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?

Regular members and graduate students should

1. Visit the Joining WPA membership page
2. Select the proper membership link
3. Add it to your shopping cart
4. Then checkout.

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

• 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

How do I change my WPA Journal shipping address?

• If you are renewing your membership at this time, the system will ask you for a new shipping address during your order.
• If you have a current WPA Membership and need to change your shipping address, contact the WPA Treasurer and provide the following: WPA website username, first and last name, mailing address info.

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.

Call for Proposals to Host Future WPA Conferences

WPA Conference Siting CFP

Grand Rapids, Anchorage, Chattanooga… the WPA gets around. Each year, the WPA Summer Conference and Workshop is sponsored by one or more institutions and hosted by local WPAs, members of the Executive Board, and the WPA at large. And now it's time for us to look for sites for WPA 2008, 2009, and 2010. This is a terrific opportunity to get/stay active in WPA, to build working relationships with WPAs in your area, to showcase your academic institution, and to enjoy the conference in your own back yard (so to speak).

Those interested in sponsoring a WPA Summer Conference and Workshop in 2008, 2009, or 2010, should submit a proposal to be considered at the WPA Executive Board meeting in Chattanooga this summer. Proposals should include the following:

(1) Information about the people on the local arrangements committee. Provide names, contact information, institutional affiliation, (contacts, institution, etc.). Describe the "management structure" of responsibilities (local chair, coordinators for conference registration, web site, Saturday night social, local amenities, liaison with publishers, etc).

(2) Information about the site(s) for the Conference and Workshop. Describe the site, indicate the size of the hotel and the meeting facilities (number, size, location) for a three-day conference (250-300 attendees-one room must be able to hold 300) and the four-day workshop preceding the conference (30 people). Provide cost estimates for hotel rooms, parking (if any), meals, meeting rooms, and AV equipment (including set-up and take-down). List local sightseeing and cultural opportunities for conference attendees. Describe transportation to and from the conference.

(3) Information about the institutions that will sponsor this event (collaboration with other local colleges and universities is recommended). Note types of sponsorship, including any institutional conference arrangers, and in-kind contributions your institution(s) can provide, including personnel, financial support, web hosting, publishing and photocopying services, etc.

Please submit your proposal via email attachment by June 15th to Carol Rutz crutz@carleton.edu, Chair of the WPA Summer Conference Siting Committee. Questions are welcome! Other committee members include Joe Janangelo, Elizabeth Vander Lei, and Barbara Lutz.

2007 WPA Conference, Workshop, and Institutes

Registration Information for the 2007 WPA Summer Conference, Workshop, and Institutes

NOTE: Online Registration closed on June 28. Mail-in registration must be postmarked July 1 or earlier. After that date, only onsite registration will be accepted. 

Sponsored by the Council of Writing Program Administrators Hosted by Arizona State University at the Tempe Mission Palms and Conference Center, Tempe, Arizona, July 8-15, 2007..

(Note: online registration closes June 28; mail-in registrations must be postmarked July 1 or earlier; after July 1, only onsite registrations will be accepted)

• Conference Registration: $ 275 (includes 6 meals)
• Graduate Student Conference Registration: $175 (Includes 6 meals)
• Workshop Registration: $630 (includes 7 meals)
• Assessment Institute Registration: $140 (includes lunch)
• Research Institute Registration: $140 (includes lunch).

Package Pricing

• Workshop PLUS Conference: $ 900
• Workshop PLUS Research Institute: $ 750
• Workshop PLUS Assessment Institute: $ 750
• Workshop PLUS Research Institute PLUS Conference: $1,000
• Workshop PLUS Assessment Institute PLUS Conference: $1,000

Click on the links to read about each and add one or more to your shopping cart. Check out when ready. To pay by check, print and mail the form attached below

Additional info about conference including lodging

2006 WPA Summer Conference, Workshop, and Institutes

Theme: Keeping on Track: Looking Back, Looking Forward, Looking Out for New Opportunities

July 13-16 Chattanooga Choo Choo Convention Center Chattanooga , Tennessee

Register: http://wpacouncil.org/2006register

Online Program Near-final Draft: http://wpacouncil.org/WPA2006ProgramBookletDraft

TRAIN YOURSELF FOR EXCITEMENT as you make plans for participating in the 2006 WPA Conference at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Convention Center next July! Our theme, “Keeping on Track: Looking Back, Looking Forward, and Looking Out for New Opportunities,” acknowledges both the famous Chattanooga Choo Choo and nearby Lookout Mountain, but it also conveys the our thematic focus on the importance of continual reflection, planning, and inquiry to maintaining direction and momentum for the writing programs we lead.

The conference will begin Thursday evening, July 13, and continue through Sunday morning, July 16.

Conference sessions will include:

Panels on WPA research and issues of concern

SIGs for graduate student and untenured WPAs

Sessions on making connections between secondary and post-secondary writing teaching and research

Content development sessions for WPA’s Network for Media Action, CompFAQs, and the WPA website

Poster presentations on writing program innovations

Exhibits of current scholarship and teaching materials

Plenary Speakers

Jacqueline Jones Royster is Professor of English and Executive Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio State University. Former Chair of the CCCC, she has won the MLA Mina P. Shaughnessy Prize for Best Book in the Teaching of English and the Braddock Award for best article in College Composition and Communication in 2001. In her plenary talk focused on “Looking Back,” Royster will reflect on her work as a WPA at Spelman College in the early years of her career.

Chris M. Anson is Professor of English and Director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program at North Carolina State University. He has served on the NCTE Board of Directors, the CCCC Executive Committee and numerous other committees for the CCCC, and was program co-chair of the NCTE Global Conference on Language and Literacy (2000, Utrecht, Netherlands). As the Immediate Past President of the Council of Writing Program Administrators, Anson will speak on “Looking Forward” as WPAs individually and collectively.

Pamela B. Childers is the Caldwell Chair of Composition at the McCallie School in Chattanooga. An active member of NCTE, MLA, and other professional organizations, she is currently serving on the Executive Board of the International Writing Centers Association. She has written numerous articles and books related to her work with Writing Centers and Writing Across the Curriculum in Secondary Schools, and is a frequent consultant and leader of workshops on related issues. Childers’ talk will focus on “Looking Out for New Opportunities,” particularly opportunities for making connections between secondary and post-secondary writing curricula.

professional development mini-workshops

In addition to plenary speakers and concurrent panel sessions, the program will include professional development mini-workshops on such topics as Documenting a Writing Program, Preparing an Administrative Portfolio/WPA Promotion Case, and Planning for Publishing Program Research. Ask your department chair or dean for funding to attend these mini-workshops.

Conference Chair: Shirley Rose, President, Council of Writing Program Administrators Local Chairs: Lauren Ingraham, Jennifer Beech, and James Inman

CALL FOR PAPERS: http://wpacouncil.org/node/216

Planning Information

2006 Summer Workshop and Conference of the Council of Writing Program Administrators

Conference : Official activities begin Thursday evening, July 13, at 5:30 PM with a welcome reception/orientation and conclude Sunday, July 16, at 10:00 AM after the Town Hall Meeting. Plenary Speakers include Jacqueline Jones Royster, Ohio State University, on Thursday evening; Chris Anson, Past President of CWPA, North Carolina State University, on Friday; and Pam Childers, former President of the National Writing Center Association, The McCallie School in Chattanooga, on Saturday.

Workshop : Workshop participants gather Sunday afternoon, July 9, and meet all day every day through Wednesday evening, July 12. Workshop leaders Lauren Fitzgerald (Yeshiva University) and Greg Glau (Arizona State University) will also be available for one-to-one consultations in the evenings and (for workshop participants not attending an institute) on Thursday morning. For more information about the workshop, go to http://wpacouncil.org/node/263

Assessment Institute and Technology Institute : These day-long institutes will be held on Thursday, July 13, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Lunch included. If institutes are cancelled due to insufficient enrollment, registration fees will be refunded.

Assessment Institute: http://wpacouncil.org/node/396 Technology Institute: http://wpacouncil.org/node/395

Costs:

• Housing at Holiday Inn Choo Choo: $118/per single or double room/per night, plus tax Call 1-800-872-2529 or reserve online at www.choochoo.com. Use group booking code WPA.
• Conference Registration early bird $200 (includes 6 meals)
• Workshop Registration: early bird $630 (includes 10 meals)
• Assessment or Technology Institute Registration: early bird $125 (includes lunch)
• Workshop PLUS Institute Package Price: $675

Early bird deadline is May 15; add $30 to registration cost for each event after May 15.

Register: http://wpacouncil.org/node/394

For information about the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn and convention Center, go to http://www.choochoo.com/

Members of underrepresented minorities are invited to apply for grants to support their attendance at the WPA Summer Workshop. To find out more about the WPA Fund for the Support of Minority Writing Program Administrators, go to http://wpacouncil.org/node/224.

2006 WPA Technology Institute

2006 Technology Institute

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga July 13, 2006

Sponsored by the Council of Writing Program Administrators in conjunction with its summer conference at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel Chattanooga, Tennessee July 13-16, 2006

Join writing program administrators from around the country in this day-long institute just prior to the 2006 WPA Summer Conference. The focus of this year’s institute is multi-media/mixed-media composing in writing programs. Led by Darsie Bowden and Peter Vandenberg, participants will address such concerns as:

 Identifying technical support needs (instructional spaces, IT staff, etc.)  Developing mixed-media assignments  Assessing student projects  Publicizing/explaining the rationale for multi-media composing to the writing program's constituents

Darsie Bowden is Associate Professor of English and Director of Composition at DePaul University in Chicago. Professor Bowden earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Cinema and a PhD. in Rhetoric and Linguistics and Literature from the University of Southern California, and has published two books, The Mythology of Voice (Boynton/Cook 1999) and Writing for Film: the Basics of Screenwriting (forthcoming from Erlbaum).

Peter Vandenberg is Professor of English and Director of the MA in New Media Studies at DePaul University, where he teaches courses in composition theory and the rhetoric of design. Professor Vandenberg is co-editor of Relations, Locations, Positions (NCTE, 2006) and Keywords in Composition Studies (Boynton/Cook, 1996). His recent publications include essays in College English, JAC, Reflections, and Writing on the Edge. He has designed multimedia for Rhetoricians for Peace and The Rhetoric and Composition Sound Archives.

Together Bowden and Vandenberg operate SPAN, a production company focused on the composition of multimedia projects of interest to teachers and scholars. SPAN has produced a number of projects, including public service announcements and the film WPA: Past, Present and Future, which will have its premier screening at the 2006 WPA Conference in Chattanooga.

Cost: $125 by May 15 (includes lunch and breaks); $155 after May 15. Institute tuition includes all materials, plus lunch and breaks. Please register early, as enrollment is limited to 20 participants.

Register for the Technology Institute: http://wpacouncil.org/node/394

2006 WPA Assessment Institute

2006 Assessment Institute

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga July 13, 2006 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Sponsored by the Council of Writing Program Administrators in conjunction with its summer conference at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel Chattanooga, Tennessee July 13-16, 2006

“Electronic Portfolios, Writing Classrooms, and College Programs: Practices, Theories, Issues, and Challenges” Leaders: Elizabeth Clark, Michael Day, and Kathleen Blake Yancey

Website for Institute Materials: http://www.engl.niu.edu/mday/wpa06.html

This day-long institute will address the various questions that arise for WPAs thinking about, planning, or implementing electronic portfolios. What are they? How are they similar to and different from print portfolios? What are the options for software, and how do they compare? How do eportfolios and the need to assess them affect faculty development needs and procedures? How are eports assessed? Once implemented, how can digital portfolios change an institution's understanding and expectations of assessment? What role might they play in a long-term assessment plan? Not least, what are likely to be the questions around electronic portfolios in the next five years?

J. Elizabeth Clark is Associate Professor of English at LaGuardia Community College--CUNY, where she is Co-Director of the Composition Program and Acting ePortfolio Project Director. She teaches basic writing, first year composition, and the cultural studies of medicine. Clark is managing editor of Radical Teacher and has presented and published about ePortfolios and the composition classroom. She is also part of the Carnegie Foundation/AAC & U Integrated Learning Project.

Michael Day is Associate Professor of English at Northern Illinois University, where he directs the first-year composition program and teaches composition pedagogy, technical writing, and writing for electronic media. Day is Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication Committee on Computers in Composition and Communication and former chair of the National Council of Teachers of English Assembly on Computers in English. He leads the Northern Illinois University’s team for the National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research, and has presented and published on topics ranging from technical communication to Internet communication and teaching writing online.

Kathleen Blake Yancey, Kellogg W. Hunt Professor of English at Florida State University, has worked with electronic portfolios in various settings, from working with a small liberal arts college and with a K-12 school district and co-leading the National Coalition of Research on Electronic Portfolios to using them in her own classrooms with undergraduates, graduate students, and practicing teachers. She has written about eports in several venues, including in the AAHE edited collection Electronic Portfolios and the CCC article “Postmodernism, Palimpsest, and Portfolios: Theoretical Issues in the Representation of Student Work.” Her current projects include a volume tentatively titled E-Portfolios in the English Classroom.

Registration: $125 on or before May 15; $155 after May 15; includes lunch, breaks, and materials Register for the Assessment Institute: http://wpacouncil.org/node/394

For more information: visit http://wpacouncil.org/node/393

2006 WPA Conference Online Draft Program

A draft of the 2006 WPA Conference Program Outline and a draft of the Schedule for Concurrent Sessions as of June 21, 2006 are both available in searchable PDF attachments (see below).

Note to registered site users: If you are interested in additional information about a session, the "node" number provided in the schedule identifies the page where the session proposal may be viewed on the WPA website. You will need to log on to view the information.

2006 WPA Conference, Workshop, and Institutes Registrations

REGISTRATION 2006 WPA Summer Conference, Workshop, and Institutes Sponsored by the Council of Writing Program Administrators Hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Held at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel Chattanooga, Tennessee July 9-16, 2006

• Conference Registration: regular: early bird $200 (includes 6 meals) graduate student: early bird $100 (includes six meals) Saturday and Sunday only (secondary school personnel only): early bird $100
• Workshop Registration: early bird $630 (includes 10 meals) REGISTRATION FOR THE WORKSHOP IS CLOSED
• Assessment Institute Registration: early bird $125 (includes lunch) REGISTRATION FOR THE ASSESSMENT INSTITUTE IS CLOSED.
• Technology Institute Registration: early bird $125 (includes lunch) REGISTRATION FOR THE TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE IS CLOSED. If you wish to be placed on a waiting list contact Lauren Sewell Ingraham
• Workshop PLUS Assessment Institute Package Price: $675 REGISTRATION FOR THE WORKSHOP AND ASSESSMENT INSTITUTE IS CLOSED.
• Workshop PLUS Technology Institute Package Price: $675 REGISTRATION FOR THE WORKSHOP AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE IS CLOSED

Early bird deadline is May 15; add $30 to registration cost for each event after May 15. Full refund until June 15, and 50% refund June 16 and after.

Follow the relevant link(s) below to register online or print and mail this registration form in PDF format (also attached below).

2006 WPA Summer Workshop

WPA Workshop Summer 2006

Workshop Leaders: Lauren Fitzgerald is Associate Professor of English at Yeshiva University, where she directs the Yeshiva College Composition Program and Writing Center. Her work on writing programs and the teaching of writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Writing Lab Newsletter, The Writing Center Journal, and the edited collections Negotiating Religious Faith in the Composition Classroom, The Writing Center Director’s Resource Book (with Denise Stephenson), Judaic Perspectives on Literacy: Contexts for Rhetoric and Composition, and Sites of Plagiarism, Sites of Pedagogy (with T. Kenny Fountain).

Greg Glau is Director of Writing Programs at Arizona State University, where he has taught since 1994. Greg received his MA in Rhetoric and Composition from Northern Arizona University, and his PhD in Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English from the University of Arizona. Before being appointed WPA in 2000, Greg directed ASU’s basic writing Stretch Program. With Linda Adler-Kassner of Eastern Michigan University, Greg is co-editor of the Bedford Bibliography of Basic Writing (2001; second edition 2005). Greg also is coauthor of Scenarios for Writing (Mayfield/McGraw-Hill, 2001) and is currently working on Writing for College, Writing for Life with Duane Roen and Barry Maid (McGraw-Hill, due to be published in 2007). Greg has published in WPA: Writing Program Administration, Rhetoric Review, English Journal, The Writing Instructor, IDEAS Plus, and Arizona English Bulletin. He’s coauthor of a chapter in The Writing Program Administrator as Theorist (Rose and Weiser; Heineman), and author of a chapter in The Writing Program Administrator's Resource: A Guide to Reflective Institutional Practice (Enos and Brown; Erlbaum). Greg regularly presents at CCCC and has presented at WPA, MLA, RMMLA, the Western States Composition Conference, NCTE, and others. He currently (with Duane Roen and Barry Maid) is a managing editor of WPA: Writing Program Administration.

The WPA Summer Workshop attracts participating writing program administrators from a variety of programs, including first-year composition, writing centers, WAC, and comprehensive writing programs. Participants come from a range of institutions--large, medium, and small; public and private; secular and religiously affiliated, both U.S. and international. The workshop is led each year by two experienced writing program administrators who have been nationally recognized for their work. Participants spend three days discussing and writing about WPA roles and responsibilities, program design, curriculum development and trends, assessment, staffing and professional development, and more.

Workshop Schedule: July 9 - 12, 2006 Workshop participants gather Sunday afternoon, July 9, and meet all day every day through Wednesday evening, July 12. Workshop leaders Lauren Fitzgerald (Yeshiva University) and Greg Glau (Arizona State University) will also be available for one-to-one consultations in the evenings and (for workshop participants not attending an institute) on Thursday morning.

Costs: Workshop Registration: early bird $630 (includes workshop materials and 10 meals) Workshop PLUS Institute (Technology Inst. or Assessment Inst.)Package Price: $675 Early bird deadline is May 15; add $30 to registration cost for each event after May 15.

Register for workshop or workshop/institute package: REGISTRATION FOR THE WORKSHOP IS CLOSED http://wpacouncil.org/node/394

Travel to and around Chattanooga

By Air

The Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (www.chattairport.com) is served by five major airlines or their subsidiaries: Delta, Northwest, US Air, American, and Continental. Direct flights are available between Chattanooga and the following eight cities:

 Atlanta (via Delta)  Cincinnati (via Delta)  Charlotte, NC (via US Air)  Washington DC (via US Air)  Chicago (via American Eagle)  Dallas/Ft. Worth (via American Eagle)  Memphis (via Northwest)  Houston (via Continental)

The Choo Choo Hotel and Convention Center operates a complimentary shuttle between the Chattanooga airport and the hotel.

Airports in nearby Atlanta or Nashville offer even more options for getting to the area, particularly if you are looking to fly one of the discount airlines such as Southwest or AirTran. Shuttle service is available between these airports and Chattanooga via Chattanooga Coach (www.chattanoogacoach.com) or Groome Transportation (www.groomechattanooga.com).

By Car

Chattanooga sits at the intersection of Interstates 24 and 75 near the Alabama-Georgia border. Participants arriving by car enjoy free parking at the Choo Choo Hotel and Convention Center.

By Train

Ironically, no passenger train service is available to Chattanooga. But while you’re here check out the Incline Railway—the steepest passenger railway in the world—to the top of Lookout Mountain.

Getting Around Chattanooga

A free electric shuttle travels throughout downtown Chattanooga from 6:00 am until 7:30 pm on weekdays and 9:00 am until 7:30 pm on weekends. The Choo Choo sits at the southern end of the shuttle route, and the Tennessee Riverfront area marks the route’s northernmost point (a 1.2 mile span of shops, restaurants, office buildings, and parks). CARTA buses (Chattanooga’s public transportation system) have routes throughout Chattanooga, including one that passes in front of the Choo Choo and stops at the Incline Railway station at the base of Lookout Mountain (2.5 miles from the Choo Choo). For more ambitious trips or late night outings, taxi service is also available. If you want to explore more of Chattanooga on your own, particularly attractions beyond the city limits, renting a car may be the best option. Your conference information packet will include detailed information about traveling in and around Chattanooga.

WPA 2006 Conference Program Booklet Draft

A copy of the near-final draft of the 2006 WPA Conference Program booklet is available in PDF, attached below.

Call for Proposals: WPA 2006 Summer Conference

Theme: Keeping on Track: Looking Back, Looking Forward, Looking Out for New Opportunities

July 13-16
Chattanooga Choo Choo Convention Center
Chattanooga , Tennessee

Submit a proposal for an individual presentation, poster session, panel, roundtable, or forum online using our Presenter Proposal Form. You need to be an authenticated site user and logged in order to submit a proposal. Your WPA membership will need to be current by the time of the conference. Register now if you need an account or use the log-in form to the right.

TRAIN YOURSELF FOR EXCITEMENT as you make plans for participating in the 2006 WPA Conference at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Convention Center next July! Our theme, “Keeping on Track: Looking Back, Looking Forward, and Looking Out for New Opportunities,” acknowledges both the famous Chattanooga Choo Choo and nearby Lookout Mountain, but it also conveys the our thematic focus on the importance of continual reflection, planning, and inquiry to maintaining direction and momentum for the writing programs we lead.

We invite proposals for sessions addressing the conference theme in such areas as the following:

• histories of writing programs and writing program administration
• contributions of WPA experience to development as scholars and administrators
• means and uses of reflection in writing program administration
• strategies, processes, and outcomes of planning for WPAs and writing programs
• setting and measuring progress toward writing program goals
• extending the influence of our writing programs
• making the connections between high school and college writing
• representing writing programs to our publics
• redesigning writing programs with new media and multi-literacies
• other topics of interest to writing program administrators

We welcome a variety of session formats, including (1) full panels involving several speakers addressing related topics, (2) individual presentations to be grouped together by the program committee, and (3) roundtables and forums on a single topic. Proposals for innovative presentation formats are invited as well. We invite attendees to prepare poster presentations or other exhibits of their programs' special initiatives, research projects, or signature areas .

The conference will begin Thursday evening, July 13, and continue through Sunday morning, July 16. In addition to plenary speakers and concurrent panel sessions, the program will include professional development mini-workshops on such topics as Documenting a Writing Program, Preparing an Administrative Portfolio/WPA Promotion Case, and Planning for Publishing Program Research. Ask your department chair or dean for funding to attend these mini-workshops.

Proposals may be submitted at http://www.wpacouncil.org/node/add/flexinode-1 until February 1, 2006. Proposals submitted after this date will be reviewed only if space remains on the program.

For detailed up-to-date information about the conference, visit the conference website at http://wpacouncil.org

Conference Chair: Shirley Rose, President, Council of Writing Program Administrators
Local Chairs: Lauren Ingraham, Jennifer Beech, and James Inman

Planning Information

2006 Summer Workshop and Conference of the Council of Writing Program Administrators

Conference : Official activities begin Thursday evening, July 13, at 5:30 PM with a welcome reception/orientation and conclude Sunday, July 16, at 10:00 AM after the Town Hall Meeting. Plenary Speakers include Jacqueline Jones Royster, Ohio State University, on Thursday evening; Chris Anson, Past President of CWPA, North Carolina State University, on Friday; and Pam Childers, former President of the National Writing Center Association, The McCallie School in Chattanooga, on Saturday.

Workshop : Workshop participants gather Sunday afternoon, July 9, and meet all day every day through Wednesday evening, July 12. Workshop leaders Lauren Fitzgerald (Yeshiva University) and Greg Glau (Arizona State University) will also be available for one-to-one consultations in the evenings and (for workshop participants not attending an institute) on Thursday morning. For more information about the workshop, go to http://wpacouncil.org/node/263

Assessment Institute and Technology Institute : These day-long institutes will be held on Thursday, July 13, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Lunch included. If institutes are cancelled due to insufficient enrollment, registration fees will be refunded.

Costs (for planning purposes only—not final as of November, 2005):

• Housing at Choo Choo Holiday Inn: $118/per single or double room/per night, plus tax
• Conference Registration (estimate): early bird $200 (includes 6 meals)
• Workshop Registration (estimate): early bird $630 (includes 10 meals)
• Assessment or Technology Institute Registration (estimate): early bird $125 (includes lunch)
• Workshop PLUS Institute Package Price (estimate) : $675

Early bird deadline is May 15; add $30 to registration cost for each event after May 15.

For information about the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn and convention Center, go to http://www.choochoo.com/ Members of underrepresented minorities are invited to apply for grants to support their attendance at the WPA Summer Workshop. To find out more about the WPA Fund for the Support of Minority Writing Program Administrators, go to http://wpacouncil.org/node/224.

2008 WPA Conference, Workshop, and Institutes

Sponsored by the Council of Writing Program Administrators & Hosted by The University of Denver at the Grand Hyatt, Denver, CO, July 6-13, 2008

PROGRAM, Detailed Workshop, Institute, and Conference Information, including Travel and Things to Do, remain available at: http://www.du.edu/writing/WPA2008.htm

Call for Conference Proposals NOTE: Call is now closed.

Conference Proposal Submission Form

Accommodations

About the Workshop

About the Institutes

Registration

Program

Complete information about the Conference, Workshop, and Institutes, including final prices, is available in PDF form at http://www.du.edu/writing/documents/WPA_informational_brochure.pdf

Registration. Registration is now available. Workshop (including 8 meals): $650. Institutes (includes lunch, break, materials): $140. Conference (includes 6 meals and social event): $295 before June 20, 2008; $315 after ($150 for graduate students). Combination pricing includes Workshop and Institute: $760, Workshop and Conference: $900, Workshop, Institute, and Conference: $1000. There are no refunds after June 28, 2008, alas, something that makes WPA feel hard-hearted; however, the no-refund cut-off date is due to unrefundable deposits that WPA must make to hotel by that time.

Detailed Denver Information and Local Website: http://www.du.edu/writing/WPA2008.htm

Join Colleagues in the Mile High City

Attend an intimate professional meeting with friends at the foothills of the Rockies, in one of America's most invigorating summer cities. The annual WPA Workshop (a three-day intensive experience, July 6-9, for new and renewing WPAs, led by Susan Miller-Cochran and Chris Anson), Institutes (one-day (July 10) learning experiences led by national experts), and Conference (a highly interactive chance to present your work and interact with other national leaders, July 10-13) will be the heart of our gathering, of course, but there's more.

Everything will take place in thriving downtown Denver, near the bustle of Larimer Square, Writer's Square, the 16th Street Mall, Coors Field, a massive REI store, the world-famous Tattered Cover Bookstore, countless outdoor cafes, brewpubs, and high-end restaurants, and the trendy Lodo district, its lofts, clubs, boutiques, and places to watch Platte River kayakers. Yes, you can see the mountains. It will inevitably be sunny (as it is 300 days a year) and in the upper 80's by day, 50's and 60's by night, with scant humidity.

We'll plan a festive Saturday evening outing, and we'll surely offer a surfeit of culture, sports, and entertainment.

The gathering presents a fine stage for side-trips and vacations. Rocky Mountain National Park, Boulder (with a summer chautaqua and the Colorado Shakespeare Fest), Red Rocks, Winter Park, Breckenridge, and so on are easy jaunts; Vail and Aspen, not far. Denver is a great place for partners and family, too. In or adjacent to downtown are Elitch Gardens amusement park, the Denver Art Museum, the Aquarium, the Mint, the Children's musem, the Denver Performing Arts Center (second in size only to Lincoln Center), and a gauntlet of stores to test even the most intrepid shoppers.

2009 Minneapolis Workshop and Conference Sneak Peek!

The 2009 WPA Summer Workshop and Conference will be held in beautiful Minneapolis, MN.

The dates: Workshop: July 12-15, 2009 Conference: July 16-19, 2009

Information about institute leaders, plenary speakers, and exciting conference activities is coming soon! For more information about the workshop and conference, see the attached conference flyer.

CFP: China Literacy Conference - Beijing, summer 2007

WPA is pleased to announce its co-sponsorship of 'Literacies of Hope: Making Meaning across Boundaries' to be held in Beijing, China, July 24-27, 2007.

The conference, co-hosted by Beijing Normal University and Global Interactions, Inc., will inquire into the many forms of literacy that are vital to an increasingly globalized world, where partnership is essential. Proposals for presentations are invited for five strands:

Print Literacy / Media Literacy / Oral Literacy Technology & Literacy Creative & Critical Thinking Social & Cultural Literacy TESOL / ELL

For detailed information about the conference and to download forms for submitting proposals go to http://www.globalinteractions.org and select "2007 China - U.S. Conference on Literacy." Submission deadline is December 12, 2006. Invitations to present will be emailed by December 20.

NOTE!! EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: JANUARY 22, 2007

U.S. presenters will deliver their papers in English with consecutive Mandarin interpretation, and Chinese presenters will deliver their papers in Mandarin with consecutive English interpretation. The U.S. Steering Committee will referee U.S. proposals and collaborate with their Chinese counterparts in building the program.

Presenters must register for the conference by January 12, 2007, with a deposit of $600 ($200 of which is refundable if presenter cancels). Participants who are not presenting must register by February 28, with a deposit of $600 ($200 of which is refundable if participant cancels).

The 9-day program includes Chinese visa, lodging and orientation in Los Angeles, roundtrip coach airfare from Los Angeles to Beijing, double occupancy lodging, all meals in Beijing, airport/hotel transfers, the four-day conference registration fee, professional site visits, and three days of historical and cultural sight visits in Beijing. Total cost $3300.

A shorter 5-day program is available for $2950. Options are also available for family members who are not attending the conference. Itineraries for all options are available at the website listed above. Questions should be addressed to Global Interactions, Inc., or 602-906-8886.

Sample Individual Presentation Proposal for WPA Conferences

This sample just shows you what type of information to collect before submitting a proposal . . .

Type of Session: Individual Presentation Name of Submitter: Jane Doe Email Address of Submitter: janedoe@anywhere.edu Abstract for an Individual Presentation, Panel, Forum, or Roundtable:

Ma quande lingues coalesce, li grammatica del resultant lingue es plu simplic e regulari quam ti del coalescent lingues. Li nov lingua franca va esser plu simplic e regulari quam li existent Europan lingues. It va esser tam simplic quam Occidental: in fact, it va esser Occidental. Proposal for an Individual Presentation or Poster Session:

Ma quande lingues coalesce, li grammatica del resultant lingue es plu simplic e regulari quam ti del coalescent lingues. Li nov lingua franca va esser plu simplic e regulari quam li existent Europan lingues. It va esser tam simplic quam Occidental: in fact, it va esser Occidental. A un Angleso it va semblar un simplificat Angles, quam un skeptic Cambridge amico dit me que Occidental es. Ma quande lingues coalesce, li grammatica del resultant lingue es plu simplic e regulari quam ti del coalescent lingues. Li nov lingua franca va esser plu simplic e regulari quam li existent Europan lingues. It va esser tam simplic quam Occidental: in fact, it va esser Occidental. A un Angleso it va semblar un simplificat Angles, quam un skeptic Cambridge amico dit me que Occidental es. Ma quande lingues coalesce, li grammatica del resultant lingue es plu simplic e regulari quam ti del coalescent lingues. Li nov lingua franca va esser plu simplic e regulari quam li existent Europan lingues. It va esser tam simplic quam Occidental: in fact, it va esser Occidental. A un Angleso it va semblar un simplificat Angles, quam un skeptic Cambridge amico dit me que Occidental es. Ma quande lingues coalesce, li grammatica del resultant lingue es plu simplic e regulari quam ti del coalescent lingues.

Li nov lingua franca va esser plu simplic e regulari quam li existent Europan lingues. It va esser tam simplic quam Occidental: in fact, it va esser Occidental. A un Angleso it va semblar un simplificat Angles, quam un skeptic Cambridge amico dit me que Occidental es. Ma quande lingues coalesce, li grammatica del resultant lingue es plu simplic e regulari quam ti del coalescent lingues. Li nov lingua franca va esser plu Name, Affiliation, and Email Address of All Presenters:

Jane Doe Somewhere University janedoe@somewhere.edu regular Equipment Need: Flip Chart: Yes Equipment Need: Internet Connection: Yes Equipment Need: Overhead Projector for Transparencies: Yes Equipment Need: Video Projector: Yes

Sample Proposal for a Panel Presentation

This sample proposal for a panel presentation just shows you what type of information to gather before you submit your proposal. . . .

Type of Session: Panel Name of Submitter: John Doe Email Address of Submitter: johndoe@somewhere.edu Abstract for an Individual Presentation, Panel, Forum, or Roundtable:

Li Europan lingues es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc., li tot Europa usa li sam vocabularium. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica, li pronunciation e li plu commun vocabules. Omnicos directe al desirabilitá. Proposal for a Panel, Roundtable, or Forum:

Overview Li Europan lingues es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc., li tot Europa usa li sam vocabularium. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica, li pronunciation e li plu commun vocabules. Omnicos directe al desirabilitá de un nov lingua franca: on refusa continuar payar custosi traductores. It solmen va esser necessi far uniform grammatica, pronunciation e plu sommun paroles. Li Europan lingues es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc.,

Presenter 1 li tot Europa usa li sam vocabularium. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica, li pronunciation e li plu commun vocabules. Omnicos directe al desirabilitá de un nov lingua franca: on refusa continuar payar custosi traductores. It solmen va esser necessi far uniform grammatica, pronunciation e plu sommun paroles. Li Europan lingues es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc.,

Presenter2 li tot Europa usa li sam vocabularium. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica, li pronunciation e li plu commun vocabules. Omnicos directe al desirabilitá de un nov lingua franca: on refusa continuar payar custosi traductores. It solmen va esser necessi far uniform grammatica, pronunciation e plu sommun paroles. Li Europan lingues es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc., li tot Europa usa li sam vocabularium. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica, li pronunciation e li plu commun vocabules. Omnicos directe al desirabilitá de un nov lingua franca: on refusa continuar payar custosi traductores. It solmen va esser necessi far uniform grammatica, pronunciation e plu sommun paroles. Li Europan lingues es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc.,

Presenter 3 li tot Europa usa li sam vocabularium. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica, li pronunciation e li plu commun vocabules. Omnicos directe al desirabilitá de un nov lingua franca: on refusa continuar payar custosi traductores. It solmen va esser necessi far uniform grammatica, pronunciation e plu sommun paroles. Li Europan lingues es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc., li tot Europa usa li sam vocabularium. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica, li pronunciation e li plu commun vocabules. Omnicos directe al desirabilitá de un nov lingua franca: on refusa continuar payar custosi traductores. It solmen va esser necessi far uniform grammatica, pronunciation e plu sommun paroles.

Li Europan lingues es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc., li tot Europa usa li sam vocabularium. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica, li pronunciation e li plu commun vocabules. Omnicos directe al desirabilitá de un nov lingua franca: on refusa continuar payar custosi traductores. It solmen va esser necessi far uniform grammatica, pronunciation e plu sommun Name, Affiliation, and Email Address of All Presenters:

Presenter 1 John Doe Somewhere College johndoe@somewhere.edu

Presenter 2 Jane Doe Anywhere University janedoe@anywhere.edu

Presenter 3 Kelly Anywho Wherever Institute kelly@wherever.com Equipment Need: Flip Chart: Yes Equipment Need: Internet Connection: Yes Equipment Need: Overhead Projector for Transparencies: Yes Equipment Need: Video Projector: Yes

WPA 2005

Writing as Writing Program Administrators
Anchorage, Alaska
Council of Writing Program Administrators
Summer Workshop, Institute, and Conference
July 3-10
Conference Website: http://moose.uaa.alaska.edu/wpa2005/

Conference Theme and Program

Several months ago, a fellow WPA remarked that she was looking forward to an upcoming leave from administrative work because she would have “time for writing.” Though we understand what she was saying, it’s an oddly ironic or paradoxical, if not nonsensical, statement. If a writing program administrator doesn't have time for writing, who does? As writing program administrators, we spend, it may seem, nearly every waking moment at our keyboards or with pen in hand. We can understand what our fellow WPA was saying because we find ourselves in an academic culture that has a sometimes very limited notion of what “counts” as writing. Despite what we know about multiple genres of writing in diverse rhetorical situations, when it comes to our own writing, we may fail to appreciate just how much of it we do, how intellectually demanding it is, or what’s at stake in our choices of when, what, and to whom to write as writing program administrators.

At the University of Alaska Anchorage in July 2005, plenary speakers, mini-workshops leaders and participants, and concurrent session speakers will be focusing on developing our understanding of the genres and purposes of writing we do as writing program administrators, addressing topics such as

• writing with, for, and about the writing programs WPAs lead;
• writing about the work of writing program administration;
• writing research and scholarship that is informed by their work as WPAs;
• writing with and for other WPAs; and other issues of shared interest and concern to WPAs in programs for first-year composition, professional writing, writing centers, and writing across the curriculum.

Special Program Features

In addition to plenary speakers and concurrent sessions addressing the conference theme, the program will offer two special features. Back by popular demand, small-group breakout discussion sessions will follow plenary talks, giving us a chance to keep the conversation going. New this year, a series of professional development mini-workshops on writing as a writing program administrator will be presented by experienced WPAs. These mini-workshops will offered on Thursday and Friday in the same time slots as concurrent sessions. Planned workshop topics include

• Writing effective program documents, memos, and reports;
• Developing program-based inquiry into published scholarship;
• Developing a writing program website; Documenting the intellectual work of writing program administration, building a tenure/promotion case;
• Making time to write: managing ideas, choosing priorities, sustaining reflection;

and additional workshops in which participants work collectively to draft and develop documents for the Council of Writing Program Administrators (e.g., Standards for TA Training) or work collaboratively to develop inter-institutional/ cross institutional grant proposals.

Be sure to point out these professional development opportunities to your department chair or dean when you request funding! Though there will be no additional charge for attending these mini-workshops, participants will be asked to sign-up several months in advance to enable planning for space and materials. Additional details, including names of mini-workshop leaders and outlines of content will be provided when complete information about conference registration is available at http://moose.uaa.alaska.edu/wpa2005/

Call for Proposals

Proposals addressing the conference theme or other issues of interest to WPAs are invited for concurrent sessions, including (1) full panels involving several speakers addressing related topics, (2) individual presentations to be grouped together by the program committee, and (3) roundtables on a single topic. Proposals for multimedia presentations, poster presentations, or other presentation formats are encouraged.

Review of proposals will begin October 15, 2004 and will continue until the program is complete. Successful proposals will be acknowledged at the earliest possible date. Proposals may be submitted at http://moose.uaa.alaska.edu/wpa2005/

Planning Information

Conference: Official activities begin Thursday evening, July 7, at 5:30 PM with a welcome reception/orientation and conclude Sunday, July 10, at 10:00 AM after the Town Hall Meeting. Local organizers of the conference, Trish Jenkins and Jeff White (University of Alaska – Anchorage) will coordinate Workshop: Workshop participants gather Sunday afternoon, July 3, and meet all day every day through Thursday morning, July 7. Workshop leaders Irwin (Bud) Weiser (Purdue University) and Lauren Fitzgerald (Yeshiva University) will also be available for one-to-one consultations in the evenings. Assessment

Institute: The day-long institute will be held on Thursday, July 7, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Lunch included.

Costs (for planning purposes only):

• Housing (confirmed price): $25-35 per person/per night Airfare (estimate): $200-600 roundtrip depending upon origin of flight and date of booking
• Conference Registration (estimate):$200 (includes 6 meals)—may be lower
• Workshop Registration (estimate): $700 (includes 10 meals and 4 nights housing)
• Assessment Institute Registration (estimate): $125 (includes lunch)

For detailed up-to-date information about the conference, visit the conference website at http://moose.uaa.alaska.edu/wpa2005/

Conference Program Co-Chairs: Chris Anson, CWPA President, and Shirley Rose, Vice-President; Local Chairs: Trish Jenkins and Jeff White

WPA 2000 Conference Program

13-16 July
Charlotte, North Carolina

Host: University of North Carolina-Charlotte
Local Arrangements: Meg Morgan, University of North Carolina-Charlotte

Program Chair: Doug Hesse, Illinois State U

Program Committee: Carol Rutz, Carleton College; Shirley Rose, Purdue University, Meg Morgan, Doug Hesse

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Thursday, July 13

2:00-4:30 Meeting of the WPA Executive Board

2:00-3:30 Open House, Department of English, UNCC

5:00 Opening Keynote Session, Omni Ballroom

Welcome: Meg Morgan, Cy Knoblauch, Doug Hesse

Richard Lloyd-Jones, University of Iowa, "The More Things Change. . . "
The first 25 years of CCCC, the first 25 years of WPA.
Introduced by: Doug Hesse, Illinois State

Reception to follow the opening session.

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Friday, July 14

7:30 Breakfast

8:30 Plenary Session.

Jeanne Gunner, Santa Clara University, "Heroic Bodies"
Introduced by Meg Morgan, University of North Carolina-Charlotte

9:15 Discussion Groups
Leaders: Martha A. Townsend, University of Missouri; Dennis Lynch, Michigan Tech University; Alice Gillam, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Bill Condon, Washington State University; Kathleen Yancey, Clemson University; Irvin Peckham, University of Nebraska-Omaha; Jennie Dautermann, Miami University; Chet Pryor, Montgomery College-Germantown

9:45 Plenary Discussion. Moderator: Chris Anson, North Carolina State University

10:15 Break

10:45: In Memory of Bob Connors

"How Each of Us Got Here: 'Little Narratives' in the spirit of Bob Connors' Life and Work"

Bob Connors died in a motorcycle accident on June 22, 2000. He was 48 and at the height of his life as a teacher and scholar, yes, but also as friend and husband and father. Professionally, we knew him as perhaps the most astute current historian of composition studies, his award-winning book Composition-Rhetoric: Backgrounds, Theory, and Pedagogy being but one of his contributions to our grasping where we and the field have been. We knew him, too, from his generous, wise, and witty comments to the WPA listserv, where his postings often took the form of small essays themselves and where he was never to busy to furnish a citation when someone asked, often even giving an annotation. In the brief time since his death, I've been struck by the number of stories I've heard and read of Bob helping scholars, veteran and new, with various projects, in ways that should be examples to us all.

Bob long directed a writing center at the University of New Hampshire, and he was so visibly involved in WPA issues that it might surprise some to know that he had never been able to attend a regular WPA summer conference. The Charlotte meeting was to have been his first, and in an email to me last September, he wrote

"Though going to North Carolina from coastal Maine in the middle of July sounds like some sort of masochism, I have always wanted to go to WPA. How many days is it? I don't have anything specific in mind right now, though I'm reading a new book on the possibilities of various advanced writing curricula that's about to come out from B/C, and perhaps I could bounce off that--"On Beyond Abolitionism" or something like that. At CCCC this year I'm on a panel discussing the potentially problematic relations between FYC programs and WAC programs, so perhaps I could thumb in a pinch of that. . .resurrect a little abolition history. . .three tablespoons of tech writing history, cook over slow fire until glaze forms on eyeballs. . .Anyhow, as you can see, I'm thinking about it hard. Put me down as a yes. . . . Best, Bob"

Bob, of course, spoke at WPA's Composition in the Twenty-First Century conference. And he almost never missed a WPA breakfast at 4C's. Last April in Minneapolis he joined several of us at a table in a glassy corner atop the IDS building. As the sun came up over the paved prairie fifty stories below, on out to the horizon, he mentioned it would be a good day to ride, if a little cold. I suspect for Bob it was a rare day when it was not good to ride. We might all aspire to chase our passions, for learning and for life, with the fervor he did.

--Doug Hesse

Conference participants will record, on tape or in writing, brief accounts of how they got involved, eventually, in writing program administration.

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11:30 Lunch (on your own)

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1:00 A Sessions

UNC Charlotte Uptown Center

Panel
A.1 In the Rich Middle: WPA Work at Small Colleges

Chair: Anita Guynn, Beloit College
Presenters: Dominic Delli Carpini, York College of Pennsylvania, "(Ad)Ministering Composition to the Small College: Spreading the Word Through Faculty Enhancement"
Tom Amorose, Seattle Pacific University, "The Powerful, Invisible Middle: The Small School WPA's Position on Campus and in the Profession"
Jeff Cain, Sacred Heart University, "Ex Corde Eccleasiae and Writing Program Administration"

Panel
A.2 Assessment Wars, or "Why Can't We Use the ACT to Place Writers?"

Presenters: Maurice Scharton, Illinois State University, "History Lessons: How to Design and Redesign a Test"
Janice Witherspoon Neuleib, Illinois State University, "Tactics and Strategies, Plans for Attack"
Claire Lamonica, Illinois State University, "Practical Results, Instructor Training"

Panel
A.3 Forces Affecting Courses and Programs

Chair: Chet Pryor, Montgomery College-Germantown
Presenters: Alice Horning, Oakland University, and Margaret Willard-Traub, Oakland University, "The WPA Consultant-Evaluator Visit and the "Wars" Over Writing"
Nicole Amare and Charlotte Brammer, University of Alabama, "English for Engineers or Engineering English? Applying WAC Principles to a Traditional Freshman Writing Program"
Mary G. Jackson, St. Mary's University, "Composition as a Service Course: Service to Whom?"

Panel
A.4 Responding to Diminished Institutional Support

Chair: Marvin Diogenes, University of Arizona
Bille J. Jones, Penn State-Capital College, "Adjunts and Their WPA's: Stuck in the Middle of an Increasingly Tenured World"
Greg Bowe, Florida International University, "The Upside-down English Department"
Irwin Weiser, Purdue University, "How Being a WPA Has Made Me a New Abolitionist"

Panel
A.5 Professional Concerns of the WPA

Chair: Rita Malenczyk, Eastern Connecticut State University
Presenters: Shirley Rose, Purdue University, "Making Memory: Documentation Strategies for the Intellectual Work of Writing Program Administration"

Irene Ward, Kansas State University, Practicing Leadership: Thriving at the Writing Program Administrator's "Inside Game"

Roundtable
A.6 Is There Hope for These Inconvenient Marriages? WPAs, Trustees, and Legislators

Presenters Carol P. Haviland, California State University-San Bernardino
David Schwalm, Arizona State University-East

Workshop
A.7 Writing with Computers: Issues and Implications for WPA and IT Staff

Presenters: Gene Baer, Mt. Mary College, and Martin Moldenhauer, Wisconsin Lutheran College

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2:15 Break and Book Display

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Panel
B.1 Using the WPA Outcomes Statement

Chair: Gordon Thomas, University of Idaho
Presenters: Shawn Hellman, University of Arizona, "Using the WPA Outcomes Statement to Assess Computer Use in First Year Composition"
Duane Roen, Arizona State University, Gregory Glau, Arizona State University, and Alice Gillam, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, "Using the WPA Outcomes Statement to Guide Students' Portfolio Construction"

Workshop
B.2 FYC, WAC, and Program Assessment: How Faculty Outside English Re/View First-Year Comp

Presenters: Meg Morgan, University of North Carolina-Charlotte, and Kathleen Yancey, Clemson

Panel
B.3 Reading Teachers, Reading Students

Chair: Marcy Trianosky, Hollins University
Presenters: Carol Rutz, Carleton College, "The Messiness of Response: What Teachers Say about What They Do and What Students Make of It""
Ellen Quandahl, San Diego State University, "Between Students' Writing and Teachers' Reading: Grading Practices as Observable Objects"
Joe Marshall Hardin, Northwestern State U, "Dangerous Curves: What You Can('t) Tell from Grade Distributions"

Panel
B.4 A New Blueprint for Graduate Studies: Real Training for the Real WPA World

Presenters: Susan Romano, University of Texas at San Antonio, "Prepartion and Performance: An Inquiry into the Intersections of Doctoral Training, Programmatic Visions, and Work Worlds of Junior Level WPAs"
Virginia Anderson, Indiana University Southwest, "And What More Can we Do? A Hit-the-Ground-Running Doctoral Curriculum for Junior Level WPAs"
Thomas P. Miller, University of Arizona, "Preparing WPAs and Other Expert Learners to Be Institutional Leaders"

Panel
B.5 From Portfolios to Computers: Assessing the Intellectual Work of Evolving Domains in Writing Program Administration

Presenters: Shane Borrowman, University of Arizona, "Portfolios for Placement and Outreach"
Daphne Desser, University of South Carolina, "The WPA, the 'Fourth Wave,' and New Technologies"
Darin Payne, University of South Carolina, "Assessing Cyberspace: Developing a Critical Methodology for Incorporating New Technologies into Writing Programs"

Panel
B.6 Teachers, TAs, and WPAs in the Middle

Chair: Lauren Fitzgerald, Yeshiva University
Presenters: Diane Boehm, Saginaw Valley State University, "Teachers in the Center: A Research Study"
Dana Kinnison, University of Missouri, and Reinhold Hill, University of Missouri, "Neither This Nor That: New Contributors to Writing Program Administration"
Richard Bullock, Wright State University, "In the Middle of TA Conflict: WPA as Counselor, Referee, House Mother, Target, and Other Roles We Weren't Trained For"

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3:45 Break and Book Display

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4:15 Issue Groups

All participants elected to join one of the following discussion groups, arranged by Doug Hesse

A. What issues and innovations confront WAC and WID programs?
convened by Bill Condon and Deb Bosley
WAC and WID programs have arguably entered a period of maturity, even late maturity. What makes them viable--or threatens their viability? Topics might include program requirements and resources, faculty development, support for the WPA, successes, challenges, changes, and so on.

B. What are working conditions for WPAs?
convened by Jennie Dautermann and Chris Anson
What kinds of support are WPAs receiving--or do they need to receive? What are current pressures on the position? Have these changed over the years? How about tenure and promotion? How about burnout? How about success stories and strategies for improving working conditions? These are but some suggested lines of discussion.

C. What are working conditions for writing teachers?
convened by Shirley Rose and Joseph Harris
The status of nontenure-line faculty and teaching assistants continues to be a hot topic on WPA-L and elsewhere. Are things improving? Are there strategies WPAs can pursue? Is there any substance to anecdotes that the "labor pool" of such "contingent faculty" members is contracting, making it more difficult to staff programs? What about alternative hiring practices? And what about conditions for tenure-line writing teachers? Has professional life for them changed over the past several years?

D. Can--or should--the required freshman writing course persist?
convened by Alice Gillam and Dennis Lynch
Arguments to abolish the freshman writing requirement have existed for a decade at least, driven both by theoretical arguments and political concerns (about, for example, how the course is staffed). What is the state, in 2000, of freshman writing courses? Are they subtly waxing or subtly waning on individual campuses? What are characteristics of currently strong programs? What alternatives are being pursued?

E. How do--or should--histories of writing and writing programs inform WPA work?
convened by Tom Miller
People who would like to discuss Robert Connors' contributions to the profession are especially invited to this discussion.

F. What is the climate for writing programs?
convened by Duan Roen and Chuck Schuster
Any number of developments affect writing programs across the country: general education reform, distance learning, articulation agreements, assessment and accreditation, funding, testing in the schools, legislative agendas, student agendas, and so on. What environmental forces are affecting your writing program? What opportunities do these create or limit?

G. What should the Council of Writing Program Administrators be doing?
convened by Chet Pryor and Jeanne Gunner
How should WPA marshal its resources? What initiatives should the organization take up--or shun? How should the organization use whatever bully pulpit it has? How might we better involve more members directly in activities of the organization?

H. How does the world today appear beyond traditional freshman composition?
convened by Irv Peckham and Rebecca Moore Howard
What issues confront WPAs in writing centers? In distance learning initatives? In campus tutoring arrangements, including those outside the writing program (even athletic departments)? In writing majors? In elective writing courses?

I. A meeting of North Carolina WPAs.

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6:00 Banquet: Omni Ballroom
Presiding: Doug Hesse

7:30 Open Meeting of WPA Executive Board

9:00 Closed Meeting of WPA Board

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Saturday, July 15

7:30 Breakfast

8:30 Plenary Session, Omni Ballroom

Patricia Bizzell, College of the Holy Cross, "The WPA Without a Program, or, Memoirs of a Local 'Writing Expert'"
Introduction: Kathleen Yancey, Clemson University

9:15 Group Discussions, UNC Charlotte Uptown Center

Leaders: Eli Goldblatt, Temple University; Chris Anson, North Carolina State University; Shirley Rose, Purdue University; John Heyda, Miami University-Middletown; Carol Rutz, Carleton College; Irwin Weiser, Purdue University; Irene Ward, Kansas State University; Rita Malenczyk, Eastern Connecticut State University

9:45 Plenary Discussion

Moderated by Duane Roen, Arizona State University

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10:30 Break and Book Display

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11:00 C Sessions

Panel
C.1 Stuck in the Middle with You: The Perils and Pleasures of a Collaborative Model of Writing Program Administration

Chair: Kay Halasek, The Ohio State University
Presenters: Brenda Boyle, The Ohio State University
Jennie Clark, The Ohio State University
Kay Halasek, The Ohio State University
Mike Sasso, The Ohio State University
Eddie Singleton, The Ohio State University

Panel
C.2 Complications in Assessment

Chair: Sarah Dangelantonio, Franklin Pierce College
Presenters: Tim Peeples, Elon College, "Managing the Messy Middle of an Electronic Portfolio Initiative: A Critical Management Analysis"
Charlotte Brammer, University of Alabama, and Nicole Amare, University of Alabama, "Writing Assessments: Evaluating Engineering Students' Writing from Multiple Perspectives"
Lynn A. Rhodes, U South Carolina Aiken, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Resistant Students, Resistant Colleagues, and Other Opportunities with Institutional Writing Portfolios"

Panel
C.3 "Culture" and Critical Pedagogy: Exploring the Role of the WPA in a Religious Culture

Presenters: Bonnie Lenore Kyburz, Utah Valley State College, "Orthoparadoxa: Critical Pedagogy in a Religious Culture"
Barry Maid, Arizona State U-East, "Keeping the Faith"
Elizabeth Vander Lei, Calvin College, "Students of Faith in a Critical Pedagogy"
Nancy L. Christiansen, Brigham Young University, "The Culture of Cultures: Rhetoric as an Art of Civilization"

Roundtable
C.4 When Everything is New, What Does "Change" Mean and How Does it Happen?

Chair: Glenn Blalock
Presenters: Glenn Blalock, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Paul Hain, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Robb Jackson, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Avis Rupert, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Panel
C.5 Technology in Writing Programs: Responsible Development, Responsible Implementation, Responsible Assessment

Presenters: Rebecca Rickly, Texas Tech University, "Responsible Development of Writing Technology"
Susan Lang, Texas Tech University, "Responsible Implementation of Writing Technology"
Fred Kemp, Texas Tech Univesity, "Responsible Assessment of/using Writing Technology"

Workshop
C.6 Listening, Learning, and Leading: How Things Get Done (Sometimes)

Presenter: Charles I. Schuster, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

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12:15 Lunch

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2:00 D Sessions

Roundtable
D.1 WAC and the WC: What to Do When You Find Your Writing Center in the Thick of General Education Reform

Chair: Robert A. Hogue, Youngstown State U
Presenters: Clyde Moneyhun, University of Delaware, and Gilda Kelsey, University of Delaware, "WAC, WIC, WID, and WIP in the WC: Revising Our Mission"
Denise Stephenson, Grand Valley State University, "New Reforms Forget What Former Reforms Have Wrought"
Sarah Dangelantonio, Franklin Pierce College
Marcy Trianosky, Hollins University
Eli Goldblatt, Temple University
Marvin Diogenes, University of Arizona

Panel
D.2 The Philosopher WPA: Placement, Personnel, Programs and Pragmatism

Presenters:, Dan Royer, Grand Valley State University, "A Placement Problem Pragmatically Considered"
Don Bushman, U North Carolina-Wilmington, "Experience, Reflection, and Intelligent Action: Pragmatism and Personnel 'Problems'"
Keith Rhodes, Missouri Western State College, "Provisional Optimism in the Uses of Theory: Pragmatic Program Direction"

Panel
D.3 Class, Service, and Scholarship

Chair: Jeff Cain, Sacred Heart University
Presenters: Irvin Peckham, U Nebraska at Omaha, "Social Class and the WPA"
Amy Rupiper Taggart, Texas Christian University, "One or Many? Reconciling Academic Authorship and Service Learning"
Jena Burges, Longwood College, "Writing Assessment as Service Learning"

Roundtable
D.4 WPA and the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication--A New Relationship

Presenters: Barry M. Maid, Arizona State U--East
Deborah Bosley, U North Carolina-Charlotte
Michael Keene, University of Tennessee

Panel
D.5 Issues Beyond Freshman Composition

Chair: Lynn Rhodes, University of South Carolina-Aiken
Presenters: Michael B. Strickland, Elon College, "Holding the Line while Changing the Field: Professional Writing Programs at Liberal Arts Colleges"
Paula K. Garrett, Millsaps College, "Building Consensus Through a Common Language: Analytical Writing on a Small College Campus"
Julie Neff-Lippman, University of Puget Sound, "When the Accreditors Call: Assessing Writing in a Liberal Arts College"

Panel
D.6 Theorizing Teaching and Program Administration

Chair: David Harvey, University of Central Arkansas
Presenters: Stephen Wilhoit, University of Dayton, "Responding to TA Classroom Performance: An Application of Booth's 'Rhetorical Stance'"
Sandra Jamieson, Drew University, and Rebecca Moore Howard, Syracuse University, "The Effects of Theory on Assumptions about Pedagogy"
Christine Norris, Purdue University, "The Existent, the Good, and the Possible: Adjunct WPA Narratives"

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3:15 Break and Book Display

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3:45 E Sessions

Panel
E.1 Assessing Writing and Writing Programs

Chair: Jená Burges, Longwood College
Presenters: Deborah Bosley, U North Carolina-Charlotte, "Assessing Writing Intensive Courses in the Disciplines"
Iris T. Chapman, Elon College, "Assessing the Assessed: Discoveries, Practices, and Designs"
Paula K. Garrett, Millsaps College, and Kimberly G. Burke, Millsaps College, "The Distance Between Intention and Perception: A Model of Assessment for Writing Centers"

Presentation/Workshop
E.2 Issues in Writing Across the Curriculum

Chair: Irene Ward, Kansas State University
Presenters: Yvonne Merrill, University of Arizona, "Will WPA's Become WAC Leaders in the New Millennium?"
Gail F. Wood. College of Staten Island/CUNY, "Something for Everyone: Staff Development Strategies in Writing Across the Curriculum"

Panel
E.3 Institutional Contexts and Implications for Writing Programs

Chair: <