08/05/2026

CWPA Awards 2026

Dear CWPA Members: We are writing to announce CWPA Awards. Kelly Blewett reminds us that in this moment of uncertainty, the community and strength of our professional organizations is more important than ever. This is a moment when we need folks to contribute as volunteers to our organization; a deep bench of volunteers who are invested in the mission of CWPA is what will help us continue to move the organization forward.

In this newsletter, we wish to highlight volunteers and take a moment to recognize their incredible service and scholarship. 

2026 Outstanding Scholarship Award

The Outstanding Scholarship Award looks outside of WPA: Writing Program Administration to recognize the valuable work being published across the field in other journals and edited collections.

This year's CWPA winner is Joseph Wilson for his article “Biliteracy Agendas for WAC/WID Research and Teaching–On Mundane Genres, Translation, and Systemic Change," which appeared in Across the Disciplines (Volume 21, 2024 - WAC). 

The committee especially appreciated Wilson's attention to linguistic justice as a systemic concern within writing program administration rather than solely a classroom practice. By urging WPAs to examine how placement systems, curricula, assessment practices, and institutional documentation may reproduce inequities, the article offers an important reframing of administrative responsibility. The committee valued its call for CWPA leaders to actively support translingual and anti-colonial approaches through both pedagogical innovation and structural change, positioning linguistic justice as central to ethical and equitable writing program leadership.

2026 Outstanding Scholarship Honorable Mention

The committee also wishes to recognize Heather Lindenman, Margaret Chapman, Jennifer Eidum, Lina Kuhn, and Li Li for their article, “Beyond the ‘Improvement Imperative’: Writing to Change Oneself and the World in First Year Composition,” which appeared in Composition Studies. 

2026 Kenneth Bruffee Award

The Kenneth Bruffee Award recognizes exceptional scholarship published in WPA: Writing Program Administration. The award seeks to honor research that is cutting edge, methodologically rigorous, and has the potential to broadly impact writing programs and the discipline.

This year's winners are Amy Vidali and Sarah Michals for their article “Beyond Appendices: Equity and Directed Self-Placement,” which appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of WPA: Writing Program Administration. 

The committee was impressed with the authors’ attention to wider applicability of the DSP recommendations they provide. Although not every writing program has a DSP, we found the frameworks of radical student trust, interdependency, & community to be equity-based concepts that could transfer to a number of other WPA contexts. 

2026 Kenneth Bruffee Honorable Mention 

The committee was also impressed with Vee Kennedy's article “A Pre-Pandemic Snapshot of a Culture of (in)Access: Accommodation Statements in the Department Ecology of the First-Year Writing Programs in Michigan,” which also appeared in the Fall 2025 issue.

2026 Best Book Award

We are pleased to announce that this year’s recipient of the CWPA Best Book Award is WPAing in a Pandemic and Beyond: Revision, Innovation, and Advocacy, an edited collection from Drs. Todd Ruecker and Sheila Carter-Tod, published by Utah State University Press.

In their reviews, committee members consistently praised the collection for documenting a pivotal moment in the field while demonstrating that the lessons of the pandemic extend well beyond the crisis itself. The committee was particularly impressed by the volume’s breadth of perspectives – bringing together voices from a wide range of institutional contexts and WPA experiences in ways that illuminate both shared challenges and local differences – as well as the collection’s attention to advocacy, labor, and leadership. Reviewers highlighted the book’s accessibility and its ability to foster connection, describing it as a valuable record of shared experience and a practical resource for both current and future WPAs. By capturing the challenges of a transformative period while offering strategies that remain relevant today, the collection makes a significant and enduring contribution to WPA scholars

Recognizing Outgoing CWPA EB Members and Leadership

• Kelly Blewett (Immediate Past President 2025-2026)
• Daryl Lynn Dance, Hampton University (EB Member 2023-2026)
• Kelly Moreland (Book Editor for WPA)
• Tracy Morse (WPA: Writing Program Administration Editorial Team 2022-2026)
• Patti Poblete (WPA: Writing Program Administration Editorial Team 2022-2026)
• Michelle Bachelor Robinson, Spelman College (EB Member 2023-2026)
• Wendy Sharer (WPA: Writing Program Administration Editorial Team 2022-2026)
• Mary Lourdes Silva, Ithaca College (EB Member 2024-2026)
• Michael Pemberton (C-E Service Director)

Welcoming Incoming CWPA EB Members and Leadership

• Steven Accardi, University of Victoria, EB Member 
• Dev Bose, University of California, Santa Cruz, EB Member  
• Beth Boswell, University of Alabama in Huntsville, EB Member  
• Michael J. Faris, Texas Tech University, WPA Journal Co-Editor
• Analeigh E. Horton, Fairleigh Dickinson University, EB Member  
• Callie Kostelich, Baylor University, WPA Journal Co-Editor
• Adam Phillips, University of South Florida, EB Member  
• Lydia Wilkes, Auburn University, EB Member and incoming Book Editor
• Shane Wood, University of Central Florida, EB Member 

Thank you all for your service, particularly our CWPA Committee Members who make these awards possible. It is an honor to be able to take this moment to recognize your incredible work and contributions. 

Cheers, 

David Green, CWPA President

Darci Thoune, CWPA Vice President

Erin Lehman, Immediate Past President of CWPA

Amanda Presswood, CWPA Secretary

Christal Seahorn, CWPA Treasurer