August CWPA Update

Complete Story

08/01/2024

August CWPA Update

Dear Members,

Hello from CWPA! We hope that the beginning of your semester has been smooth sailing so far. Here are the updates we’ll be covering in this email:

One Eight CREATE 2023 Cultural Assessment Report
CWPA 2024-2025 Committees
2024 Research Grant Awards
WPA Events in August and September

One Eight CREATE 2023 Cultural Assessment Report

The cultural audit completed in 2023 by the consulting firm One Eight CREATE (OEC) is part of our organizational efforts to assess the culture of CWPA so that we can make purposeful changes toward a more inclusive organization. During the fall of 2022, over 100 members participated in a survey about their experiences with the organization. During the spring and summer of 2023, OEC ran several listening sessions to gather additional information about people’s experiences with CWPA. Their 56-page Cultural Assessment Report summarizing their work and findings is now published on the CWPA website. The report offers four themes for CWPA to consider moving forward: Theme One: Belonging and Trust; Theme 2: Inclusion and Validation; Theme 3: Diversity of Identities and Experiences; and Theme 4: Equity and Implementation. We encourage all CWPA members to read the cultural audit report and to participate in the upcoming meetings, which will be led by members of your Executive Board, to discuss each of the themes.

8/30, 11am-12:15pm ET: Kelly Blewett and Erin Lehman on Theme 1
11/8, 11am-12:15pm ET: Jacob Babb and Patti Poblete on Theme 2
1/9, 11am-12:15pm ET: Talisha Haltiwanger Morrison and Michelle Bachelor Robinson on Theme 3
3/14, 11am-12:15pm ET: Darci Thoune and Daryl Lynn Dance on Theme 4
5/9, 11am-12:15pm ET: Lilian Mina and Mary Lourdes Silva on Looking Forward

Scroll to the “CWPA Events” section of this eBulletin for the link to register for the 8/30 meeting.

CWPA 2024-2025 Committees

CWPA is pleased to offer nine committees this year. Serving on one of the committees is a great way to get to learn more about CWPA’s mission and goals. Any person in the field–member or non-member of CWPA–is invited to serve on the committees. In the past, we’ve had over 80 volunteers for committee service, and we’d love to see this trend continue.

To learn more about the committees and to indicate your interest in serving, please fill out the Committee Service Interest Form (linked through the button below).

Committee Form

2024 Research Grant Awards

Congratulations to the three awardees of the CWPA Research Grant, all from Hispanic-Serving Institutions:

Scott Gage with Texas A&M University in San Antonio, "Resisting Institutional Exclusion: A Study of the Impact of Curricular Revisions on Latinx Student Writers and Their Faculty"
Jackie Hoermann-Elliott with Texas Women's University, "Believing They Are Ready: Writing Self-Efficacy among Students of Color Previously Enrolled in Dual Credit Courses"
Sarah Lonelodge, Eastern New Mexico University, "Bridging the Equity Gap: Developing a Co-Requisite Program at a Small HSI"

Many thanks to the Grant Awards Committee and co-chairs for supporting grant writers and selecting the winners:

Joanne Giordano (Co-Chair), Salt Lake Community College
Holly Hassel (Co-Chair), Michigan Technological University
Jill Dahlman, California Northstate University
Callie Kostelich, Texas Tech University
Jeanne Law, Kennesaw State University
Parva Panahi, Metro State University
Heather Shearer, University of California, Santa Cruz
Alexis Teagarden, Umass Dartmouth

All CWPA members are encouraged to apply for the 2025 Grant Awards; more information on the 2025 application process will be provided in the upcoming monthly eBulletins.

WPA Events in August and September

August 23: “Crafting Your WPA Identity in Tenure and Promotion Documents”

Facilitators: Executive Board members Jacob Babb and Darci Thoune
Date and time: 8/23/24, 90 minutes, 2-3:30pm ET
Meeting platform: Zoom
Cost to members: Free
Cost to non-members: $25.00

Description: How would you describe a platypus? In some ways, that’s what WPAs are in our institutions. We are administrators–sort of, and we are regular faculty–sort of. This workshop focuses on helping you to think about how you account for your work as a WPA within the context of your institution’s tenure and promotion guidelines. While we think this workshop will be immediately helpful for folks going up for tenure and promotion in the near future, we want folks at any stage of their career (from early tenure-track to grad students) to feel welcome. It’s never too early to start thinking about how we present our work to others in our institutions.

Click Here to Register Online!

August 30: “Cultural Audit Report, Theme 1: Belonging and Inclusion”

Facilitators: Executive Board members Kelly Blewett and Erin Lehman
Date and time: 8/30/24, 75 minutes, 11-12:15pm ET
Meeting platform: Zoom
Cost to members: Free

Description: This 75-minute conversation will unpack Theme 1 of the 2023 Cultural Audit Report. The conversation will involve the opportunity to respond to the theme in writing and discussion.

Click Here to Register Online!

September 20: “CLA for WPAs”

Facilitators: Sarah Madsen Hardy and Christina Michaud, Boston University
Date and time: 9/20, 90 minutes, 2-3:30pm ET
Meeting platform: Zoom
Cost to members: $15 if full-time faculty members; free if part-time faculty or graduate student members.
Cost to non-members: $25

Description: Critical language awareness (CLA) is a framework for addressing language, power, and difference. As a field, we’ve had many conversations about concrete interventions to bring this focus into writing classrooms through particular assignments, feedback practices, etc. This workshop will explore how we can bring CLA to our work as WPAs as well: What does it mean to center language diversity at the level of an entire writing program, one that includes both general composition courses and also courses for multilingual writers? How can we use CLA as a framework for challenging binaries and advancing DEIJ goals across an entire program? Participants will be invited to consider these questions in the context of their own programs and institutions.