the vibrant cultural center of Baltimore. With the conference hotel only blocks away from attractions such as the National Aquarium, the Maryland Science Center and new Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, not to mention dozens of restaurants, shops and attractions, attendees will find the location to be an ideal conference venue.

We look forward to seeing you in Baltimore!

URL: http://www.mawcaonline.org/iwca/index.html

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=114007828617602&ref=search&sid=0BtCPzxU-TpY1u8MO5KT4A.1078765252..1