NEWCA 2024: Our New Conference Model
The Northeast Writing Centers Association has decided to mirror our parent organization, the International Writing Centers Association, in moving to a bi-annual conference model. Therefore, stay tuned for information on the NEWCA Conference for 2025!
Spring 2024 happenings:
Sunday, April 21, at Cornell University, the English Language Support Office and the Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines will be hosting a Peer Writing Center Tutor Conference!
The Peer Writing Center Tutor Conference will be a one-day event (10am-4pm) that is focused on providing undergraduate and graduate student peer writing tutors an opportunity to meet and engage with the intellectual inquiries that are central to our work in writing centers. As the CFP explains, we are encouraging submissions for a wide array of 15- and 30- minute activities–including sharing a writing center handout, leading a discussion about an intriguing and generative text excerpt, and traditional presentation. Essentially, we want to create a friendly and supportive space to network and share the pressing issues, exciting innovations, and intellectual ideas currently circulating in our writing centers.
The CFP includes details about the event, its cost, and a link for proposals. The registration link will be sent out shortly.
We hope that you will share this with your tutors and encourage them to submit proposals, or anyone within the region we may have missed. Please feel free to reach out to Nathan W. Lindberg if you have any questions, ideas, or concerns.
Past Events:
New Steering Committee formed on October 23, 2023
NEWCA Steering Committee Meeting, June 28, 2023
NEWCA Conference 2023
April 1, 2023
at the University of New Hampshire
Durham, NH
NEWCA Steering Committee Meeting, May 24, 2022
Spring Labor Series Workshop IV. “You Can’t Choose Your Family”: Forming Kinship in Writing Centers with Labor Activism, May 4, 2022. Yanar Hashlamon. In this workshop, participants will be invited to imagine the potential for writing center kinship with the practices of intersectional labor activism that developed alongside, but separately from, writing center history. Participants will conduct a labor audit of their writing centers and consider what forming alternative kinships might add to their collaborative and administrative practices. Find resource here.
Spring Labor Series Workshop III. The Intersections of Contingent Writing Center Worker Identity, April 6, 2022. Clint Gardner, Maggie Herb, & Lila Naydan. This interactive presentation addresses contingency as a kind of social class that intersects with other identities that workers in writing centers hold. Participants will consider demographics of the field and the challenges and advantages of their own intersectional identities, particularly with regard to professional advancement. Find resource here.
Spring Labor Series Workshop II. Labor of Love, or Love of Labor? What It Means to Be a Writing Center Director During the Pandemic, March 30, 2022, Maria Soriano Young. This session will present survey findings from a two-year project that tracked writing center personnel during the pandemic; the data will show what changed in the profession and impacts on both writing centers and their leaders. What does the future of our field look like? What should those who want to enter (or remain in) the world of writing centers know? Our session will thrive on discussion—inviting and honoring all opinions and perspectives—as we explore these questions together. Find resource here.
Spring Labor Series Workshop I. Community Writing, Class Identity, and Archives in Writing Center Work, February 23, 2022, Jessica Pauszek. In this interactive workshop, we will explore topics of community literacy, class identity and labor, and archives, thinking through their possibilities within writing program administration and writing center work. The presenter will discuss the ways she has integrated community publications into her work, as well describe co-creating transnational print/digital archives of working-class community writing. Find resource here.
NEWCA + ECWCA Spring 2022 Book Club: Join us to discuss Baker-Bell’s book Linguistic Justice. Each group will meet three times over Zoom this Spring. Contact NEWCA Facilitator Molly Parsons for a copy of Baker-Bell’s book.
2022 IWCA Summer Institute Sponsorship: NEWCA to sponsor the full registration cost for 1 attendee (working in the Northeast region of the United States) of the 2022 IWCA Summer Institute. IWCA membership not included in sponsorship.
NEWCA Steering Committee, December 15, 2021.
Writing Center Practitioner’s Virtual Conversation (Check-In and Share Around, hosted by Dr. Meaghan Elliott Dittrich and Cyndi Roll, UNH), November 3, 2021. Come join us for the second writing center practitioner meeting of the year. We will gather to check-in, share, and learn from each other as we navigate yet another pandemic semester. ALL writing center and writing program administrators in the Northeast (and beyond) are welcome to join us.
NEWCA Tutor Conversation Hour, October 13, 2021. Please join us for a discussion of tutoring styles and strategies for adapting your approach to meet the individual needs of writers. Hosted by the University of New Haven Writing Center tutors.
NEWCA Steering Committee Meeting, October 13.
RMWCA Anti-Racism Workshop: September 29, 2021. This three-part webinar focused on creating anti-racism and inclusion statements for our writing centers. At the final workshop (9/29), we will hear from a WPA who had to deal with push back against such a statement at the University of Washington, Tacoma, Dr. Asao Inoue (now of Arizona State University). Dr. Inoue will discuss how writing centers can effectively respond to pushback, along with the development of UWT Writing Center’s ground-breaking anti-racism statement. NEWCA members are welcome to join, please contact Dr. Lisa Bell for more information!
Writing Center Practitioner’s Virtual Conversation (Moving Forward in the Pandemic, hosted by Dr. Genie Giaimo, Middlebury College), September 8, 2021. Come join us for the first writing center practitioner meeting of the year. We will gather to check-in, share, and learn from each other as we navigate yet another pandemic semester. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. ALL writing center and writing program administrators in the Northeast (and beyond) are welcome to join us.
2021 – 2022 Announcement on Annual Conference: In lieu of a conference this academic year, we will host monthly free programming for peer and professional writing center practitioners. There are many fine online conferences including, NCPTW, SWCA, and CWCA. NEWCA members are invited to facilitate a tutor hour or practitioner hour, simply contact Co-Presidents Genie Giaimo and Cyndi Roll.
Writing Center Administrators Virtual Conversation (Budgeting & Staffing Concerns): April 12, 2021. This is a chance for WC administrators to share concerns and strategies about budget crises and staffing issues in our current context. Co-hosted by Amanda Fields, Director of the Central Connecticut State University Writing Center, and Meaghan Elliott Dittrich, Director of the Connors Writing Center at the University of New Hampshire.
Spring ’21 NEWCA/ECWCA Book Club: The Northeast Writing Centers Association (NEWCA) is partnering with ECWCA for a Book Club! We’ll be reading The Things We Carry: Strategies for Recognizing and Negotiating Emotional Labor in Writing Program Administration (https://upcolorado.com/utah-state-university-press/item/3869-the-things-we-carry) edited by Courtney Adams Wooten, Jacob Babb, Kristi Murray Costello, and Kate Navickas. You can receive a discount on the book with the code SMLLBLKBS ordered through Utah State UP (use the link above).
Virtual Conversations about Writing Center/Library Collaborations: January 21, 2021. Over the past few years, Kate Tirabassi & Elizabeth Dolinger worked to merge library’s research services with the writing center’s services at Keene State College, resulting in a newly named Center for Research & Writing. During this virtual conversation, we shared some lessons learned through our integration, offered a writing prompt, and talked together in small and large groups. We look forward to ongoing conversations between library and writing center faculty/staffs interested in doing similar work.
Zoom Recording: If you were unable to attend the January 21st session, but would like to view it, please click here for the Zoom recording.
Reconsidering the Concept of “Communities of Practice,” R. Mark Hall: March 4, 2021, 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Zoom Recording + Audio/Chat Transcripts: https://keene.zoom.us/rec/share/eXQOM9PXTutXGvCZU3utwprOWODVOedFG8OW8SiVO8JA9GiSIAceXfMv9h5pp9zS.WZfAIN2fg6gqPS3w
Kaltura Link to Recording + Live Caption Transcript: https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/420171/uiconf_id/33137141/entry_id/1_8r1bdf6p/embed/dynamic#t=00:04
Writing Center Administrators’ Virtual Conversation (Reflecting on Fall, Looking Toward Spring), January 15, 2021: This was an informal opportunity to talk with colleagues about how things went for our centers this Fall and what goals/challenges we’re facing this Spring.
December 15, 2020: NH WC Administrators’ Book Club: Claude Steele’s Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do. Contact Molly Parsons at Molly.Parsons@keene.edu for more info!
November 24, 2020: Tutor Conversation Hour: Building Rapport & Writer Confidence, hosted by Keene State College Center for Research & Writing’s tutor Sarah Flynn.
November 9, 2020: Conversation Hour for NH & NY Tutors: Diverse Learning Styles and Remote Consulting, hosted by Sabrina Siegal, Plymouth State University.
2020-2021+ Announcement:
In lieu of our annual f2f Spring conference, NEWCA is planning several opportunities in the coming months for writing center staffs to connect virtually. We will host free webinars, conversation hours with tutors/administrators/state representatives, book club meetings. We will also continue to share new resources, as we have with research and need-based funding opportunities for writing center staff in the NEWCA region. Watch this space and our Facebook and Twitter pages for news updates and upcoming events!
(NEW FALL 2020) NEWCA Tutor Conversation Hours. This is an opportunity for tutors from writing centers in our region (New England and New York) to come together (over Zoom) for an hour of informal conversation on any topic they choose. (No prep necessary!) Tutors choose a topic and host the conversation hour. For more information, and to propose a topic, contact NEWCA leadership!
Northeast Writing Centers Association 