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
Conference Proposal Submission Form
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.pdfRegistration. Registration is now available. Workshop (including 8 meals): $650. Institutes (includes lunch, break, materials): $140. Conference (includes 6 meals and social event): $295 ($150 for graduate students). Combination pricing includes Workshop and Institute: $760, Workshop and Conference: $900, Workshop, Institute, and Conference: $1000.
Detailed Denver Information and Local Website: http://www.du.edu/writing/WPA2008.htmJoin 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 likely plan an outing to the mountains, 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.
2008 WPA Conference Institutes
WPA Conference Institutes are one-day (July 10), interactive seminars that are designed and led by experts, for a group of no more than 20 WPAs. 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
This year, we’re pleased to offer two Institutes:
1. Research in Writing Program Administration Leaders: Irwin Weiser, Purdue, and Meg Morgan, North Carolina at Charlotte.
2. English Language Learners and Writing Programs Leaders: Vivian Zamel, U Massachusetts, Boston, and Gail Shuck, Boise State
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
Institute fees are $140, discounted for people attend both the Workshop and an Institute or an Institute and the Conference. Fee includes all materials, breaks, and lunch.
Call for Proposals: 2008 WPA Conference
Writing Program Administration and/as Learning
Denver Grand Hyatt Hotel
Denver, Colorado
July 10-13, 2008
Proposal Submission Form (log-in to view the form and submit a proposal)
The conference will begin Thursday evening, July 10, and continue through Sunday morning, July 13. We invite proposals for individual presentations, panels, workshops, forums roundtables and other sessions addressing the conference theme, "Writing Program Administration and/as Learning."
We also invite attendees to prepare poster presentations or other exhibits of their programs' special initiatives, research projects, or signature areas.
To allow conference attendees to begin planning as soon as possible, review of proposals for individual presentations, concurrent session panels, roundtables, poster sessions, and multimedia presentations will occur on a rolling basis after February 15, with notifications also sent on that basis. Proposals received after March 15 will be considered on a space-available basis only.
Explanation of Conference Theme
Our goal is to examine WPAs as learners - as teachers – and as learned contributors to students’ lives, to knowledge, and to higher education. We will come together in Denver to work toward a better understanding of WPA work as an intellectual and a pedagogical activity with a rich and complicated history. I invite you to think about some of the following topics and questions. --Joe Janangelo, Program Chair
This list is suggestive. You are welcome to propose any ideas not explicitly tied to the conference theme but important to writing program administration. WPA work occurs in multiple and intersecting spheres and arenas. Hence, these questions are meant to be generative, not exhaustive. We welcome your ideas and approaches!
- What have been our key or catalytic learning moments as individuals and as a profession?
- What have been—and should be—our sources of learning?
- How have evolving technologies and new media influenced our learning?
- How can we put our learning into practice with students, colleagues, administrators, accrediting agencies, the media, and the public?
- How can we best learn from the feedback—both laudatory and critical?
- How is student learning marked and (mis)measured?
- What have you had to “un-learn” or re-evaluate?
- Thinking about readiness, receptivity, and resistance, how does learning relate to timing?
- How can WPAs learn from failure and trauma? Thinking about learning as an ongoing and recursive process, how might we chart growth or development when it is attended by difficulty and setbacks? How can tension, censure, or failure contribute to learning?
- How can we better document, preserve, protect, and share our learning?
- How does WPA scholarship (e.g. conceived contextually as the work we do on campus as well as in grants, multimedia projects, and publications) reflect our learning as an intellectual community? How does it influence, direct, or constrain knowledge making?
- What are key differences between personal and programmatic learning? How can we bridge or reconcile them?
Once again, this list is suggestive. You are welcome to propose any ideas not explicitly tied to the conference theme but important to writing program administration.
WPA 2008 Registration
Registration for the 2008 WPA Conference in Denver, Colorado is now open.To register for the 2008 WPA Conference in Denver, Colorado, select one of the following options. These options will take you to a page that briefly describes the event and will allow you to add the registration for the event to "your cart." Once you have selected all of the items you would like to register for, you can then checkout. Note: If you must pay by check and therefore need a paper registration form to print and mail, please scroll down through the questions below to see directions and a link to a PDF registration form.
- Workshop $650 (includes 8 meals)
- Institutes $140 (includes lunch)
- Conference $295 (includes 6 meals and a social event; before June 20, $315 after)
- Conference, Graduate Students $150 (includes 6 meals and a social event)
- Workshop and Conference $900
- Workshop and Institute $760
- Workshop, Institute, Conference $1000
How is my payment processed?
Payment is processed through PayPal. You do not have to have an account with PayPal to register and complete your payment, but you do need to have a user account at the WPA website, so be sure to sign in or create a new account if you need to. At the first PayPal checkout screen, you'll have a choice to pay with your PayPal account or use another credit card.
How will I know what I registered for?
On the WPA Council website, you can select My Account from the left menu, View Order History, and then Operations, View. It will tell you what you have signed up for. You can also print your receipt from there.
What happens if I want to change the events I registered for. Can I still get the combination discount? What happens if I have to cancel my registration?
Unfortunately, we cannot process a change in your registration via this website. However, if you contact David Blakesley, he may be able to help you.
Is there any way I can register by mail?
You can print out and complete the PDF of the registration form with a check made out to Council of Writing Program Administrators. Mail both to:
WPA Conference Registration
ATTN: Amy Kho, Writing Program
2150 E. Evans Ave., Penrose Library #202
Denver, CO 80208.
If I have more questions, who should I contact?
For questions regarding this website and your registration through this website, contact David Blakesley.
For questions about local conference arrangements and Denver, contact Douglas Hesse or Richard Colby.
For questions about submissions, the conference program, or WPA in general, contact Joseph Janangelo
for more information about the 2008 WPA Conference, visit http://www.du.edu/writing/documents/WPA_informational_brochure.pdf