Making Connections: May 2001
Donna Reiss, CAC Connections Editor
Home Page: http://www.wordsworth2.net/
Email: dreiss@wordsworth2.net
Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC) activities are in full bloom this spring, with a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) conference to welcome June, a national writing contest to celebrate collaborative writing in any discipline or across disciplines, and forthcoming special editions of Language and Learning Across the Disciplines. Anyone who wonders what the future holds for WAC, CAC, and other communication-intensive, active learning movements, might feel reinvigorated by the shift from a biennial to an annual WAC conference. The 2002 conference will be hosted by Rice University and the 2003 conference by the University of Missouri. Most of the information here comes from e-mail exchanges, news releases, and Web sites (sometimes altered; sometimes verbatim).
Writing, Teaching, and Learning in New Contexts: WAC Conference Blooms in May and June
"Writing, Teaching, and Learning in New Contexts," the theme of the WAC 2001 Conference, May 31-June 2, Indiana University, Bloomington, is designed "to focus attention upon the changes in institutions and learning environments that WAC and WID programs and teachers find themselves shaping and accommodating." Now online are the conference program, travel information, registration details, and entertainment options. Space is available to preregister or to register on site.
Approximately 300 teachers, administrators, and students interested in writing across the curriculum and in the disciplines will offer a wide range of presentations that illustrate the expanding contexts for WAC: in distance and distributive learning; with learning communities and first-year experience programs; and in service learning courses. More familiar WAC issues also will be presented: the work of renewing, reinvigorating, and reinventing WAC programs as financial, administrative, and academic landscapes change; best practices for programs of varying sizes; faculty development challenges and solutions; and writing in the sciences.
In addition to concurrent sessions, several roundtable discussions include "WAC in the New Millennium," chaired by Chris Thaiss, and "Growing a New WAC Program," a discussion led by faculty from Georgia State University and chaired by Mary Hocks.
As in past years, the conference will host some of the foremost scholars in the WAC community, including Lillian Bridwell-Bowles, Bill Condon, Malcolm Kiniry, Joe Law, Andrea Lunsford, David Russell, Chris Thaiss, Mark Waldo, Angela Williams, Art Young, and Steven Youra. Featured speakers will address the impact of technology, speaking, and visual communication:
- Barbara E. Walvoord, University of Notre Dame: "Time, Space, Technology, and Writing Across the Curriculum"
- Kathleen Blake Yancey, Clemson University: "A Matter of Design: The Uses of Writing, Speech, and the Visual in Learning across the Curriculum"
- Gail E. Hawisher, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign: "Online WAC in the Twenty-first Century"
Conference hosts Ray Smith, Indiana University; Barbara Walvoord, University of Notre Dame; and Irwin Weiser, Purdue University will welcome 400-plus participants to springtime in Bloomington, in the heart of Indiana limestone country, and the beautiful Indiana University campus.
Why Writing Makes a Difference: Campbell/Pearce Prize for Best Co-authored Undergraduate Essay
Hot on the heels of their TIME/Princeton Review recognition as Public College of the Year, Clemson University’s Communication Across the Curriculum Program and Pearce Center for Professional Communication are continuing their celebration of collaboration with a prize for co-authored undergraduate essays. Papers on "Why Writing Makes a Difference" should focus on writing as a cognitive, social and cultural tool rather than focusing on rhetorical or textual criticism and may concentrate on any aspect of writing, for example, writing in the past, present or future; personal or public writing; educational or professional writing; writing online or in print; writing in and across disciplines; writing and social justice; and writing as a tool for learning and thinking.
Each essay should be co-authored by at least two and no more than three undergraduates who will share a $3,000 prize for the winning essay from any discipline or a collaboration across disciplines. Each essay must be sponsored by a faculty member, with no more than one submission from each sponsor, and the sponsor of the winning paper receives $1,000 as does the department. Other criteria and details for submission by the December 1, 2001 deadline appear on the Web
WAC Around the World and Poetic WAC: Special Issues of Language and Learning Across the Disciplines
Even if you cannot come to the WAC Conference in Bloomington, you can keep up-to-date on WAC theory with the journal Language and Learning Across the Disciplines (LLAD), edited by Sharon Quiroz and Michael Pemberton. LLAD "publishes articles dealing with issues in learning theory, discourse analysis, participation in disciplinary discourse, and the social, intellectual and political locations of WAC programs." Submission and subscription information and selected back issues are on the Web.
- Sue McLeod is guest editing a special issue on "International WAC," scheduled for publication in 2002. The contributors are WAC specialists in the United States who have consulted in other countries and people in other countries who are adapting WAC ideas for their institutions.
- "Poetry Across the Curriculum" (2003), guest edited by Art Young, invites 500-1000-word proposals by February 15, 2002 "on any aspect of teaching and learning that occurs when students write poetry in courses in the disciplines. In this context, especially encouraged are proposals that investigate the role of the poetic function of language in the disciplines; connections between creative writing and academic discourse; the development of student creative and critical thinking abilities; and the personal, social, pedagogical, and academic uses of poetic language." Send proposals and inquiries to Art Young, apyoung@clemson.edu, Department of English, 616 Strode Tower, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0523.
WAC-Key | developed by Donna Reiss May 2001
Publication Information: Reiss, Donna. (2001). Making Connections: May 2001. Academic.Writing. http://wac.colostate.edu/aw/connections/connections3.htm
Publication Date: May 15, 2001
DOI: 10.37514/AWR-J.2001.2.1.15
Copyright © 2001 Academic.Writing.