Nominate: Midwest Writing Center Association executive board
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I hope your spring is off to a good start! I am writing to remind you that nominations for the Midwest Writing Center Association executive board are open. If you are located in our region, consider nominating yourself today!
As four members of our executive board prepare to end their three-year terms, we look forward to welcoming new members. We are now accepting nominations for four at-large board members. The due date for these nominations is April 15, and the terms for these newly-elected folks will begin Summer 2023 and end Summer 2026.
The MWCA Executive board especially encourages graduate students, colleagues of color, and colleagues from underrepresented parts of our region such as Kansas, Illinois, and the Dakotas to apply as we work to make our equity and anti-racist commitments part of our governance and systems.
We also welcome applicants who are newer to our profession! Previous experience and/or prior membership in MWCA is not required for board service.
We hope to see nominations from colleagues who may have been nominated in past elections! Each election is shaped by our changing membership, and new constituents vote each time. If you have run in the past and have not been elected, please consider running again!
Why serve on the MWCA executive board?
- Make positive professional connections: Work with committed educators from all over our region.
- Low time commitment: Initial commitments for at-large board members are just one hour-long Zoom meeting a month.
- Opportunity for leadership roles: Board members can transition into a leadership role at any point in their three-year term.
- Make a difference for colleagues in our region: While we host our regional conference every other year, there are many opportunities to build community and expand access to professional resources while serving on the MWCA executive board. Here are a few examples of committees an at-large board member may opt to serve on:
- Outreach committee: build resources and increase membership for underserved institutions in the Midwest region
- Newsletter committee: collect and disseminate information about member organizations and important updates for our community
- Website committee: members of this committee will advise on revisions to the website, including organizational, aesthetic, and archival concerns.
- Conference committee: even in non-conference years, there is plenty of preparation work to do for our next opportunity to come together!
We will be accepting nominations through April 15. If you or someone you know would like to join the board, please share this email!
To make a nomination, please send an email expressing your interest and include a 150-word bio or statement about yourself and your interests to me, Vice Chair Emma Catherine Perry (e...@unl.edu). If you are nominating someone else, please send their name/email and I will reach out to them individually for their bio.
Not sure what to include in your bio? Check out the sample below! Please feel free to email me (e...@unl.edu) with any questions.
Once we have the bios, we will send them out to our membership for a voting period of about 1 week in April. New board members will join us in June 2023.
Looking forward to reading your bios! Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns you may have.
All best,
Emma Catherine Perry, on behalf of the MWCA Board
Bio Sample:
Emma Catherine Perry serves as Associate Director of the Writing Center and Writing Fellows Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Before moving to Nebraska, Emma served as Assistant Director of the University of Georgia Writing Center while completing her PhD in English. She has worked as a peer tutor at UGA, Cornell University, and Kenyon College, and especially enjoys working one-with-one with students. She has published peer-reviewed work advocating for antiracist writing instruction, and has presented on a variety of writing-center topics at conferences such as 4Cs, IWCA, MWCA, and NCPTW. Her research interests include alternative approaches to graduate student writing instruction and creative writing in writing centers. Emma’s first collection of poetry will be published in September, 2023. If elected to the MWCA executive board, Emma will work to increase access to professional resources for underserved institutions in the Midwest.
Tips for bios:
Keep it short! We ask for no more than 150 words. Consider including information about your background in writing centers, your research interests, and what you hope to work on if elected to the board. A fun fact can be a good idea, too!