03/28/2025

CWPA April Update

A Monthly Update for Members

Dear colleagues,

Happy spring! We are writing to share opportunities to be recognized and to lead, as well as opportunities to learn and connect. We hope to see you at upcoming CWPA events.

Opportunities for Recognition and Leadership

• Graduate Research Award
  The CWPA Graduate Research Award Committee is now inviting applications for the 2025 award. This award recognizes outstanding scholarship by graduate students writing on issues in writing program administration. Nominations due April 2, 2025. For more information, click here.
  
  
• VP Nominations
  The Nominating Committee of the CWPA would like to call for nominations for the position of Vice President for the 2025-2026 year. This position would begin on July 1, 2025. Candidates must have served CWPA in some capacity to be nominated. Service may include but is not limited to serving on the Executive Board, serving as an Ex-Officio member, chairing a CWPA committee, facilitating the WPA workshop, or co-chairing the summer conference. Nominations due April 4, 2025. For more information, click here.
  
• Grants
  The Research Grants Committee (RGC) of the Council of Writing Program Administrators invites proposals for research projects investigating practices that support educational equity and meaningful change in postsecondary writing or literacy programs. Proposals due May 1. For more information, click here. 

Opportunities for Learning and Connection in April

• Connect with CWPA at CCCC in Baltimore!
• Wednesday April 9 from 9:30pm-10:30pm: Join members of the Executive Board for drinks at the hotel bar at the Hilton
• Thursday April 10 from 3:15pm-5pm: Join members of the Executive Board for an afternoon coffee break at Three Bean Coffee (209 Key Hwy)
• Thursday April 10 and Friday April 11: Visit the CWPA booth in the exhibit hall to catch up with Executive Board members and to pick up handouts about all the latest CWPA activities. 
• Friday April 11 from 9:30-10:45am: Attend Roundtable Session G31 to dialog with CWPA Executive Committee about our Cultural Assessment Conversation Series
  
  
• Materiality and Writing Studies: Aligning Labor, Scholarship, and Teaching to Reach All Writers, April 25
  This workshop, facilitated by Cassandra Phillips (UW-Milwaukee) and Holly Hassel (Michigan Tech University) will present research from two of the co-facilitators' recent projects, Materiality and Writing Studies: Aligning Labor, Teaching, and Scholarship (NCTE, 2022) and Reaching All Writers: A Pedagogical Guide to the Evolving College Writing Classroom (USUP 2024). The session will build from research on knowledge production, teaching and learning conditions, and threshold concepts to help participants set goals for their own program around inclusive writing classes and programs.
  Participants will be asked to reflect on their current teaching and program conditions in the context of national data and disciplinary issues. They will then use guided questions to conduct a program needs assessment and discuss how to translate their findings into action steps for their program and classroom context. Free for members and nonmembers. Register here.

• Summer 2025 In-Person Workshop for New and Continuing WPAs: Registration Open
  The summer workshop for new and continuing WPAs will take place at the University of Houston-Clear Lake from June 23-25. Our co-facilitators are David Green and Michelle Bachelor Robinson. The cost of registration will be $675. Registration will include two breakfasts, two lunches, one dinner, and all workshop activities, but it will not include housing or travel costs. Registration is open.
  
  
• Summer 2025 Online Conference: Registration Open
  The purpose of our conference theme, “Chairs, Coordinators, Directors, Leads, WPAs: The Shifting Nature of WPA Work,” is to highlight the varied voices that are doing WPA work and have important insights to share. We will meet July 10-11 on zoom. Register today!
  
  

Please reach out to us if you’d like to discuss any aspect of CWPA–our emails are below!

Until next time, stay well!

Kelly Blewett, CWPA President, councilofwpa@gmail.com
Erin Lehman, CWPA Vice President, elehman4@ivytech.edu
Amanda Presswood, CWPA Secretary, cwpasecretary@gmail.com
Christal Seahorn, CWPA Treasurer, cwpatreasurer@gmail.com