05/10/2024

CWPA Outstanding Scholarship Award Winners

On behalf of Jacob Babb, Chair of CWPA Outstanding Scholarship Award Committee, I'm pleased to announce the winners for 2021 and 2022.

2021

Amanda Fields for her article, “Composing an Anti- Racism and Social Justice Statement at a Rural Writing Center.”

Committee's comments:

Committee members were particularly impressed with the openness of your article about the
collaborative process for producing an anti-racist and social justice statement. One member notes
that your “approach allowed for productive discussion about what it means to be anti-racist,”
stating further that “using a statement such as this to dismantle racism seems productive, and
these methods could be applied elsewhere.” Another member writes, “I found myself wanting to
annotate and take notes in it the way a graduate student would when reading an opus.”

Iris Ruiz for her chapter, “Critiquing the Critical: The Politics of Race and Coloniality in Rhetoric, Composition, and Writing Studies Research Traditions.”

Committee's comments:

Committee members were particularly impressed with your critique of existing methods in the
discipline combined with your model of curanderisma to push back against the inherent white
colonialism in the discipline. One committee member notes that they enjoyed how your chapter
“offered alternative methods for inclusive practices in our field.” Another member writes that
your chapter “provides both a critique of the ‘standard’ ways of performing research...and a
model for moving forward.”

2022

Margaret Weaver, Kailyn Shartel Hall , and Tracey Glaessgen for their article, “Challenging Assumptions about Basic Writers and Corequisites at Four-Year Institutions.”

Committee's comments:

Committee members were very impressed by your critique of the corequisite model and your
argument that institutions should take into account the needs and experiences of their own
students to inform administrative decisions. One committee member notes, “The exigence for
this piece could not be more dramatic and the authors do a great job of setting the stage for the
study.” Another member writes that this article demonstrates “a lot of what WPAs have been
saying for years: Students know themselves better than what placement tests can tell us.”

Congratulations to all the winners.

I'd like to thank committee members:

Jacob Babb, Chair
Holly Anderson
Kelly Blewett
Ginny Crisco
Fangzhi He
Wendy Hinshaw
Adam Phillips
Rachel Robinson-Zetzer
Ashley Yuckenberg