AWAC will hold its first election during the first week of November, 2018. Only AWAC members are eligible to vote and will receive the ballot via email.

Incoming Chair 

Candidate: Stacey Sheriff

Bio: Stacey Sheriff holds a Ph.D. in English, specializing in Rhetoric & Composition, from The Pennsylvania State University. She is Director of the Writing Program and Assistant Professor of Writing at Colby College where she also teaches first-year writing and rhetoric. Previously, she taught technical writing, voice and style, rhetoric and new media, and composition at Penn State and on tenure-track in English at Bridgewater State University. Her research interests include WAC, writing program administration, rhetorical theory and histories, and multilingual writing. Recent publications include (with Paula Harrington): “Colby College Writing Program & Farnham Writers’ Center” in Writing Program Architecture and “College Writing is Not a Course, it’s a Culture: Supporting International Students’ Writing” in The Internationalization of U.S. Writing Programs. Stacey is the primary investigator for a Davis Foundation grant to support multilingual writing and a Writing-Enriched Curriculum initiative.

Statement: I have been involved with AWAC from its beginnings two years ago. I’ve enjoyed contributing to its collaborative origins, and I will bring this perspective and my commitment to developing an inclusive organization to the role of incoming chair. As such, my goal is to work with the current chair(s) to guide the development of the committees, priorities, and representation processes that will make a diverse, sustainable organization. I have experience as a WPA, faculty, and staff member, and I work continuously across disciplinary and organizational lines. I’ll bring this experience to communicating across AWAC’s constituencies and to helping promote best practices in research and the teaching of writing.

Chair 

Candidate: Michelle Cox

Bio: Michelle Cox is the inaugural director of a communication support program for international graduate students in the Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines at Cornell University. Formerly, she launched and directed a WAC program at Bridgewater State University. With Jeff Galin and Dan Melzer, she co-authored Sustainable WAC: A Whole Systems Approach to Launching and Developing WAC Programs(NCTE, 2018).She is outgoing chair of the CCCC WAC Standing Group and, with Nigel Caplan, inaugurated the Consortium on Graduate Communication.

Statement: I bring to this position years of experience working collaboratively with diverse stakeholders to build new organizations and programs.  I have been part of the AWAC Working Group since its conception, and have been thrilled to watch energy around this organization grow and expand. I am excited about the potential of AWAC to expand the WAC community, promote new scholarship, and make connections among diverse organizations. Further, I see this new organization as critical to the sustainability of WAC as a field. If elected, I would coordinate with the Executive Board, committees, and members to work toward these goals.

Past Chair 

Candidate: Jeffrey R. Galin

Bio: Jeffrey R. Galin is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Florida Atlantic University. He teaches academic and multimedia writing. He is the founding Director of the University Center for Excellence in Writing, Writing Across the Curriculum program at FAU, and the Community Center for Excellence in Writing. His most recent co-authored book is Sustainable WAC: A Whole Systems Approach to Launching and Developing Writing Across the Curriculum Programs. He has published edited collections on technology and teaching, teaching writing in college, and has published articles on literacy theory, teaching writing, managing writing programs, copyright, and online publishing.

Statement: I have worked hard with others over recent years to help AWAC emerge, and I would now like to help the organization get on its feet. AWAC will play a pivotal role in helping WAC as a field become more inclusive, provide more mentorship opportunities, make leadership roles more accessible, foster more research, and sustain the field itself. I am also eager to see AWAC forge lasting relationships with existing WAC organizations. As current chair of the CCCC WAC Standing Group and founding director of FAU’s writing centers and WAC programs, I understand the work of building sustainable programs.

Secretary 

Candidate: Justin K. Rademaekers

Bio: Dr. Justin K. Rademaekers is an Assistant Professor of English at West Chester University of Pennsylvania where he serves as Writing Across the Curriculum Director and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in rhetoric and composition. Since joining West Chester University in 2014 he has played a central role in the establishment of a Writing Program Task Force, creation of an inter-departmental University Writing Council and Advisory Board, and the development of assessment measures for the university writing programs. He presents regularly at national and international writing studies conferences and has published in the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, Across the Disciplines, and has an article forthcoming inThe WAC Journal.

Acceptance Statement: Having labored with the AWAC planning committee since our first meeting in May 2017, I am honored to accept this nomination for Executive Board Secretary. I am well positioned to faithfully serve the duties of Secretary in this inaugural term because my work as a collaborator on the organization’s mission, charter, and bylaws have provided me with intimate knowledge of both the letter and spirit of AWAC’s founding documents. Furthermore, my work as a WAC Director at my home institution has trained me well to be a dutiful steward of texts where the work of our organization will take place and be made available for reference. Thank you for your vote.

Treasurer

Candidate: Laurie A. Britt-Smith

Bio: Laurie Ann Britt-Smith received her PhD from Saint Louis University, was formerly an Associate English Professor,  WPA, and Director of the Writing Center at the University of Detroit Mercy, and is currently the Director of the Center for Writing at the College of the Holy Cross. This position combines WAC/WID duties along with teaching and oversight of the Writer’s Workshop. Her service to the discipline includes 8 years on the board of RNF at the CCCCs, and  Chair of NEWACC. In addition to her work in composition studies and WAC, she is interested in and has published work on rhetoric(s) of social justice and the intersections of identity, public discourse, and spirituality.

Statement: I am interested in joining the executive board as Treasurer because  I see AWAC as a logical next step in connecting our past efforts with shaping the future direction of WAC/WID. Our work is more relevant than ever as institutions wrestle with streamlining curriculums while also maintaining some degree of coherence in the communication skills of their graduates.  I hope my presence demonstrates the inclusive nature and intention of AWAC. I bring the voice of the SLAC to the table, as well as the experience of a professional who has both pedagogical and administrative skills.

Member-at-Large 

Candidate: Ann M. Blakeslee

Bio: Ann Blakeslee is Professor of English and Director of Campus and Community Writing at Eastern Michigan University. She received her Ph.D. in Rhetoric from Carnegie Mellon University. At EMU, she also directs WAC and has been Director of Undergraduate Studies and of the University Writing Center. She was treasurer of ATTW from 1998-2016 and recently served as the ATTW Conference Coordinator. She served on the EC of CPTSC and has served on or chaired numerous committees for ATTW, STC, NCTE, and IEEE. Additionally, she has been an editorial board member and reviewer for several journals. She is the author of books addressing audience in scientific writing and qualitative research methods. She has written articles on audience, research methods, writing in the disciplines, workplace writing, and the teaching of writing in disciplinary contexts.

Statement: As member-at-large for AWAC, I would work with members and leaders to refine the mission of the new association, build a strong foundation, and develop connections. Serving as ATTW treasurer gave me insight into effective leadership for fostering responsive and healthy organizations. In my many service roles (for ATTW, CPTSC, NCTE, IEEE, STC), I have learned to listen carefully to members and to develop initiatives that cultivate and support the wellbeing of the profession (for ATTW, for example, I managed investments that generated revenue for student research and travel awards; I also advocated for tiered fee structures for the conference and membership). Professional organizations must be attentive to the needs of all their members. I would be honored to collaborate with my WAC colleagues to create and offer meaningful professional opportunities to all of AWAC.

 

Candidate: Mike Palmquist

Bio:Mike Palmquist is Associate Provost, Professor of English, and University Distinguished Teaching Scholar at Colorado State University, where he supports university-wide efforts to enhance learning and teaching. His scholarly interests include writing across the curriculum, the effects of computer and network technologies on writing instruction, and new approaches to scholarly publishing. He has published widely in journals and edited collections and has authored or co-authored six books. He coordinates work on the WAC Clearinghouse (https://wac.colostate.edu), has served on the Executive Committee of the National Council of Teachers of English, and will serve as director of the 2020 IWAC Conference.

Statement:I’m excited about AWAC’s potential to support an inclusive and enduring community. By supporting mentoring, professional development, and scholarly inquiry—through AWAC’s well-designed committee structure as well as in collaboration with WAC GO, the WAC Summer Institute, the WAC Clearinghouse, and IWAC (among other organizations)—we can help new scholars enter the community, help more experienced colleagues thrive, and expand strategies for using writing, speaking, and communicating to enhance teaching and learning. As a board member, I would look forward to helping build a professional home for everyone who is or might want to become part of the WAC community.

 

Candidate: William J. Macauley, Jr., Professor, Department of English, University of Nevada, Reno

Bio: Writing Studies, for me, moves between what can seem like distant camps. I am fascinated by the individual experience of writing, by what happens within the writer. I am just as engrossed by what writing programs, curricula, courses, and assignments can do to provoke, facilitate, discourage, exclude, and agitate those individual writers. The well-worn trails between the two have always been alive and fresh throughout my 31 years in teaching and professional service/leadership and 25 in administration. Every course I teach, every role I play as PI, director, editor, chair, coordinator, member, interviewer, reader, listener, writer is a new point of insight, a fresh way to see.

Statement: I bring my experiences with several professional organizations to bear on the development of AWAC. I have been president, vice president, affiliate representative, at-large, consultant, and volunteer in professional organizations at local, regional, national, and international levels, and I have found each rewarding and engaging. Thus far, however, I must admit that the at-large role has been the most flexible and responsive, which are particularly essential to a new organization like AWAC. I would like to see AWAC build a rich and functional network of affiliations and relationships. Building these relationships can be challenging, and amazing work can be done well when these collaborations happen. My deep knowledge of these kinds of organizations, both new and established, will be an asset to AWAC. I have led them, organized and run several of their conferences, liaised for them. I have a lot to offer. I am a workhorse, and AWAC will have a real asset in me.

Committee Chairs 

Advocacy Committee Chair  

Candidate: Sherri Craig

Bio: As an Assistant Professor of Professional Writing at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, I use my overlapping interests in workplace writing studies and mentoring underrepresented peoples to construct a curriculum for writers from many university spaces. My previous life as a hotel manager taught me the importance of self-promotion and storytelling to build deeper relationships with other people, departments, and disciplines and to overcome the feeling of isolated writing views and practices that often take root. My work on race, mentorship, and storytelling have previously appeared in WPA: Writing Program Administration Journal and I am currently working on the professional identity and writing habits of young Black women.

Statement: I have spent the last five years dedicated to issues in and surrounding advocacy through institutional, civic, and organizational service. I would bring my experience as the past chair of two diversity-based committees to help imagine AWAC as an organization where advocacy is more than a buzzword. Rather, I envision AWAC capable of turning advocacy into an embedded practicethrough developing a transparent collective voice on writing across the curriculum. With me on the executive board, advocating for WAC in national and international arenas will be grounded by my strong voice and a commitment to ensuring our challenges, efforts, resources, and positions place research-informed writing instruction in the hands of all of our stakeholders now and in the future.

Communications Committee Chair 

Candidate: Lisa Tremain

Bio: This is Lisa Tremain’s third year as WPA at Humboldt State University (HSU).  She has coordinated interdisciplinary literacy development and writing instruction across thirteen charter middle and high schools in Southern California and has worked in faculty development with a focus on literacy and the teaching of writing for fifteen years.  Her research examines writing knowledge transfer across contexts as well as how faculty take up new professional and/or pedagogical knowledge and transform it into their curricula.  She has been informally coordinating and leading faculty workshops on WAC at HSU and attended the Writing Enriched Curriculum (WEC) Institute at University of Minnesota.  HSU has asked her to lead a five-year formal adoption of WAC at Humboldt State beginning in Spring 2019

Statement: As an AWAC board member, I hope to enrich a burgeoning organization’s contributions to Writing Studies, Rhetoric and Composition, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).  I hope to see AWAC grow and thrive as a strong and organized association.  I can bring professional experiences of organization, coordination, collaboration, and communication to this leadership experience.  My institutional position can also provide insight to the board and the organization from a large-system perspective:  I am currently leading the adoption and implementation of a new WAC program at my institution, and I am working with faculty members and administrators across the CSU system to spearhead an endowed fund for enriched WAC programs across our twenty-three campuses.

Diversity and Inclusion Committee Chair 

Candidate: Al Harahap

Bio: Al Harahap will be Visiting Assistant Professor in Critical Theory and Cultural Studies at the University of Oklahoma. His research looks at culture, institutions, and political economies.As Chair of the WPA-GO he implemented in 2014 a more organic instrument with each and all committees accountable to diversity, which was then adopted by the Council of WPA the following year. More recently, he has chaired the WAC-GO and served on the AWAC Working Group of the past two years, the CCCC Social Justice and Activism Task Force, and as Global Ambassador for the University of Arizona.

Statement:AWAC is a potentially robust organization in that we welcome colleagues not only from varying identity backgrounds and geographical world regions, but also from many academic disciplines and institutional types, factors that are all connected. I say potentially because I believe we can do more. As an immigrant to the US, I have been shaped by various, complex integrations of academic writing throughout Asia and Australia. With the help of all committees and efforts, I hope to lend this experience so that we can make AWAC both more accessible and proactively reach out toward that robust academic community.

International Collaborations Committee Co-chair 

Candidate: Chris M. Anson

Bio: Chris Anson is Distinguished University Professor, Alumni Association Distinguished Graduate Professor, and Director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program at North Carolina State University, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in language, composition, and literacy and works with faculty across the disciplines to enhance writing and speaking instruction. He has published 19 books and 130 articles and book chapters relating to writing, WAC, and WID, and has spoken widely across the U.S. and in 31 other countries. He is Past Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication and Past President of the Council of Writing Program Administrators.  His full CV is at www.ansonica.net

Statement: As a member of the planning committee for the establishment of AWAC, and as a member of the CCCC Globalization Committee, I am especially interested in fostering international collaborations and communication on behalf of this emerging organization. Both research on writing and attention to academic writing are burgeoning around the globe, yet in spite of some recent efforts, there are still insufficient opportunities for scholars and practitioners to learn from each other and enrich each other’s work from international perspectives. Through my existing and future international connections, I would like to help AWAC explore new possibilities for global, reciprocal outreach.

Candidate: Federico Navarro

Bio: Federico Navarro is a researcher and professor at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina (CONICET), at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and at the Universidad de Chile, where he is currently leading a state-funded research project on students’ writing across the curriculum. He is the president of the Latin American Association of Writing Studies in Higher Education and Professional Contexts (ALES) and the Chief Editor of International Exchanges: Latin America Section, The WAC Clearinghouse, Colorado State University. He has published around 100 research papers in 9 countries, including the Spanish edition of “Reference Guide to WAC” (2016).

Statement: I would like to help AWAC build bridges with other regions, scholarship traditions, educational systems and languages, so as to contribute to making the WAC movement truly international. As a Latin American scholar and president of ALES, I can specifically help expand the WAC movement and AWAC in Latin America, as well as fostering local scholars to participate in AWAC initiatives. I believe it is important to institutionalize equal interchanges and collaborations between associations, conventions and journals’ special issues. In addition, as Chief Editor of the recently created International Exchanges: Latin America Section (the WAC Clearinghouse), I would like to promote the translation of key WAC papers into Spanish and Portuguese, as well as key WAC-friendly Latin American scholarship into English.

International Writing Across the Curriculum (IWAC) Conference Committee Chair

Candidate: Margaret J. Marshall

Marshall is the Director of University Writing at Auburn University and served as the Host for IWAC 2018. As previous past host, she has the most recent experience of the costs and issues associated with the IWAC conference. As Director of University Writing, Marshall oversees a university-wide WAC/WID initiative that embeds significant writing experiences, broadly defined, into every undergraduate major. Marshall and her team support the initiative through a wide range of programs for students and faculty, including implementation of an ePortfolio Project, Auburn’s QEP.

Statement: I’m pleased to support the formation of AWAC as a unifying organization for the many activities that promote writing in all disciplines. As the representative of the IWAC Steering Committee I hope to support a broader understanding of the important role IWAC serves both for those of us in writing studies and for our colleagues from other disciplines. Finding ways to sustain the conference and connect to other important AWAC activities will be essential for our shared goals.

Mentoring Committee Chair 

Candidate: Dan Melzer

Bio: I’m the former WAC and Writing Center director at Cal State Sacramento and the current FYC director at UC Davis. I’m a former co-chair of INWAC and the CCCC WAC SG. My research interests are WAC and writing program administration, and I’ve published the books Assignments Across the Curriculum and Sustainable WAC (with Michelle Cox and Jeff Galin) as well as articles on WAC in CCC, WPA Journal, and WAC Journal. I’ve given over thirty invited talks and workshops on WAC at middle schools, high schools, two-year colleges, and universities across the U.S.

Statement: I was a regular participant in the AWAC planning group, and I’m enthusiastic about continuing to play a leadership role in the organization. I’m interested in chairing the mentoring committee because I’d like to see the informal mentoring that goes on in WAC—mentoring that I have benefited from—become more formalized and more widely accessible. I’ve been researching and writing about sustainable development of WAC, and I think I would bring a research-based perspective to AWAC as well as fifteen years of experience mentoring WAC directors through site visits and informal conversations at C’s and IWAC.

Organizational Support/Sustaining Connections Committee Chair 

Candidate: Brian Hendrickson

Bio: Brian Hendrickson is an Assistant Professor of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition at Roger Williams University. His organizational leadership includes chairing the Writing Program Administration and Writing Across the Curriculum Graduate Organizations (WPA-GO and WAC-GO), as well as a university initiative advocating for culturally and linguistically responsive writing pedagogy across and beyond the curriculum. A member of the AWAC Working Group and WAC Clearinghouse editorial board, Brian also serves as managing editor of Xchanges.His research, which appears in publications such as Across the Disciplines and WAC Journal, explores writing as a tool for crossing cultural, curricular, and civic boundaries.

Statement: At IWAC 2018, our committee described our objective as establishing reciprocity between AWAC and other WAC entities. I see this work as essential to WAC’s vitality and inclusivity. As committee chair, I would emphasize the importance of working with prospective partners to identify areas of need they want AWAC to address, and critically reflecting on how AWAC’s emergent organizational structure might best respond to these needs. In this spirit, our committee will collaborate with our partners and the AWAC board toward memoranda of agreement that enact AWAC’s mission of connecting, supporting, and growing the WAC community.

Promoting Partnerships Committee Chair 

Candidate: Paul Pasquaretta

Bio: I currently serve as QUWAC coordinator, Director of the Quinnipiac University Research and Writing Institute, and Managing Editor of Double Helix: A Journal of Critical Thinking and Writing. I have managed four national conferences, organized numerous workshops on my home campus, co-managed a scholarship of teaching and learning grants program, and taken a lead role in advancing a culture of writing at Quinnipiac. Along the way, I have forged partnerships with disciplinary faculty on campus, WAC and WID scholars at home and abroad, the WAC Clearinghouse, NEWACC, University of St. Joseph, and Hamden High School.

Statement: WAC is unique in its ability to foster dialogue and collaboration around the universal desire of educators to improve student learning and achievement. Given that writing is an object of study in its own right, and that writing skills are necessary to achieve success in any academic discipline, WAC partnerships have the power to transform institutions, individual careers, and higher education itself. As a candidate for the chair of AWAC’s Partnership Committee, I look forward to the opportunity to expand the reach of WAC to the many constituencies that may benefit from our practice and scholarship.

Research and Publications Committee Chair 

Candidate: Heather Falconer

Bio: Heather Falconer is an Assistant Professor of Writing at Curry College and Associate Editor for the Perspectives on Writing book series (The WAC Clearinghouse). Her research has appeared in The WAC Journal, the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, the Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, and is forthcoming in Written Communication. She received a 2016 CCCC Emergent Research/er award for her research with underrepresented minorities in science. Heather has a strong history of interdisciplinary collaboration in qualitative and quantitative research, and over two decades’ worth of experience in the publishing and development sectors. She is also an avid gardener and painter.

Statement: As part of AWAC, the Research and Publications Committee has the potential to effect real change both inside and outside academia. Whether it is helping junior scholars navigate the early stages of study design, raising awareness of publishing opportunities, or building research collaborations across disciplines and institutions, I believe the next phase of WAC/WID work should involve creating opportunities to generate and disseminate scholarship to as wide an audience as possible. This Committee can be a strong facilitator in that process and I believe our job is to strategically direct the knowledge and skill each member brings toward creative and productive initiatives.

Writing Across the Curriculum Summer Institute (WACSI) Committee Co-chair

Candidate: Alisa Russell

Writing Across the Curriculum Graduate Organization (WAC-GO) Committee Chair

Candidate: Allie Sockwell Johnston

Bio: Allie Sockwell Johnston is a second year Ph.D. student, concentration in Rhetoric, Writing, and Linguistics, and Graduate Teaching Associate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She teaches courses in first-year writing with international students. Her research interests include WAC, writing program administration, multimodality, and writing center studies. She discovered WAC through her work in writing centers, leading her to join the WAC Graduate Organization and serve on the Executive Committee. Since then, she has co-authored a piece for the first IWAC edited collection.

Statement: My WAC-GO leadership experience started by serving as the Coordinator, leading to my current role as WAC-GO Chair. During this time, I have talked with graduate students across the country about their WAC-related interests, projects, and concerns. Because of these experiences, I am well-positioned to serve as a voice for graduate students by connecting AWAC and WAC-GO. Additionally, my goal as an AWAC board member is to deepen my knowledge of the field by learning from experienced scholars and researchers around me.