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) *
My studies are aiming for a background that focuses on pedagogy as well as inclusive practices in and out of the classroom. As I continue into my program, I’m working on building a background not just of teaching but of writing curriculum development and practice. While I focus on digital studies, I believe that the combination of my teaching and professional advance all of the goals especially the final attention to writing instruction, assessment, and program administration with a lens of social justice.
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) *
I have valued the mentorship I have received at all levels as well as the community that graduate students seem to have with each other not just in the individual programs, but in programs like this. We hold each other up, give encouragement, and stand in solidarity with each other. I plan to further my part in the community by shifting from receiving mentorship to roles of co-mentoring and mentoring incoming graduate students. Further, I think the research and practices that we do as part of the committees helps to break past standards and instill more inclusive ones.
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) *
My own background as a first-generation student and my current background as a low-income, single mother has helped me to think about how intersectional identities can affect the students that we teach and how it can affect the community of a campus as a whole. I believe that my selection with the committee will further the goals in a couple ways. Not only does my own research focus on intersectional identities, but much of the work that I have done even within the wpa-go committees work with these areas. For example, my first year I was on the Anti-racist assessment committee and helped with both the statement and the survey development, which they continue to work with this year. While this year, on the digital presence committee, I work with my group to find new ways of shedding light on both events and opportunities for other graduate students in the field. I hope to continue this work by taking what we’ve learned from the committees like the labor caucus and the anti-racist caucus to apply them to out practices and suggestions for the field. I think one of the biggest barriers to meeting our goals is not as much the research, though it is important and difficult work, but finding ways to include it and apply it to the practices that exist. It takes more than reports and making suggestions, and I hope to work within the WPA-GO to find ways to apply it to how we situate ourselves within the field as mentors and examples to upholding these values and promoting them.
