How would your studies and / or your professional experiences advance the goals of WPA-GO? These goals may be found in the About Me section of WPA-GO’s website: http://wpacouncil.org/wpa-go (no more than 150 words) *
I propose to use my research and program experience to help advance WPA-GO’s goal of turning attention to writing instruction, assessment, and program administration through a social justice framework. This framework can be implemented through research and practice; research, by identifying and prioritizing scholars who also use social justice frameworks, and practice, by providing model documents for instructors or program administrators who are interested in employing these frameworks within their institutions.
What kinds of support do you value as a graduate student and how would you further those forms of support for others through WPA-GO? (no more than 250 words) *
Two forms of support have helped me succeed as a graduate student, and the WPA-GO can help me extend those forms of support to others. First, my mentors in the field have supported me through recognition of graduate student labor conditions like those cited in the recent (2019, March) Labor Task Force Report. Such recognition manifests in advocacy for equitable workloads and program environments, a recognition that can be applied through further work on developing WPA-GO’s resources for graduate students interested in coursework and professional opportunities. The second form of support I’ve found most valuable is networking; the WPA-GO has connected me with other graduate students and faculty doing similar work to my own. My work with WPA-GO’s mentoring committee has helped and will continue to help facilitate these initiatives.
CWPA pledges to “foster inclusion more generally; 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 these goals? Please answer this question by choosing one barrier you identify to meeting these goals in writing studies. How would your work within WPA-GO specifically address this barrier? (no more than 500 words) *
I propose working within WPA-GO to address the barrier of identifying our organization’s allies and their needs to gain a better awareness of CWPA’s role in fostering inclusion. Many groups in writing studies are engaged in conversations about diversity and justice. We should know who those groups are, and how we can help them achieve their goals. The first task is then to seek out groups that share CWPA’s goals through conference events and networking. As we engage in these multidisciplinary conversations, our sense of diversity and inclusion might expand toward more ways of supporting allies, and of acting against structural injustices.
The second task is then asking how we can best use WPA-GO resources to advance our needs, and the needs of our partner organizations. WPA-GO can complete this task through the organization’s committee work, particularly committee work focusing on mentoring, conferences, and digital presence. Inclusion is built into these initiatives, and so drawing more attention to these initiatives might expand our knowledge of inclusion. These initiatives can identify and mitigate this barrier to CWPA’s pledge of fostering inclusion, and illuminate the diversity in writing studies overall.
