Welcome to all of you who are participants in the 2008 IWCA Summer Institute! And to the many friends of the writing center summer institute around the world! Thanks for visiting.
Through this blog, the institute’s leaders and co-chairs will share their thoughts about the institute, preview some of the institute’s sessions, and introduce you to some of the delights of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the city of Madison, where the institute will be held from July 20–July 25, 2008.
The writing center summer institute is a really special kind of learning experience, first because of whom it brings together. This year you’ll be part of a great group of 55 participants—from aspiring and brand-new writing center directors to associate directors and directors with a few powerful years of experience to professionals in the field for over 20 years--from all around the United States and from seven other countries. This year’s participants come from secondary schools, community colleges, small colleges, and medium-sized and large universities, both private and public. The knowledge and interests that participants bring are absolutely central to the learning that goes on at the institute.
Joining these participants in the institute will be ten wonderful leaders and co-chairs, all of whom have extensive experience leading wonderful, innovative, successful writing centers, who are leaders in the writing center profession, who are engaging teachers, and who are dedicated mentors:
Co-Chairs—
- Lisa Ede, Oregon State University
- Paula Gillespie, Marquette University
- Brad Hughes, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Leaders—
- Sharifa Daniels, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
- Nancy Grimm, Michigan Tech University
- Jenny Jordan, Glenbrook North High School, IL
- Neal Lerner, MIT
- Beverly Moss, The Ohio State University
- Jill Pennington, Lansing Community College
- Elisabeth Piedmont-Marton, Southwestern University
We’ll also be joined by several great career professionals and leaders from the UW-Madison Writing Center—Emily Hall, Melissa Tedrowe, Nancy Linh Karls, and Terry Maggio—and by undergraduate and graduate tutors from Marquette University and UW-Madison.
Together, over the course of an intensive week, we’ll learn collaboratively about the latest in writing center practice, theory, research, politics, and administration. We’ll think practically and theoretically about the challenges and the opportunities in this exciting field. We’ll raise tough questions, answer some of those, and pose new ones. We’ll have lots of fun. And we’ll create a community of professionals who will support and challenge each other for years after the institute is over.
To learn more about the 2008 IWCA Summer Institute, watch for new entries on this blog and check out the institute website.
If you want a preview of what Madison looks like, take a look at some gorgeous photos of the city and university by a talented Madison photographer, Zane Williams.
More later . . .
--Brad
Brad Hughes
co-chair, 2008 IWCA Summer Institute
director, Writing Center
director, Writing Across the Curriculum
Department of English
University of Wisconsin-Madison
7 comments:
As a participant at the 2003 Summer Institute, I know you will benefit greatly from your time at the Institute! You meet wonderful colleagues (The SoCal Writing Centers Association was created as a direct result of writing Center directors from Southern California meeting in Madison.), learn tons(what theories underpin our work, what fellow practicitioners are doing), and enjoy the beautiful sites that Madison has to offer.
(I was partial to walks along the lake, local beer, and funky downtown coffee shops.)
Enjoy your week!
--Shareen Grogan
National University
San Diego
As one of the leaders of the first Summer Institute, I look back at that experience as one of the highlights of my career. An intense week of constant writing center talk, conversation, ideas, inspiration, friendship and fun. When do we otherwise have such an opportunity in our lives, whether over lunch or sitting and staring at the lake, or shopping in those neat little shops, or chowing down great ethnic dinners with a group from the institute and talking shop. We compared problems, solutions, gossip, and thoughts about our work. Loved it, and the 2008 participants can look forward to the same kind of experience. Enjoy! Learn! Go home knowing you have fifty new colleagues whom you are now close friends with.
And a question. As participants post notes to this blog, I"d like to hear what you anticipate learning about and what your personal concerns about your work are. Be open, be honest. I look forward to hearing from you.
Mickey (a k a Muriel Harris)
Seriously, I have never been this excited about going to a workshop! I am so grateful to have a chance to participate in this Summer Institute!
Scott Chiu
Michigan State University
I am so looking forward to meeting you, Scott. Thanks to your international experience, as well as your disciplinary expertise, we're all going to learn a lot with and from you.
I am so excited to be returning to the Summer Institute as it returns to Madison, one of the coolest college towns in the Midwest. I learned so much, not only in the sessions but from talking to everyone else. I am particularly looking forward to discussing assessment processes and technology use - and of course to taking morning walks on the path next to the lake.
Gail Jacky
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL
I'm so pleased--and so so nostalgic--to know that the summer institute is returning to its site of origin, the shore of Lake Mendota. Back in '03, Paula and Brad brought Paula's brainchild to life in such splendid fashion. Now that Lisa joins them as co-chair, look out! Of course, all the '03 alums know who really makes things happen in Madison: Terry!
To all of you chairs, leaders, and participants, congratulations and best wishes on the adventure that awaits you--what may well be a career defining one, as Mickey so aptly put it in her comment. I'll imagine you hunkered into rich discussion in Pyle Center meeting rooms, of course, but another fond image will be of you sitting in a sun-burst chair on the Terrace, a beer and a brat at hand, gazing out over the water past the sailboats toward that great symbol of American civilization, the Oscar Meyer wiener factory. If you are a teetotalling vegetarian, sorry I can't see you. Oh wait! There you are joining Lisa for some ice cream.
Here's to your serious work, but also to your fun. Cheers!
What a great welcome to our wonderful city, Brad! Like all of the other locals involved in the Institute, I'm very excited to welcome participants to Madison. :)
-Annette
Post a Comment