CWCA/ACCR Board of Directors
Join the CWCA/ACCR in one of the many open board positions this year:
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- Vice President
- Secretary
- Francophone Representative
- Membership chair
- Digital Media Chair
- Members-at-large (x2)
Position descriptions are available in the CWCA/ACCR’s bylaws. Different positions do have different time commitments. For the most part, you are free to make what you can of the opportunity. The board meets monthly for 90 minutes.
Getting involved provides you with opportunities to:
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- Contribute to the strength and development of Canada’s community of writing centre teacher-scholars;
- Forge strong relationships with colleagues from other institutions across Canada;
- Gain conference-planning experience (should you get involved in the annual conference!);
- Diversify your perspectives with a view into national writing centre trends, configurations, & approaches;
- Pilot national writing centre initiatives from professional development to advocacy.
The board is governed by clear bylaws, and has invested heavily over the last few years in ensuring that its working values, procedures, and practices are made explicit to facilitate the inclusion of newer voices so we can all hit the ground running!
Contact President Clare Bermingham and/or Vice President Stevie Bell to indicate your interest in running! We can also field any questions you might have.
To give you a sense of what it’s like to serve on the board, current board members have offered the following reflections on and insights into their experiences.
Marci Prescott-Brown
BIPOC Caucus Representative
As BIPOC Caucus Representative (ex officio), I help to bring the perspectives of the caucus to the board’s processes, sharing the ideas and experiences of the caucus’s diverse membership with the board for use in its many diverse planning and project endeavours. I report back to the board on questions and discussions the caucus thinks the board should take up and share the board’s questions for the caucus membership in caucus meetings. While the board might well take BIPOC-friendly approaches in my absence, as a caucus representative I seek to help these reflections be a part of board meetings in a consistent way. This position manifests the CWCA/ACCR’s commitment to diversity and inclusion through the constant flow of communication between the board and the caucus. Although I do not have a vote, I always feel board members value my views as a caucus representative; in fact, since I started this role in July 2022, I have seen that the board is eager to consider the impact of its decisions on BIPOC people and integrate diverse perspectives into its strategic planning. I really value the opportunity to build bridges through conversations that positively impact the CWCA/ACCR as well as caucus members and believe it has made us stronger as a whole.
Sheila Batacharya
Member at Large
The Member at Large position on the CWCA/ACCR Board has been a great way to get to know the organization and work on a wide range of projects. In this role, I have been welcomed and encouraged to contribute ideas from my perspective and support CWCA/ACCR organizational development (e.g., BIPOC Caucus and the Strategic Planning Working Group). A core activity in CWCA/ACCR is the annual conference, and I’ve also learned a great deal about contributing to this important event for CWCA/ACCR members. The Member at Large position is a good way to network with others in Writing Centre administration and teaching. Furthermore, my experience on the CWCA/ACCR Board has been positive, and I recommend this opportunity to anyone who is building their career as a writing instructor.
Lenore Latta
Digital Media Chair
I’ve been a member of the CWCA/ACCR for many years, and on the Board for the last 2 years as Digital Media Chair. I was interested in joining the Board to become more aware of some of the important writing centre issues outside our own institution. Through my position on the Board, I’ve been able to work with WordPress for editing websites and with Twitter for promoting events as well as distributing information about a variety of topics. In addition to tasks involved in my specific role, there have been many opportunities for involvement in conference organizing, special events, and advocacy. I have not been able to take advantage of all the opportunities, but I did participate with other CWCA/ACCR members to organize a session on Advocating for Antiracist Approaches to Writing in the Canadian Postsecondary Context. It involved working with expert colleagues in CWCA/ACCR to navigate the choice of structure (presentation vs panelists) and to host the session on Zoom. I was highly impressed with the range of knowledge and experiences that members brought to the task of organizing a session that demonstrated respect and consideration for those impacted by racist or colonial attitudes. During Board meetings, the diverse perspectives offered by the various members have contributed to rich discussions of topics such as anti-racism and decolonization that affect writing centres and writing centre practice.
Nadine Fladd
Membership Chair
I have been involved in CWCA/ACCR since 2018. I was asked to step in as interim Secretary for a few months at the end of a two-year term. I enjoyed my experience, so I stood for election to the secretary role when those few months ended. I joined the world of writing centres in 2015 after completing a PhD in literature; participating in CWCA/ACCR functioned as an immersive orientation to the field. I had worked as a peer tutor as an undergrad but hadn’t understood that writing centre work could be a career or that writing instruction, let alone writing centre pedagogy, was a field of study. My time on the Board from 2018-2020 — and trying to take notes without recognizing the names of the people Board members were referring to — functioned as a crash course to the challenges writing centre practitioners experience and the questions they try to answer. Since 2018 I’ve had the opportunity to meet Board members and CWCA/ACCR members from across the country — each from writing centres with their own structures and approaches — and learn from their experiences. I’ve also made some wonderful friends! A highlight was figuring out how to coordinate the first virtual CWCA/ACCR Annual General Meeting in the spring of 2020; I learned so much from that experience!
After a brief break from the Board I was elected as Membership Chair for a 2021-2023 term, which is now wrapping up. This role (enabled by the “pivot” to virtual teaching and conferencing) has given me the opportunity to flex my creative and programming muscles. I’ve helped with planning the first CWCA/ACCR Pilcrow Writing Retreat; helped organize discussions for members about how writing centres were approaching the return to in-person teaching; and supported conference work like coordinating travel grants. The Membership Chair role is a relatively new to the CWCA/ACCR Board, and there is a lot of flexibility for whomever takes on the role next to make it their own.
Tessa Troughton
Francophone Representative
As someone engaged in writing support work at a university Learning Centre, I had wanted to be on the CWCA/ACCR board for a while so that I could learn more about conversations about writing centre work in Canada. I have been on the board of the CWCA for two years now as the Francophone representative. It has been a great learning experience. I have had the opportunity to participate in key discussions about issues facing writing centres today. I recommend the experience to writing centre professionals looking for service work that is also a professional development opportunity.