The Council of Writing Program Administrators is a national association of college and university faculty with professional responsibilities for (or interests in) directing writing programs. Members include directors of freshman composition, undergraduate writing, WAC/WID/CAC, and writing centers, as well as department chairs, division heads, deans, and so on.
WPA publishes a journal and newsletter, holds an annual workshop and conference, makes grants and awards, develops position statements, offers consulting and program evaluation, and fosters extensive discussions about college writing and writing programs.
Faculty and graduate students with professional interests in writing program administration are cordially invited to join WPA.
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
Consult the FAQ for more specific information on the WPA and some site features.
You can also contact the WPA directly from this website
Questions or suggestions about the mission, activities, or initiatives of the organization:
Linda Adler-Kassner
President
English Department
Eastern Michigan University
612 Pray-Harrold
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Office Phone: (734)487-4220
linda.adler-kassner@emich.edu
Questions about Joining, Membership Status, Subscriptions to WPA: Writing Program Administration
Keith Rhodes
Secretary, WPA
312 Lake Ontario Hall
Grand Valley State University
Allendale, MI 49401
rhodekei@gvsu.edu
WPA: Writing Program Administration (official journal of the WPA)
Articles and Editorial Correspondence
Email: journal@wpacouncil.org
OR
Alice Horning
Department of Writing and Rhetoric
378 O'Dowd Hall
Oakland University
Rochester, MI 48309
Phone: 248-370-4134
Email: horning@oakland.eduBook Reviews
Ed White
Email: emwhite@u.arizona.eduAdvertising
Susan Miller-Cochran
Advertising Manager, WPA
English Department, North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC, 27695
E-mail: susan_miller@ncsu.edu
Consultant Evaluator Service
Deborah H. Holdstein, PhD
Dean, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Columbia College Chicago
33 E. Congress, Suite 518
Chicago, IL 60605
Office Phone: 312.344.8219
Fax: 312.344.8403
dholdstein@colum.edu
Call for Proposals: WPA Institutional Home
The Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA) invites proposals from colleges and universities wishing to serve as the organization’s institutional home. This is a terrific opportunity for an institution to gain visibility and provide professional development opportunities for faculty and graduate students.
While the ideal starting date will be no later than March 2009, WPA will negotiate the beginning date with the successful institution. The agreement will be through July 2012, with the option of continued renewals with the consent of both parties.
Basic Responsibilities of the WPA Institutional Home
1. Provide the function of WPA Secretary, including maintaining current and historical membership records (which include current contact information and membership status), and coordinating and tallying votes of the membership and the Executive Board via the WPA web site in collaboration with the Digital WPA coordinator. Handle reprint permissions related to WPA publications and position statements.
2. Provide the function of WPA Treasurer, including collecting, depositing, investing, and keeping secure membership dues and other income; paying bills as authorized by the Officers of WPA; keeping accurate financial records; coordinating the completion of the Form 990 required by the IRS, and providing regular reports to the Executive Board twice yearly. It is desirable for the Treasurer candidate to have experience with Quick Books and experience with budgeting processes.
Both the secretary and treasurer positions (which can be filled by one or two individuals) serve as ex officio members of the WPA Executive Board. As members of the Executive Board, the Secretary and Treasurer must attend two meetings of the Board each year. CWPA will provide (economy class) travel to CCCC and WPA conferences, one night’s lodging and two days’ meals at established government per diem rates at CCCC, and all nights’ lodging and registration costs (including conference meals) and non-conference meals at the WPA annual meeting. Note: the offices of Secretary/Treasurer may be divided among two individuals.
3. Provide clerical support for WPA, for answering e-mail, telephone, or written queries about the organization and for referring individuals to appropriate contact persons. Support may take the form of clerical/graduate/student worker assistance; reassigned time; space; compensation; or the like.
WPA may be able to cover some costs associated with clerical support for the organization from institutional staff or undergraduate or graduate employees. If this is desirable, please specify the range of duties that will be associated with this request, the approximate number of hours associated with the duties, and an estimate of the budget amount associated with this request.
4. Maintain the circulation of WPA Journal, including maintaining back issue inventory and mailing lists. Ensure that the journal is mailed out to subscribers on a timely basis after publication, and that back issues are mailed out on a timely basis and consistently.
Additionally, the institutional home may host an occasional summer conference, also a fantastic opportunity for institutional visibility, program promotion, and professional development.
The institutional home may also consider maintaining the archive of WPA records, including publications, minutes, programs, correspondence, historical accounts, financial histories, and other materials related to the Council of Writing Program Administrators. The archive should be organized and secure, yet accessible to scholars and WPA members who articulate legitimate needs for access to them. This also can offer excellent research opportunities for faculty and/or graduate students.
To Apply:
Send (1) a detailed proposal that articulates the institution’s ability to perform the responsibilities as described above (and any optional roles the institution may wish to address); (2) the CV(s) of the person(s) to be designated as Secretary/Treasurer, along with the CVs of any other professionals who may contribute to the effort; (3) if desired, a request for funds to support clerical support including a description of the duties to be performed and an estimate of the number of hours associated with those duties and an estimated budget; and (4) a letter of endorsement from the administrator(s) (chair, dean, vice-president) with the authority to describe and confirm institutional support.
We welcome inquiries about this CFP or any aspect of serving as the WPA institutional home. Please send inquiries to Linda Adler-Kassner at Linda.Adler-Kassner@emich.edu. Proposals should be sent by December 1 to Linda Adler-Kassner, Chair, Search Committee for WPA Institutional Home via MS Word 2004 to Linda.Adler-Kassner@emich.edu. Please do not send proposals with a .docx extension.
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?
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?
Regular members and graduate students should
Library subscriptions should follow the instructions on the Joining WPA membership page for submitting your membership application and payment by mail.
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
How do I change my WPA Journal shipping address?
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 .
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 of the constitution is available as an attachment (see link below).
Since 1978, the Council of Writing Program Administrators have had these presidents:
Past WPA Presidents / Years ServedThese 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.
Miami University of Ohio served as the Institutional Home of the Council of Writing Program Administrators for two decades.
At the Town Hall Meeting on Sunday morning at the close of the 2006 WPA Summer Conference in Chattanooga, we presented a plaque with the inscription below to John Heyda, retiring CWPA Treasurer: "Presented to the Department of English at the Miami University of Ohio by the Council of Writing Program Administrators as a token of our gratitude for their generous and unstinted support as the first WPA Institutional Home, from 1987 to 2006, and in recognition of the trustworthy and reliable service of their faculty members who have served as our Secretary and Treasurer, whose names are listed below
WPA members and friends who have benefited from the work of these collegaues over the past twenty years are invited to post comments.
Call for Proposals WPA Institutional Home The Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA) invites proposals from colleges and universities wishing to serve as the organization’s institutional home. WPA will negotiate the beginning date with the successful institution but hopes the start will be no later than fall 2006. The agreement will be for three years, with the option of continued renewals with the consent of both parties. Basic Responsibilities of the WPA Institutional Home 1. Maintain an archive of WPA records, including publications, minutes, programs, correspondence, historical accounts, financial histories, and other materials related to the Council of Writing Program Administrators. The archive should be organized and secure, yet accessible to scholars and WPA members who articulate legitimate needs for access to them. 2. Provide the function of WPA Secretary, including maintaining current and historical membership records (which include current contact information and membership status). The WPA Institutional Home is also responsible for answering e-mail, telephone, or written queries about the organization and for referring individuals to appropriate contact persons. 3. Provide the function of WPA Treasurer, including collecting, depositing, investing, and keeping secure membership dues and other income; paying bills as authorized by the Officers of WPA; keeping accurate financial records; and providing regular reports. 4. Designate an individual with professional expertise in writing program administration to serve as Secretary/Treasurer. The Secretary/Treasurer is an ex officio member of the WPA Executive Board and must attend two meetings of the Board each year. Therefore, he or she should have support sufficient to cover the costs of attendance, as well as support to perform his or her roles adequately. Support may take the form of clerical/graduate/student worker assistance; reassigned time; space; compensation; or the like. Note: the offices of Secretary/Treasurer may be divided among two individuals. Additional, but Optional, Responsibilities
WPA welcomes proposals that address one or more of the following potential roles. These functions are currently performed somewhere other than the institutional home. While that may continue to be the best arrangement, the WPA Board would like to consider options. 1. Maintain a Web presence for the Council of Writing Program Administrators (currently at www.wpacouncil.org). 2. Coordinate design, printing, and distribution of the organization’s journal, WPA: Writing Program Administration, and other potential publications. 3. Host an occasional WPA summer meeting. To Apply Send (1) a detailed proposal that articulates the institution’s ability to perform the Basic Responsibilities as described above (and any optional roles the institution may wish to address); (2) the CV of the person(s) to be designated as Secretary/Treasurer, along with the CVs of any other professionals who may contribute to the effort; (3) a letter of endorsement from the administrator(s) (chair, dean, vice-president) with the authority to describe and confirm institutional support. Send Proposals by 3 March 2006, to Doug Hesse, Chair Search Committee for WPA Institutional Home 6100 Honors Program Illinois State University Normal, IL 61790-6100 Proposals sent as e-email attachment are welcome. Send to ddhesse@ilstu.edu. See link below for a copy of this proposal in pdf format.