CFP: Midwest Writing Center Association March 2023 Conference

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Hello All,

The Midwest Writing Center Association Executive Board is working hard to plan the 2023 MWCA Conference, and we hope to see you there. The conference will be held March 9 -- 11 at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, just to the north of St. Louis.

 The CFP is listed below. Submit your proposal and register for the conference at https://www.mwcamembers.org/ Also use this link to create or renew your membership. 

Individual MWCA memberships are $30 ($33 with a credit card) yearly, and institutional memberships are $80 ($85 with a credit card) yearly. With an institutional membership, anyone—faculty, staff, or student—with an email address from the institution can access the member site. 

MWCA | Midwest Writing Centers Association As a regional nonprofit organization and an affiliate of the International Writing Centers Association, the Midwest Writing Centers Association (MWCA) encourages communication and collaboration among writing centers in the Midwestern region of the United States, which include Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Upper Michigan, and Wisconsin. www.mwcamembers.org

Gateways Reimagined: Transforming Perspectives in the Writing Center

March 9th-11th, 2023

Lindenwood University, St. Charles, MO

Keynote Speaker: Heather Brown-Hudson

The Gateway Arch was built as a doorway, a beacon for the future, and a memorable landmark across the St. Louis skyline. However, this landmark represents a complicated history of colonialism and gatekeeping. How it’s viewed is a matter of perspective. 

Ideally, a gateway is a path of entry or a means of access to a writerly community or academic field. Writing centers have aspired to be transformative spaces for students, but functionally, the writing center sometimes takes on the role of a gatekeeper to the academy. To advocate for our students, writing centers are challenged to explore antiracism, ability/disability, and gender identity, and more. Gateways can be a helpful metaphor as writing centers affect students, faculty, and the administration, but they can inadvertently carry implications we did not intend. 

For this conference, we invite proposals that highlight this idea of the writing center as a gateway. You may consider topics in the list below, though the list is not exhaustive:

• How do writing centers seek to transform perspectives within the administration, in the faculty community, and in the student body?
• Who are our stakeholders? How do they perceive the Writing Center? How do these stakeholders influence others’ perspectives of the Writing Center?
• What challenges do writing centers face when they position themselves as gateways?
• What messages does a writing center send that capture the idea of gateways? What other metaphors does the writing center embody?
• How do/can writing centers show diversity, equity, and inclusion (within the umbrella of ability/disability, antiracism, gender identity, etc.) within this idea of writing centers as gateways?
• What are the difficult conversations that are–or aren’t–happening in the Writing Center field?
• What identity issues are interconnected with the idea of writing centers as gateways? How are minoritized students affected by this?
• How can writing centers acknowledge (and change) their complicity in gatekeeping roles within their own institutions?

In exploring these and other questions, we welcome proposals that extend or challenge conversations from the wider writing center community (Writing Center Journal, WLN, Praxis, IWCA, NCPTW, state/regional consortiums, etc). What questions, discussions, or challenges have grabbed your attention at other conferences, on listerves, or in recent literature?

We encourage you to consider these topics and more as you prepare your proposal. Please also indicate what type of session best conveys your thoughts.

• Panel Presentation: 3 or 4 presentations of 15-­20 minutes each on a specific theme or question.
• Individual Presentation: 15-­20 minute presentation (that will be combined into a panel).
• Workshop: A participatory session that engages attendees in active learning.
• Roundtable Discussion: 15 minutes of introductory framing by the leader(s) followed by a facilitated discussion among attendees. 

• Poster Presentation: A research-­fair style presentation in which the presenter(s) create a visual argument and informally discuss their research with attendees.

Proposal Submission: Proposals should include a 50-word abstract and a 500-word maximum narrative description. Proposals should be as specific as possible about the role of the presenters, the participation of others in attendance, and the contribution the session makes to writing center studies. In addition, in your proposal submission, you will be asked to select a few keywords appropriate to your proposal.

All proposals will undergo anonymous review by members of the MWCA board. Please submit your proposal at mwcamembers.org. 

Cost:

• Students: $115
• Professionals: $135
• Nonmembers: $170

Questions: 

Elizabeth Busekrus Blackmon, St. Louis Community College Writing Center Supervisor and MWCA conference chair, ebuse...@stlcc.edu. 

Ben

Benjamin D. Thiel

he/him/his What does this mean?

Writing Specialist and English Instructor

Academic Center for Excellence

Mount Mercy University