Using the WPA Website

The WPA website runs on Drupal, a content management system that provides numerous document management, communication, and membership subscription services. Be sure to register and login to take full advantage of site features such as

• Through the my account interface, site members can
  • manage passwords and contact information
  • create program and institutional profiles
  • view WPA membership subscription and ordering information
  • sign up for daily email notification of new and updated site content
  • track individual participation on the site
  • enable others to contact them using a site email interface
• The community weblog on the home page allows registered site members to publicly share news and announcements about new writing programs, CFP's, conferences, interesting Internet resources, etc. Each weblog post includes comment boards where other members can discuss these announcements.
• The WPA Guide, a collection of official WPA documents--i.e. position statements and grant opportunities--and more general information about joining the WPA, the WPA Journal, and the WPA-L listserv, among others. New documents added to the guide will be promoted to the community weblog home page.
• The WPA journal archives include digital archives of WPA: Writing Program Administration dating back to 1977.
• Private forums for committee work.
• Electronic membership subscription services where new members can join the WPA and existing members can renew their membership through PayPal using a convenient shopping cart.
• WPA membership privileges such as automatic renewal notices and access to all WPA Journal archives.
• A news aggregator which collects the latest posts from other weblogs around the Web. RSS syndication for the home page and individual forum areas.

Consult the FAQ for more specific information on the WPA and some site features.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What does the WPA acronym stand for?

WPA stand for Writing Program Administration and in some contexts "Writing Program Administrator." Learn more on the About page.

How do I find out more about the Council of Writing Program Administrators?

Consult the WPA Guide. This FAQ page is in the WPA Guide. Use the table of contents structure on the right navigation area or the paging mechanism at the bottom of each page to move through the WPA Guide. Should you need to access the guide again later on, you'll find a link to it on every page in the header directly below the WPA banner.

I'm already a WPA member. How do I sign in for the first time?

1. Visit http://wpacouncil.org/user/password
2. Enter your WPA email address in the "Username" box. Your WPA email address is the one you provided to the WPA secretary when you joined. If the system doesn't accept your username, you can try entering your email address in the "email address" box.
3. The system will generate a new password and send it to you.
4. Return to the site and log-in with your username and your new password.
5. Click on the "My Account" link that you see in the right-side column of links.
6. Select "Edit" from the tabs at the top of the My Account screen.
7. Change your username and password to whatever you'd like. Most people will want to use their name as the username.
8. You can now complete other information in your profile by clicking on the relevant tabs.

I'm not a WPA member. Can I register on this site?

You do not have to be a WPA member to register on this site. However, WPA members have some preferred services and access on this site, such as access to all WPA journal archives and member forums. The Council of Writing Program Administrators is a nonprofit organization and thus needs to membership dues to continue to serve WPAs everywhere.

How do I subscribe to the WPA Journal and become a WPA member?

Select the proper membership from the products page, add it to your shopping cart, and then checkout.

How will I know when it is time to renew?

WPA site subscription services sends out a reminder email prior to membership subscription expiration. Alternatively, members can check their subscriptions via their my account page.

How do I change my password?

After logging in to the Digital WPA website with your username and password

• find the block of links in the right hand menu with your username
• select my account
• on the new account page that opens in the main content area, select the edit tab near the top
• fill in both of the password boxes under password
• be sure to select Save account at the bottom of the page

I understand I can get daily email notification of new and updated site content. How do I enable this option?

Visit your my account page and choose the my notify settings tab at the top. Enable the various settings.

I have an announcement for the WPA. How do I post to this site?

Once you have registered and are logged in, you can post a blog entry. Submitted blog entries appear on the WPA home page in reverse chronological order based on the date they were created, and, by entering keywords, your blog posts can be listed on the WPA Job Board and CFP Central pages. The process is fairly easy once you've tried it a few times. At first, you may want to review this user documentation on How to Post to the WPA Job Board for an example.

Can I post in plain text or do I have to use HTML?

When creating a story, forum topic, or other content, you'll be asked to choose between Filtered HTML (default) or Full HTML. The Filtered HTML setting is for plain text, but you may also use some HTML formatting such as emphasis, blockquotes, and hypertext links. For fancier formatting, use the Full HTML option, but make sure the HTML is well-formed. Do not use Word to generate HTML because you will find that it inserts strange and often nonfunctional code that must be stripped out later (if you want your text to display across browsers nicely).

Why, after copying my post from MS Word into the Body field, does my text contains funky characters such as ’?

Our website uses the UTF-8 character set, the international standard, which is different from the one used by MS Word. It cannot properly interpret curly quotes and some other special characters when they are pasted into the browser. You can edit your post directly in the browser and correct those characters.

My question remains unanswered. How can I get some help?

Review other support options or use the WPA contact form to send a message .

Constitution of the Council of Writing Program Administrators

The National Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA) is a non-profit, professional organization. Its goal is to provide opportunities to focus on matters attendant to the administration of college and university writing programs. Its membership includes administrators of writing programs, writing-across-the-disciplines programs, writing centers, professional writing programs, and technical writing programs; teachers of writing; researchers in rhetoric and composition; editors; and other parties interested in teaching, service, and scholarship in the field of rhetoric and composition.

A PDF copy of the constitution is available as an attachment (see link below).

Past WPA Presidents

Since 1978, the Council of Writing Program Administrators have had these presidents: 

Past WPA Presidents / Years Served

• Harvey Weiner (1979-1985)
• Winifred Horner (1985-1986)
• Linda Peterson (1987-1988)
• Lynn Z. Bloom (1989-1990)
• Ben McClelland (1991-1992)
• Barbara Cambridge (1993-1994)
• Charles Schuster (1995-1996)
• Theresa Enos (1997-1998)
• Doug Hesse (1999-2000)
• Kathleen Blake Yancey (2001-2002)
• Chris Anson (1/2003 - 6/2005)
• Shirley K Rose (7/2005 - 6/2007)

Recognizing and Remembering WPAs and Friends

These pages recognize and remember WPA members and friends who have made special contributions to the life and work of the Council of Writing Program Administrators.

Please use the "comment" feature to add your words of thanks, memories, or other tributes.