MENAWCA Conference CFP 

Humans Helping Humans:

Writing Center Support across Communities

MENAWCA is excited to announce calls for our 10th Biennial Writing Center Conference. For this landmark event, the conference will be hosted by the American University of Beirut (AUB)–Mediterraneo, in Paphos, Cyprus, Spring 2027. 

MENA and European writing centers and composition experts are supporting diverse communities of student writers facing common challenges that transcend institutional, linguistic, and geographic boundaries. Education is at the intersection of multiple, overlapping crises including shifts in student identity, belonging, and academic voice. In this context, writing centers function as vital ‘third spaces’ outside of the classroom where authors pause, reflect, and negotiate their relationship to writing and expression. As communities of practice, writing centers are vital hubs of collaboration and human connection uniquely positioned to help student writers navigate complex understandings of writing and expression. By offering empathetic dialogue, writing centers provide an essential human counterweight to the isolating nature of modern technology on writers. Their human support helps students cultivate authentic voices, build resilience, and feel genuinely recognized as they engage in critical thinking and writing. They also help students engage generative AI critically and ethically, as a tool that reshapes rather than replaces human authorship. 

This conference, themed Humans Helping Humans: Writing Center Support across Communities, invites reflection on how writing centers and composition experts respond to these shifting conditions and support students’ complex needs. We particularly welcome proposals that engage with Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC), Writing in the Disciplines (WID), and multilingual writing practices. We also welcome any proposals focusing on student writers in crisis, either through disruptions, technological change, or identity-related challenges. 

We invite contributions that explore topics, opportunities, and innovations in writing centers and composition, including: 

• How are writing practices changing across disciplines, languages, and cultures? 
• What does it mean to support student writers in moments of crisis, transition, or displacement? 
• What pedagogies and practices are emerging in response to shifting definitions of writing and literacy? 
• How are writing centers responding to AI-assisted writing and questions of authorship, voice, and learning? 
• How can writing centers foster belonging, community, and human connection amid academic, social, and geopolitical uncertainty? 
• What emerging challenges, opportunities, or innovations are shaping the future of writing centers, writing programs, and student writers in your context?

Session Formats: 

1. Presentation: 1–2 presenters; 30 minutes including Q&A. This format can be lecture style, but presenters are encouraged to be interactive. 

2. Roundtable Discussion: 3–5 presenters; 45 minutes including Q&A. Thematically-informedbeforehand; self-selected into conversation and time to prepare in advance. We are envisioningthe roundtables as spaces for generating conversation organically around a theme in which theparticipants have a vested interest. 

3. Workshop: 1 or more facilitators; 90 minutes including Q&A. This format is intended as an instructional session that enables participants to attain specific practical knowledge, experience or skills. 

4. Pecha-Kucha¹ presentation: 1–2 presenters, presentations under 7 minutes designed to highlight a single opportunity or issue. Presenters will be scheduled in blocks and questions will be addressed at the end of each block. 

5. Poster presentation: Posters provide visual representations of a specific topic, issue or research study and will be displayed in the conference venue. Poster creators are encouraged to share details about their projects during networking sessions. 

6. Show-and-Tell (multi-modal/dynamic): 5 minutes. Share your work directly from your device,photographs or videos of projects or any component of your practice in this informal andconversational format. 

Submitting Proposals: 

• Proposals should be submitted online via this link: Submit your Proposal
• You will be asked to submit a presenter bio description with your proposal (no longer than 75 words). Please ensure all information is accurate and up to date. 
• Submission deadline: October 15, 2026 
• Presenters will be notified of acceptance by November 15, 2026 

Please direct questions to Ryan McDonald (Conference Chair): RM00@AUBMED.AC.CY 

Note: 

All presenters and participants are responsible for obtaining their own visas. This responsibility does not lie with MENAWCA. Invitation letters may be possible, upon request, to assist with the visa process. 

¹ PechaKuchaTM (Japanese for “chit chat”) is the world’s fastest-growing storytelling platform, used by millions around the globe. PechaKuchaTM is what “Show and Tell” always dreamed of becoming. 20 slides. 20 seconds of commentary per slide. That’s it. Simple. Engaging. Spurring authentic connections. PechaKuchaTM is the ideal tool to share passions and drop some knowledge.

Georganne Nordstrom, Isaac Wang, and I are delighted to share that the latest issue of The Writing Center Journal is live! Congratulations to the authors, and many thanks to our reviewers. To read it, visit WCJ 44.1.

**the following message was sent to IWCA members on Monday, July 27**

Dear IWCA membership:

We were dismayed to learn of the NCTE leadership’s decision to de-charter the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), which we know is a professional home for many of our own members and colleagues. We stand with members who are feeling concern and distress about what the future holds after this change. IWCA has not received any additional information from NCTE or CCCC outside of the email to NCTE membership on Friday, July 24.

We do want to clarify to our membership that IWCA is a separate 501(c)(3) organization with its own nonprofit status; IWCA’s existence is not dependent in any way on NCTE. Other than the $25 we pay for assembly status out of our annual budget, your membership dollars do not directly support NCTE as an organization. 

IWCA leadership was already in the process of reevaluating our relationship with NCTE over the past year; Friday’s decision has significantly accelerated our timeline. Nonetheless, any changes in our current relationship with NCTE would require amending IWCA’s constitution. Please know that we (the IWCA officers) are working on a proposal to send to the IWCA Board. If approved by the Board, the proposed amendment will come before you as members for a vote.

From what we understand, CCCC members are currently crowdsourcing information in this Google Doc. We will share any additional official information regarding CCCC and the CCCC 2027 conference as we receive it, and we will communicate with you about the status of the 2027 IWCA Collaborative as soon as we are able. If you have any questions or thoughts at this time, please contact President Chris Ervin (chris.ervin@oregonstate.edu) and Vice-President Maggie Herb (herbmm@buffalostate.edu).

Thank you,

Chris Ervin, President

Maggie Herb, Vice President

Katie Levin, Treasurer

Glenn Hutchinson Jr., Past Treasurer

Rachel Azima, Secretary

Sherry Wynn Perdue, Past President 

The International Writing Centers Association invites nominations and self-nominations for the following Board roles:

• Vice President (Vice President commits to 6 years of service: Two years as Vice President, then two years as President, then two years as Past President)

• At-Large Representative (3 total)

• Graduate Student Representative (1 total)

• Peer Tutor Representative (2 total)

Self-nominations for any of the above positions are encouraged. To nominate yourself or a colleague, please fill out this form by June 8: https://forms.gle/v2T2sg6FRf7DWhB89. Detailed information about these roles and their expectations are below.

The International Writing Centers Association invites nominations and self-nominations for the following Board roles

• At-Large Representative (4 total)
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• 2-year College Representative (1 total)
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• Secretary (1 total)
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• Treasurer (1 total)
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• Peer Tutor Representative (2 total)

Self-nominations for any of the above positions are encouraged. To nominate yourself or a colleague, please fill out this form by June 23: https://forms.gle/8dZ9GcTzgEsLV7Lv. Detailed information about these roles and their expectations are below.

Looking forward to receiving your nominations,

Rachel Azima
IWCA Secretary

–Requirements for Running for a Board Position

To be eligible, a candidate must be an IWCA member in good standing. The Vice President must also be current on their NCTE membership during their term of office. 

Preferred Qualifications for Board Positions

Secretary

The IWCA Secretary is a voting member of the Executive Committee and is responsible for organizing, curating, and maintaining all current IWCA records, including meeting minutes. A description of the role is in the IWCA By-laws. Candidates will ideally have excellent communication and organizational skills. One or a combination of the following experiences is strongly preferred:

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• served on the board of IWCA or an IWCA affiliate
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• held an officer role in a writing-center related organization other than IWCA and its affiliates, such as a local writing center organization
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• participated regularly in IWCA or other writing-center-related professional gatherings, such as conferences

Treasurer

The IWCA Treasurer is a voting member of the Executive Committee and, in partnership with Past Treasurer, is responsible for coordinating IWCA’s finances. A description of the role is in the IWCA By-laws. The successful candidate will serve a two-year term as Treasurer, followed by a two-year term as Past Treasurer.

The following experiences and qualifications are strongly preferred:

• is able to respond to messages quickly and efficiently 
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• should live in close proximity to a Wells Fargo branch in the U.S.
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• is organized, detail-oriented, and task-oriented
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• has experience managing finances for a department, program, or professional organization

At-Large Representatives

The At-Large position is a nice entry-point for those writing center professionals who want to serve the IWCA organization and international writing center community and to develop their leadership skills. Ideally, candidates will have one or more of the following experiences:

• has a strong commitment to writing centers as a discipline
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• has substantial experience working in a writing center
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• participates regularly in IWCA or other writing-center-related professional gatherings, such as conferences
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• has the capacity to serve on IWCA committees throughout the year and to attend IWCA Board meetings monthly throughout the academic year

Peer Tutor Representatives

These positions provide students an opportunity to serve the IWCA organization and international writing center community and develop their leadership skills. The Graduate Student Rep and the Peer Tutor Reps are expected to:

• have strong interest in writing centers as a field
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• have experience working in a writing center
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• are able to attend IWCA Board meetings and serve on committees

Commitment to Diversity of Candidates and Board Membership

IWCA is committed to recruiting a slate of candidates from a range of institutions and across a variety of identities. The IWCA Board is made richer when its elected members represent the broader writing center community, both in the U.S. and globally. We encourage nominations and self-nominations of Black, Asian American, Latinx, Native American, and Pacific Islander writing center professionals; members of the LGBTQ+ community; individuals with disabilities; writing center professionals who live and work outside the U.S.; and writing center folk at two-year colleges, secondary schools, HBCUs, HSIs, and tribal colleges.

Being an elected member of the IWCA Executive Board means having an opportunity to sit at the table when a variety of important decisions are being made that will inform IWCA’s

• conference and event planning (annual conference, the Summer Institute, and the Collaborative);
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• organizational priorities such as accessibility, AI use in writing centers, research support, writing center work outside the U.S., and values- and identity-based priorities
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• Mentor Matching program;
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• decisions about grants and awards;
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• finances;
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• and more!

 Again, if you would like to nominate yourself or a colleague for a Board position, please complete the nomination form: https://forms.gle/8dZ9GcTzgEsLV7Lv5.  

If you cannot access the Google Doc to submit a nomination, please send the following information to Rachel Azima,  IWCA Secretary,  at razima2@unl.edu:

• The name of the nominee
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• The email address for the nominee
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• The name of the position you are nominating the individual for
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• Any supporting comments you feel are appropriate

Nominations are open until June 23, 2025. After the window for nominations closes, IWCA will reach out to each nominee to request short personal statement(s) about your experience and goals. Elections will be open from September 1 through September 15. Newly-elected board members and officers will be notified by October 1, 2025.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I learn more about serving as an IWCA Board member or officer?

The IWCA Constitution and Bylaws outline the responsibilities of Board members and officers. Potential nominees can also contact any of the current officers with questions. IWCA officers will be available for a town hall Zoom meeting in late May to answer any questions, as well. Email IWCA President Christopher Ervin (chris.ervin@oregonstate.edu) if you would like to receive information about the town hall meeting.

I read that officers (Vice President, President, Past President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Past Treasurer) are expected to attend the IWCA Conference and Collaborative @ CCCC each year of their term. Does IWCA provide any financial support for officers to travel to those conferences?

Yes. While all Board members’ roles are voluntary and unpaid, IWCA Officers are expected to attend both of those events in order to participate in Executive Committee and Board retreats, be present to conduct IWCA business meetings, and help coordinate the events, in addition to other obligations. For those reasons, IWCA officers are supported financially to attend the IWCA annual conference and the Collaborative @ CCCC. IWCA provides support up to $1500 per event for reasonable expenses related to IWCA conference travel. When an IWCA officer needs to attend other IWCA-related events (the Summer Institute, NCPTW, or a U.S. or international affiliate conference), financial support is available for these events as well. The IWCA Board adopted this travel reimbursement policy on March 30, 2016.

What is the time commitment involved in the various Board positions?

The time commitment for Secretary is manageable. The most time-intensive tasks revolve around managing the elections for the organization, but this takes place during the summer. This position serves as an excellent introduction to the behind-the-scenes work of the Executive Board.

The time commitment for Treasurer is busiest during the conference seasons, averaging a few hours a week. 

The time commitment for non-officer board positions includes attending board meetings several times a year, and, as much as possible, attending IWCA-sponsored events like the annual IWCA Conference and the Collaborative@CCCC. Non-officer board positions also involve committee work, which varies based on the committee. Serving on the IWCA board is manageable for most writing center professionals and student representatives.

IWCA would like to express its heartfelt appreciation to outgoing Editors of Writing Center Journal Harry Denny, Romeo García, and Anna Sicari; outgoing Reviews Editor Eric Camarillo; outgoing Associate Editors Ghada Seif Eddine and Luz Maria Carreno; and former Assistant Editors Donald Penner and Dani Putney. This team provided leadership and labor for Writing Center Journal since taking lead in 2021. As you might have read last month in IWCA’s announcement and press release about WCJ, the new editorial team (Nordstrom, Wang, and Wynn Perdue) has been working with the outgoing team to take on the journal editorial process and publication. 

Over the past four years, Denny, Garcia, and Sicari have published 10 issues, including a forthcoming special issue on the intersectionality of second language writing research and writing center practice. Perhaps the most impactful role they played was to shepherd WCJ through its transition from a subscription-based hard copy journal to an open access publication available through Purdue University Press. Not only has this work extended IWCA’s access and equity initiatives, but it also has allowed scholars to track readership patterns across the globe. 

IWCA owes a further debt of gratitude to the outgoing team for the work they’re doing to transfer editing operations to the incoming team, in particular Harry Denny, who serves on the Publication Committee that selected the incoming team. The transition from one team to the next is work that goes largely unrecognized and unappreciated outside the small circle of current and past editors.

We wish Harry, Romeo, and Anna, as well as Eric, Ghada, Luz, Donald, and Dani, all the best as they pursue new initiatives that were put on hold while they supported the work of other writers.

IWCA Executive Committee and Board

The IWCA Awards Committee is seeking chairs willing to lead the sub-committees that will select this year's Outstanding Article, Outstanding Book, Future Leaders Awards, and Travel Grants, as well as those interested in serving as members of those committees. Committee chairs are tasked with selecting committee members, reviewing nominated texts or Future Leader applications, convening committee discussion to select winners, and presenting those awards at the annual conference this October. Committee members will review nominated texts and participate in the deliberation and selection process. The IWCA Awards Chairs will solicit nominations, provide each committee with copies of nominated texts, and guide each chair through the review and selection process. 

If you've ever wanted to have a say about which scholars and scholarship are recognized in our field, this is a good opportunity to make your voice heard! If you are interested in volunteering or have questions about the role(s), please complete this Committee Members & Chairs volunteer form.

Please reach out to the co-chairs of the awards committee, Tatiana Cåceres and Kat Bell, if you have any questions. 

Dear IWCA Community,

We are excited to invite applications for an Event Accessibility Co-Chair to begin collaborative work in July of 2025. The Event Accessibility Chair(s) will work closely with the IWCA Board and Conference Organizers to support and facilitate accessibility at IWCA events, including the Fall Conference and the Spring Collaborative at CCCC. They will also collaborate with the IWCA Accessibility Committee and serve as their most direct voice in the event planning process. 

Information about the Event Accessibility Chair role is available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bL5WY7XvO93G0OhY-kNXx3_cn1T6L8q9ojwrdwSSkbo/edit?usp=sharing. Interested applicants should email rachel.herzl-betz@nevadastate.edu no later than Monday, June 2nd.

Sincerely,

Rachel Herzl-Betz

WCA's GenAI Task Force soon will share findings from its survey of WC practitioners. Sarah Z. Johnson, Joe Essid, Genie Giaimo, Saurabh Anand, and I would like to thank the Research and Reports Subcommittee, led by Nathan Lindberg, for working to bring this critical resource to our members.

Although we are excited to share our findings, we are mindful that higher education--and the WCs within it--is under fire and GenAI is a quickly evolving landscape. The research must continue. We therefore encourage you to complete Lindberg and his colleagues' survey of the Imapct of GenAI Tools on Writing Centers. You also may want to review their previous reports:

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• 2024 Report on AI Writing Tools’ Impacts on Writing Centers
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• 2023 Report on AI Chatbots’ Impacts on Writing Centers
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Best Regards,

Sherry Wynn Perdue, Ph.D.

IWCA Past President and GenAI Task Force Co-Chair

MENAWCA’s 9th biennial conference is a platform for instructors, tutors, peer tutors, center directors, researchers and other professionals supporting student writers in the MENA region, to share innovative practices and research. We invite you to submit proposals to this year’s conference which will be hosted by New York University Abu Dhabi from 10 - 12 October, 2025.

Extended deadline for Call for Proposals is May 14th, 2025. 

Theme: Co-Creation with AI: Navigating New Horizons in Writing and Learning

Writing centers and programs focus on the writer, encouraging agency, empowerment, and self-actualization through developing not only composition but also linguistic skills. Traditionally, this collaboration exists as a relationship between the writer and the reader/tutor/instructor; however, with generative AI (GenAI) increasingly present and pervasive in composition, students are turning to these tools for support. While some are engaging with GenAI creatively and critically, many writers often rely on GenAI to generate text. As such, writing centers and writing programs are now at a crossroads of praxis, determining when, where, and to what extent GenAI should be part of composition moving forward. These considerations add to the existing complexities and nuances of academic writing, especially in the MENA region. It is necessary to consider the ways in which writers can continue to develop through voices, but now through and alongside GenAI. As practitioners, we can discuss methods and share stories to figure out how to use GenAI as a tool, moving toward co-creation rather than dependence.

Please submit your proposals at: nyuad.menawca@nyu.edu by filling out this form 2025 MENAWCA Conference - Call for Proposals