Question: CWPA pledges “to promote research into student diversities; promote policies that increase diversity in our membership and in the population of people who administer writing programs; and explicitly act against the structures that cause injustice today,” and WPA-GO is dedicated to supporting this mission. How will your selection to the WPA-GO Graduate Committee advance this goal?
Ashanka Kumari: My selection in WPA-GO advances this goal in a few ways. First, I identify as an Indian-American woman who is a first-generation college student and child of immigrants. Additionally, my research, teaching, and service commits all work towards similar goals to the CWPA: my dissertation project focus on first-generation (to college) doctoral students in rhetoric and composition and the ways they navigate and negotiate graduate study with their lives; I strive to create inclusive classroom spaces through the ways I structure my courses; and I am actively involved in several organizations that serve students in my department and campus communities. I am eager to take this work to a space that works to impact graduate communities more nationally such as WPA-GO.
