{"id":1699,"date":"2012-02-20T13:36:02","date_gmt":"2012-02-20T18:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writing.wisc.edu\/blog\/?p=1699"},"modified":"2025-04-14T00:27:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T05:27:59","slug":"the-madison-area-writing-center-colloquium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/blog\/the-madison-area-writing-center-colloquium\/","title":{"rendered":"The Madison Area Writing Center Colloquium"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I\u2019ve long argued that writing centers at research universities should prepare interested doctoral students to lead strong, innovative writing centers and WAC programs when they move into their faculty careers.  And that we should do this in systematic and sustained ways.  Being a dedicated, successful, experienced writing tutor is of course a necessary part of that preparation, but that alone is not sufficient.  Professional development for future writing center directors is something our Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison takes seriously\u2014my colleagues and I are proud that this past year, in 2011 alone, seven more of our PhD alums, at various stages of their careers, were offered positions as writing center directors or assistant directors around the country, joining many other distinguished UW-Madison alums who direct writing centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This question\u2014of how research universities can prepare graduate students to become writing center directors as part of their faculty careers\u2014has been an important topic of discussion when the writing center directors from the universities in the Big 10 conference meet once a year (I’m always hoping that some athletic competition will break out during meetings of Big 10 writing center directors, but, alas, none yet).  We\u2019ve talked several times about what we can do\u2014intentionally and systematically–to prepare our grad students to lead strong writing center and WAC programs.  As an outgrowth of these discussions, at the 2010 IWCA conference in Baltimore, several members of the Big 10 group spoke about the opportunities we have and the challenges we face as we prepare graduate students to be future writing center directors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing Center Leadership in and Beyond the Curriculum<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n


There are, of course, many ways to prepare graduate students to direct writing centers and WAC programs.\u00a0 The first and most important, of course, is to offer an excellent PhD program in composition and rhetoric, to give doctoral students deep knowledge of theory and research and first-hand experience designing and conducting original research in composition and rhetoric.\u00a0 At the same time, during their years in graduate school, doctoral students need to gain deep experience working in cross-curricular writing centers.\u00a0 In addition to experience within a writing center, numerous PhD programs now offer graduate WPA seminars specifically on writing center and WAC studies and leadership.\u00a0 Among the many: Linda Bergmann\u2019s at Purdue, Ben Rafoth\u2019s at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Frankie Condon\u2019s at the University of Nebraska.\u00a0 These graduate courses give future directors a strong grounding in the literature of the field, as well as critical perspectives on writing center theory and practice.\u00a0 And, crucially, they help doctoral students move from thinking like a tutor to thinking strategically as a director needs to do.\u00a0 (For more information about graduate courses on writing center leadership, see Rebecca Jackson, Carrie Leverenz, and Joe Law, “(Re)shaping the Profession: Graduate Courses in Writing Center Theory, Practice, and Administration,” in The Center Will Hold<\/em>, ed. Michael Pemberton and Joyce Kinkead; and for important perspectives on graduate-student leadership in writing centers, see (E)Merging Identities: Graduate Students in the Writing Center<\/em>, ed. Melissa Nicholas.)\u00a0 At our Writing Center, this semester 15 doctoral students have chosen to participate in a new four-part series about writing center and WAC leadership\u2014a reading and discussion group for graduate students interested in preparing to make writing center and WAC work part of their faculty careers.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Stephanie
Stephanie Kerschbaum, former grad student at UW-Madison, now on the faculty at the University of Delaware<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Rasha
Rasha Diab, former grad student at UW-Madison, now on the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Kyle
Kyle Oliver, former undergraduate writing fellow at UW-Madison<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\"Rachel
Rachel Azima, former grad student at UW-Madison, former director of the
Writing and Media Center at Iowa State University, and now director of the Writing Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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\"Katie
Katie Lynch, former grad student at UW-Madison, now on the faculty and director of the writing center at SUNY-Rockland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The week-long IWCA Summer Institute has, since its inception here at UW-Madison in 2003, always welcomed graduate-student participants who are interested in writing center careers, and when we\u2019ve hosted the institute here, we\u2019ve created numerous opportunities for UW-Madison doctoral students to lead and participate in sessions.\u00a0 For a description of the Institute, see this article in the IWCA Newsletter [broken link removed].\u00a0 The 2012 IWCA Summer Institute [broken link removed] will be held near Pittsburgh, from July 29-August 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many writing centers also give undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to engage in writing center and WAC research and cross-campus collaborations, research that is important preparation to lead writing center programs.  If you\u2019re interested in examples of these research projects, I\u2019d recommend two of my favorites: Jon Olson, Dawn Moyer, and Adelia Falda, \u201cStudent-Centered Assessment Research in the Writing Center,\u201d in Writing Center Research: Extending the Discussion<\/em>; and Carol Haviland, Sherry Green, Barbara Kime Shields, and M. Todd Harper, \u201cNeither Missionaries Nor Colonists Nor Handmaidens: What Writing Tutors Can Teach Faculty about Inquiry,\u201d in Writing Centers and Writing Across the Curriculum Programs<\/em>.  As centers host regional and international conferences and IWCA summer institutes, graduate students often play important roles in planning and presenting, as we did here at Madison when we partnered with Edgewood College and Madison College to host the October 2011 Midwest Writing Centers Association Conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leadership Positions for Graduate Students<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n


Many writing centers have substantial leadership positions for graduate students.\u00a0 Our Center, for example, gives doctoral students the chance to work in these one- or two-year leadership positions, all of which involve extensive mentoring:<\/p>\n\n\n\n