Call for Proposals: 2007 WPA Conference

Call for Proposals: 2007 WPA Conference

Preparing Ourselves & Our Programs: Readiness, Relevance, Relationships

Tempe Mission Palms Hotel
Tempe, Arizona
July 12-15, 2007
Deadline for proposals: March 1, 2007 Extended to March 12, 2007. The submission window is now closed.

The conference will begin Thursday evening, July 12, and continue through Sunday morning, July 15. We invite proposals for individual presentations, panels, workshops, forums roundtables and other sessions addressing the conference theme, "Preparing Ourselves and Our Programs: Readiness, Relevance, Relationships."

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 begin on January 1. Proposals received after March 1 will be considered on a space-available basis only. The submission window is now closed.

The program will also include professional development mini-workshops on such topics as Preparing an Administrative Portfolio/WPA Promotion Case, Planning Writing Program Research, and Publishing Work in Writing Program Administration. Ask your department chair or dean for funding to attend these wonderful workshops!

Explanation of Conference Theme

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!

*Readiness

• How can we prepare for constructive program assessment?
• How do we prepare for a significant role in accreditation reviews?
• How do we best prepare ourselves to write effective grant applications?
• How do we prepare for new writing program leadership through composing job descriptions, interviewing, and selecting candidates?
• How do we prepare ourselves and our graduate students to find WPA positions that are a "good fit"
• How do we ready ourselves to respond to local and national critiques of our work?
• How do we prepare to participate in public debates surrounding literacy and writing instruction?
• How can we position our programs to both generate and respond to new ideas and change?
• What new technologies must we learn and use to do our best work?
• How we keep the preparation we provide to our student and staff informed and effective?

*Relevance

• How can we make our writing programs relevant to world and local community issues and interests?
• How does understanding social and linguistic diversity make our work and programs more relevant?
• How do we demonstrate the relevance of writing program administration to faculty work in the 21st century?
• How do we prepare graduate students in ways that are most relevant to their future work?
• How can mid-career WPAs keep their work relevant?

*Relationships

• How can we form, strengthen, or improve our working relationships with:
  • --various units within our schools (e.g. learning disabilities, diversity);
  • --faculty across institutional types: secondary and post secondary, public and private, small and large, two year and four-year;
  • --adjunct and full-time faculty across the curriculum, as well as program and departmental colleagues;
• How has our work (and the decisions we have made) affected our relationships with colleagues, friends and family? What were the costs and gains?

2007 Conference Program--near-final draft

A copy of the near-final draft of the 2007 WPA Conference Program can be accessed in two formats: as a downloadable pdf and as a downloadable Word document, both available as attachments.

 Please note you must be logged in as a registered site user to view and download the attachment.

Details for Registrants for 2007 WPA Conference, Workshop, and Institutes

Dear WPA 2007 Workshop, Institute, and Conference Participants:

The local arrangements committee is excited to welcome you to WPA 2007 in Tempe, Arizona. With about a month to go before the WPA conference begins, we wanted to pass along some information concerning airport shuttles, check in procedures, and social activities at the conference that may help your planning process.

Arriving in Tempe. If you are arriving by plane at Sky Harbor International Airport and staying at the conference hotel, the Tempe Mission Palms and Conference Center offers transportation for individual travelers to and from Sky Harbor International Airport every ½ hour from 5:30AM – 10:30PM daily. Courtesy phones are located in the baggage claim area. Once you have your luggage, use the courtesy phone to call the hotel and they’ll tell you when the next bus will arrive, and where.If you need to call the Tempe Mission Palms directly for some reason, the phone number is 480 894-1400. Those who are driving to Tempe and staying at the conference hotel may park at no charge at the Tempe Mission Palms.

WORKSHOP: Sunday, July 8 - Wednesday, July 11:

Workshop Check-In. Check-in for the workshop is from noon-3:00 pm on Sunday, July 8, in the Tempe Mission Palms main lobby near the hotel check-in area. At 3:00, the workshop officially begins with a snack reception/get acquainted session sponsored by Houghton Mifflin in the Delores Room, which is just off the courtyard and is the site of all workshop sessions. You can see a floor plan of the hotel at http://www.missionpalms.com/phoenix_meetings_plans.htm.

If you will arrive after 3:00 on Sunday, look for the group in the Delores Room or check at the main desk to learn the group’s current location. If you are staying for one of the Thursday institutes and/or the full conference, we’ll check you in for those events when you check in for the workshop.

Workshop Agenda: http://wpacouncil.org/node/879

Workshop Meals. Your breakfast and lunch on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, as well as morning and afternoon breaks on those days, are included in your workshop tuition. Additionally, dinner on Sunday night is included.

Wednesday Night Outing. We’re still working on a fun outing for Wednesday night and will keep you posted on our plans.

ASSESSMENT INSTITUTE OR RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Thursday JULY 12

Institute Check-In. Check-in for the institutes is from 3:00-6:00 pm on Wednesday, July 12, in the Tempe Mission Palms main lobby near the hotel check-in area. If you will arrive later than 6:00 on Wednesday, a local committee member will be in the main lobby from 7:30-8:30 Thursday morning to check you in. If you are staying for the main conference, we’ll check you in for the conference when you check in for the institute.

Institute Locations and Shuttle. Both the Assessment Institute and the Research Institute will take place at the Tempe Mission Palms from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm on Thursday, July 12. The Assessment Institute will meet in the Delores Room. The Research Institute is scheduled to meet in the Abbey. Both rooms are on the first floor of the hotel; you can see a floor plan at http://www.missionpalms.com/phoenix_meetings_plans.htm.

Institute Meals. Your lunch on Thursday, as well as a morning and afternoon break, is included in your institute tuition. If you want to purchase breakfast at the Tempe Mission Palms before heading to the institute, the Mission Grill Restaurant serves a full buffet breakfast and offers vegetarian menu items as well.

CONFERENCE Thursday, July 12-Sunday, July 15

 

Thursday: Conference Check-In. Check-in for the conference is from 2:00-5:30 pm on Thursday, July 12, in the Tempe Mission Palms main lobby near the hotel check-in area. At 5:30, the conference officially begins with Kyoko Sato’s plenary talk. The plenary will be followed with a welcome reception sponsored by McGraw-Hill and Longman Publishers.

Friday: Banquet. Following a 6:30-7:30 cocktail time sponsored by Prentice-Hall and Bedford/St. Martin’s, Friday night’s banquet will start at 7:30 pm and includes an address by Edward White and the annual awards presentations. The banquet is included in your registration fee. The cocktail party will be held at the University Club; the banquet is in the Old Main Ballroom, both on the campus of Arizona State University -- about a ten minute walk from the hotel.

Friday Evening Plans. After the banquet, you are on your own to explore Tempe or just enjoy some downtime. The local committee will include in your packet some venues for enjoying live music and other events in the Tempe area.

Saturday: Outing. Thanks to Allyn & Bacon / Longman’s generous sponsorship, conference goers will enjoy free admission to see the Arizona Diamondbacks play the San Diego Padres, at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix. The game starts at 6:05 pm, so busses will leave at 4:45 pm sharp from the Tempe Mission Palms. Dinner will be on your own Saturday night (and they have great hot dogs at Chase Field).

Sunday: The conference ends at 10:00 Sunday morning after the closing “Town Hall” session. While you are welcome to explore the Tempe area on your own, literature on other areas of Phoenix and Arizona will be readily available at the Tempe Mission Palms.

Thanks and best,

Greg Glau (for Duane Roen and Barry Maid) Local Arrangements Chairs WPA 2007

Mini-Workshops Scheduled for the 2007 WPA Conference in Tempe

The following Professional Development Workshops, Program Development Workshops, and WPA Working Sessions will be part of the program for the 2007 WPA Summer Conference in Tempe (for more information about the conference: http://wpacouncil.org/conference2007).

WPAs are encouraged to request funding from their institutions for participation in these special workshops.

Professional Development Workshops for WPAs:

Mapping WPA Spaces: Creative Approaches to Creative Work

Leaders: Rita Malenczyk, Lauren Fitzgerald New and experienced WPAs will have the opportunity, using postmodern mapping, to discover and tap new imaginative resources for creative and scholarly writing.

Crafting a WPA Peer Review Process: Part 1, Reasonable Criteria

Leaders: E. Shelley Reid and Irwin Weiser When WPAs want peer feedback on our administrative work outside of (often unshared) tenure review letters or a consultant-evaluator visit, we have very few options. This session will ask participants' help in designing a menu of criteria for possible use in outside peer reviews of WPAs by WPAs. (Part 2 is planned for WPA 2008 in Denver)

Untenured WPAs as Change Agents: When to Rule, When to Run, When to Hide

Leaders: Doug Downs, Shelley Reid, Rita Malenczyk, Barry Maid How can untenured WPAs respond to calls for their participation in institutional change? Assistant Professor Administrators (APAs) will share scenarios concerning changes at their institutions, consult with other APAs, and hear responses from tenured WPAs. Participants are encouraged to email short scenarios to Doug Downs (downsdo@uvsc.edu) by July 6.

Reconstructing the WPA: Building an Inclusive Paradigm

Leaders: Suellen Duffey, William Klein The paradigm that defines the WPA has remained relatively static over the past two decades, and has become characterized by common workplace issues and tasks that do not capture the diverse realities in which WPAs find themselves. In this workshop participants will begin building a new, more inclusive paradigm.

Writing for the WPA Journal

Deirdre Pettipiece, Timothy Ray, Bill Macauley, the WPA Journal Editorial Team will meet with prospective authors and prospective guest editors of special issues

Writing Program Development Workshops

Preparing a Writing Program Self-Study

Leaders: Doug Hesse and Ed White, (with Shirley Rose, Chris Anson, Joan Mullin, Bill Condon, and Joe Janangelo) Sponsored by the WPA Consultant-Evaluator Service, the session covers writing and using writing program self-studies for a variety of contexts, not just in preparation for a WPA C-E visit.

The History, Theory, and Practice of Good Program Assessments

Leaders: Brian Huot, Peggy O'Neill, Bill Macauley, Cindy Moore This two-part workshop will engage participants in discussion about the writing assessment history, theory, and research that inform available assessment practices and provide an opportunity to meet in small-group workshops to apply new knowledge to individual assessment projects.

Reviewing, Revamping, and Creating Undergraduate Majors

Leaders: Susan McLeod, Deborah Balzhiser Morton, Sandra Jamieson, Barbara L’Eplattenier, Keith Miller Members of the CCCC Committee on Writing and Rhetoric Majors will work with participants in small groups to discuss models and strategies for undergraduate majors. If you are considering or developing such majors, please feel free to email Thomas Miller (tpm@Email.arizona.edu )or bring your curricular materials.

Reinventing A Small College Writing Program: Studying Our Scratch

Leaders: Lisa Lebduska and Carol Peterson Haviland Using a small liberal arts college’s experience reinventing a writing program to engage in collaborative program building, participants will work with the documents that have emerged from each department—from biology to classics to economics to religion—and then the draft of the new program as a basis for discussion. The emphasis will be on participants’ using these documents as a model as they engage in studying their own "scratch" and thus revising their programs.

Special WPA Working Sessions:

Writing and Student Engagement/ WPA Collaboration with NSSE

Coordinator: Chuck Paine Meeting with Robert Gonyea to discuss NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement), how it works, how questions are made and tested, and how NSSE might be improved if it more effectively surveyed students' writing experiences. For more information see http://wpacouncil.org/node/852

National Conversation on Writing/ WPA Network for Media Action

Leaders: Linda Adler-Kassner, Dominic Delli Carpini, Darsie Bowden, Pete Vandenberg National Conversation on Writing contributors will gather to view video footage and discuss final plans for completing the NCoW video (for NCTE 2007).

All of these sessions will be held during the concurrent sessions time slots in the conference program on Friday and Saturday.