Category: CWCA Conference Announcements

Announcement | Paid Opportunity – Assistant Conference Chair

~ CWCA/ACCR

Access a PDF version of this Position Description

Job Title: Assistant Conference Chair

Location: Remote

Position Type: Part-time, Contract

Term: February 10 – June 30, 2025

Compensation: $3,000

About Us: The Canadian Writing Centre Association/association canadienne des centres de rédaction (CWCA/ACCR) is dedicated to supporting writing centres across Canada through professional development, networking, and advocacy. As the Vice President of the CWCA/ACCR, we are seeking a motivated and organized individual to join the CWCA/ACCR board as the Assistant Conference Chair. The position runs from January – June 30, 2025. This role is crucial in ensuring the success of our annual conference, which brings together writing centre professionals from across the country.

Job Summary: The Assistant Conference Chair will work closely with the Conference Chair and the CWCA/ACCR Vice President to plan, organize, and execute the annual conference. The hired applicant is expected to become a member of CWCA/ACCR.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Assist in the development and implementation of the conference agenda and schedule.
  • Facilitate the blind review process by communicating in a timely manner with reviewers, distributing the review materials, and coordinating the responses/decisions.
  • Coordinate with speakers, presenters, and panelists to ensure timely submission of materials and adherence to deadlines.
  • Manage conference registration, including processing registrations, sending confirmations, and handling inquiries.
  • Assist in the creation and distribution of promotional materials and communications related to the conference.
  • Support the Conference Chair in managing the conference budget and tracking expenses.
  • Organize and participate in regular planning meetings with the Conference Chair.
  • Provide synchronous support during the conference, including registration desk management and troubleshooting any issues that arise.
  • Collect and analyze feedback from conference attendees to inform future planning.

Qualifications:

  • Canadian residency and current work permit.
  • Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., Communications, Event Management, Education) or equivalent experience.
  • Previous experience in event planning or conference coordination is highly desirable.
  • Strong organizational and time management skills.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and familiarity with event management software.
  • CWCA/ACCR is committed to putting on an inclusive, antiracist, accessible, decolonial, and liberatory conference. Experience with these approaches is an asset for the role, as are insights from lived experiences of the realities of exclusion, racism, inaccessibility, colonialism, and systematic injustice.

How to Apply: Interested candidates are invited to submit their resume and a cover letter outlining their qualifications and experience to chtaylor@wlu.ca. Please include “Assistant Conference Chair Application” in the subject line.

Application Deadline: February 1, 2025

Contact Information: Dr. Christin Wright-Taylor, Vice President, CWCA, chtaylor@wlu.ca

We look forward to receiving your application and thank all applicants for their interest. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted

CFP | 2025 CWCA/ACCR conference

~ CWCA/ACCR

Precarity, Pluckiness, and “Please Help!”: Negotiating Uncertainty in Writing Centre Work

CWCA/ACCR 2025 Virtual Conference
June 16-18, 2025

Access a PDF version of this Call for Proposals

Please submit your proposals via this FORM.

Use this guide to help with you proposals: Writing a conference proposal: A step-by-step guide

Deadline: All submissions must be received by February 14, 2025.

“The CWCA/ACCR community is rich with experience, diverse perspectives, and, perhaps, pluckiness, but it is worth acknowledging that it is threatened by the very precarity experienced by its individual members.” ~ Dr. Stevie Bell

“All progress is precarious.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Canadian Writing Centres Association / association canadienne des centres de rédaction welcomes proposals for our 2025 conference related to any aspect of writing centre study and practice, with particular interest in proposals that explore the multifaceted nature of precarity and agency in writing centres.

During last year’s conference, the panel on “Precarious Presence and Fruitful Futures in Writing Studies” opened a discussion on the ways writing centre professionals experience precarity in our work. The discussion also included themes of how we might advocate for ourselves on an individual, institutional, and national level.  Since this conversation, many experiences of precarity in our CWCA/ACCR community have escalated in unsettling ways. Some of us may be feeling resourceful and plucky. Others may be feeling decidedly not.  Writing centres, situated at the intersections and margins of institutional structures, have long had to negotiate the tension between precarity, agency, and burnout.

Questions and considerations for this year’s conference include the following: In what ways are writing centres experiencing progress that is precarious, and, in what ways does writing centre precarity challenge or inhibit progress? In the face of precarity, how do writing centre professionals secure progress for our writing centres? In the face of precarity, how do writing centre professionals guard against burnout?  In what ways are precarity and agency invisible or unacknowledged in writing centre work? How have writing centres historically navigated precarious times?   How might we incorporate healthy boundaries into our common writing centre life to avoid burnout? How do we exercise agency in the face of uncertainty?

Other possible connections to the theme include but are not limited to:

  • Employment instability among writing centre staff and tutors
  • The impact of precarious conditions on teaching and writing practices
  • Financial and resource constraints
  • The impact of precarious conditions on equity-deserving writers and professional staff
  • The forms of precariousness that new technologies may create/reinforce and the types of resourcefulness that new technologies may afford
  • Navigating institutional changes and policy shifts
  • Strategies for fostering resourcefulness and agency
  • Strategies for avoiding and/or healing from burnout

We welcome proposals that address these and other related topics through diverse perspectives and methodologies. Submissions may include, but are not limited to:

  • Research Panel Presentations: Report on a study—quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, action research, reflective—or an evidence-based pedagogical practice. Presentations will be grouped into panels of two or three presenters. Presenters are also welcome to propose their own panel of grouped presentations.
  • Roundtable Discussions: Roundtable sessions are ideal for works-in-progress, pedagogical innovations, or taking up an issue of current debate in our field. Roundtable facilitators lead a 30-minute discussion that encourages active participation and contribution from attendees. Proposals should indicate the topic of your discussion, why it would be of interest to writing centre colleagues, and how you plan to engage and facilitate an active and dynamic discussion. *Please note: to ensure anonymity for precarious writing centre workers, certain roundtable sessions covering sensitive topics and discussion will not be recorded.
  • Interactive Workshops: Workshops are an opportunity to model an innovative practice, strategy or innovation for your colleagues through collaborative hands-on activities. Proposals should clearly describe the practice you intend to feature, the overall structure of the session and how you will actively engage the audience.
  • Writing Centre Research and Pedagogy Blog Post: This format offers the opportunity to showcase writing centre practices and research. Have an exciting new program you are proud of? Clever new handouts or resources? A virtual poster detailing a research project? A video walkthrough of your centre? Proposals should clearly describe what you intend to publish on the CWCA/ACCR Blog and the virtual materials you will include (poster, audio, and/or video). *Please note: to protect precarious writing centre workers, blog posts covering sensitive topics can be published anonymously.

Submission Guidelines:

  • Abstract: Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words outlining your proposed presentation.
  • Format: Indicate the preferred format of your presentation (e.g., paper, workshop, panel).
  • Deadline: All submissions must be received by February 14, 2025.
  • Notification: Authors will be notified of acceptance early April, 2025.

Submission Process:

Please submit your proposals via this FORM. For any inquiries, contact chtaylor@wlu.ca.

We look forward to your proposals.

Writing Mercies,

Christin Wright-Taylor, M.F.A., Ph.D.
Vice President, Canadian Writing Centres Association / association canadienne des centres de rédaction

Manager, Writing Services
Wilfrid Laurier University

Reading and Writing Excellence Program: A Safe and Brave Space to Address Inequities

Two individuals smiling. One is holding a book, the other is looking at the book.
~ CWCA/ACCR

No. 3 Vol. 2 (Summer 2022)

This post is from the 2022 CWCA/ACCR annual conference virtual poster session. – Stevie Bell and Brian Hotson, 2022 CWCA/ACCR conference co-chairs

By Xiangying Huo & Elaine Khoo, University of Toronto Scarborough

The poster presents an innovative approach to support English Language Learners using a learner-driven and instructor-facilitated approach. Through this one-on-one support by a writing instructor, students develop their linguistic and knowledge capital required for writing in their respective courses. This risk-free approach that embraces relationality, respect and reciprocity to support students in their respective zone of proximal development can be enhanced by Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. The result of one-month of investment of time by instructor in collaboration with student have resulted in transformative impact, and opens up opportunities for further development should the student wish to pursue them. Continue reading “Reading and Writing Excellence Program: A Safe and Brave Space to Address Inequities” →

Making Space for Speaking at the Canadian Writing Centre

A conference presenter speaking into a microphone
~ CWCA/ACCR

No. 3 Vol. 3 (Summer 2022)

This post is from the 2022 CWCA/ACCR annual conference virtual poster session. – Stevie Bell and Brian Hotson, 2022 CWCA/ACCR conference co-chairs

By Moberley Luger & Craig Stensrud, University of British Columbia

As writing centres increasingly become centres for writing and communication, our presentation calls for expanding the place of speaking pedagogies in writing centres. We understand scholarly speaking as an integral part of the research—and, indeed, writing—process. We will share a scholarly speaking web resource we built available to Canadian writing centres: The Precedents Archive for Scholarly Speaking (PASS). The site features examples of student speakers and aims to align speaking and writing pedagogies.

Please share widely! speaking.arts.ubc.ca

 

Managing the Emotional Well-being of Tutors and Students in a Middle-Eastern Writing Center

Landscape image of palm trees and institutional buildtings
~ CWCA/ACCR

Vol. 3 No. 4 (Summer 2022)

This post is from the 2022 CWCA/ACCR annual conference virtual poster session. – Stevie Bell and Brian Hotson, 2022 CWCA/ACCR conference co-chairs

By Maria Eleftheriou, Tamanna Taher, Alaa Itani, Konstantina Spyropoulou, & Zahraa Al-Dawood, The American University of Sharjah

As part of an effort to address writing issues, the American University of Sharjah (AUS) located in the United Arab Emirates established a writing center with a peer-tutoring program in 2004. The Writing Center conducts approximately 3500 appointments a year and has a staff of 30 undergraduate tutors and four graduate tutors. In this video, we describe how our Writing Center responded to the emotional challenges presented by the pandemic. We present our story through a variety of clips which illustrate the ongoing process of introducing emotional intelligence training in our program: the discussions that emphasized the importance of emotions in the teaching and learning process, the role-playing activities and readings we incorporated into our training program, the opportunities tutors are given to discuss strategies for avoiding burn-out and our developing ability to create a safe and supportive atmosphere in our Writing Center. Continue reading “Managing the Emotional Well-being of Tutors and Students in a Middle-Eastern Writing Center” →

Vacillating Pandemic Space and Emergent Themes

Image of a home office with 2 computer screens.
~ CWCA/ACCR

Vol. 3 No. 5 (Summer 2022)

This post is from the 2022 CWCA/ACCR annual conference virtual poster session. – Stevie Bell and Brian Hotson, 2022 CWCA/ACCR conference co-chairs

By Nancy Ami, Emily Arvay, Hossein Ghanbari, Kaveh Tagharobi, Madeline Walker, and Medha Yadav, Centre for Academic Communication, University of Victoria

Reflecting on our journey since March 2020, when we moved from our beloved library offices to remote workspaces, we have noted themes of safety, responsiveness, ever-changing technology, and resilience that may speak to us all. We would like to share our personal paths via a blog, to affirm our writing centre colleagues: “You were not alone in experiencing …” and as a way to instill hope for the future: “You will not be alone as you experience…” Our blog features artifacts that document our individual and collective experiences with vacillating S P A C E.

Check it out here: https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/caccwca2022/

 

Creating an Online Space for Learning Science Communication

Learning science communication online
~ CWCA/ACCR

Vol. 3 No. 6 (Summer 2022)

This post is from the 2022 CWCA/ACCR annual conference virtual poster session. – Stevie Bell and Brian Hotson, 2022 CWCA/ACCR conference co-chairs

By Clare Bermingham, University of Waterloo & Elisabeth van Stam, University of Waterloo

Abstract 

To support the development of science communication knowledge and skills in undergraduate  classrooms, students benefit from access to specific content and examples from science  communication experts. Training students in science communication prepares them for the  many careers that help bridge the gap between scientists and the public. Because  undergraduate students typically do not receive this kind of training in their undergraduate  classrooms, the University of Waterloo Writing and Communication Centre secured funding from eCampus Ontario and worked with partners from the University of Waterloo, from University of  Toronto–Mississauga (UTM), Scarborough (UTSC), and St. George (Health Sciences Writing  Centre) campuses, and from Toronto Metropolitan University to develop four asynchronous  workshops that can be embedded into courses or used for independent learning. Continue reading “Creating an Online Space for Learning Science Communication” →

Academia’s ‘Among Us’: A guide to imposter syndrome

Academia's Among Us: A guide to imposter syndrome
~ CWCA/ACCR

Vol. 3 No. 7 (Summer 2022)

This post is from the 2022 CWCA/ACCR annual conference virtual poster session. – Stevie Bell and Brian Hotson, 2022 CWCA/ACCR conference co-chairs

By Ashley Kyne, Simon Fraser University

“Am I good enough?” “Do I belong here?” Have these questions ever plagued your mind? Well, you are not alone. Undergraduate students, graduate students, post-docs, and even your professors (yes, they can feel this way too!) are haunted by feelings of inadequacy. However, how did this syndrome come to be? Imposter syndrome is a feeling of self-doubt or incompetence. Despite your accomplishments, imposter syndrome can be described as that little voice in your head that makes you question your self-worth. Imposter syndrome can be attributed to a pattern that causes academics to doubt their success, feel like a fraud, and perceive themselves as failures. So, if you doubt yourself, even when you are doing everything right, are you sentenced to feeling like an imposter forever? No. There are a few things you can do when you feel like imposter syndrome is creeping up behind you. Namely, turning off “negative self-talk TV,” embracing criticism, avoiding comparison, asking for help, and being kind to yourself. Continue reading “Academia’s ‘Among Us’: A guide to imposter syndrome” →

Principles of Inclusive & Antiracist Writing

~ CWCA/ACCR

Vol. 3 No. 8 (Summer 2022)

This post is from the 2022 CWCA/ACCR annual conference virtual poster session. – Stevie Bell and Brian Hotson, 2022 CWCA/ACCR conference co-chairs

By Julia Lane, Simon Fraser University

If you want to write in an inclusive and antiracist way, you have to pay attention to the perspectives, peoples, and groups that might be excluded and even harmed through your writing, even if unintentionally.

  1. Question Assumptions. Part of the power of inclusive and antiracist writing is that it prompts us to shine a light on our assumptions–even ones we’ve never noticed before.
  2. Choose words thoughtfully & carefully. As you question assumptions, you bring new attention to the words you use. Words have power and no two words mean precisely the same thing!
  3. Revise critically. Like all writing, inclusive and antiracist writing benefits from revisions! Seek feedback from those whose experiences differ from yours.
  4. Learn from feedback. When you get critical feedback treat it as a chance to learn and grow. Mistakes are not an excuse to give up or back away from the work.

Continue reading “Principles of Inclusive & Antiracist Writing” →

ProTips for Essay Writers: From OWL Handouts to Videos

Image of Stevie Bell, a white woman with cropped hair, and Brian Hotson, a white man with a grey beard, smiling with the text: Pro Tips for Essay Writers
~ CWCA/ACCR

Vol. 3 No. 9 (Summer 2022)

This post is from the 2022 CWCA/ACCR annual conference virtual poster session. – Stevie Bell and Brian Hotson, 2022 CWCA/ACCR conference co-chairs

By Stevie Bell, York University Writing Department & Brian Hotson, Independent Scholar

The digital turn in education, part of the COVID turn, initiated by the pandemic reenergized, recentred, and reoriented asynchronous writing instruction where students engage with writing resources and connect with writing tutors on their schedule. At York University’s writing centre, where Stevie is located, renewed attention is being paid to developing a repertoire of online resources to engage students differently than traditional PDF instructional handouts or webtext pages. Stevie was given a .5 teaching credit in an experimental initiative to develop instructional videos for the Writing Centre and learn about student preferences, engagement, production processes, etc. Of course Stevie invited Brian Hotson, her writing partner, on the adventure. Together, they produced ProTips for Essay Writers. In this piece, we reflect on lessons learned and share some of the behind-the-scenes production workflow, how-tos, and video analytics. Continue reading “ProTips for Essay Writers: From OWL Handouts to Videos” →

Announcement || CWCA/ACCR 2021 Conference CfP – Transformative Inclusivity: Social Justice and Writing Centres

~ Canadian Writing Centres Association

8th CWCA/ACCR Conference

CWCA 2020 logo

Transformative Inclusivity:
Social Justice and Writing Centres

May 17 – 21, 2021

Virtual Conference

“[A] culture of access is a culture of participation and redesign”
–Elizabeth Brewer, Cynthia L. Selfe, and M. Remi Yergeau

Conference Context

For our 2021 conference, the Canadian Writing Centres Association / association canadienne des centres de rédaction welcomes proposals on any writing centre-related subject, but particularly proposals that consider and/or critique frameworks of inclusion, access, and accessibility. These themes may be related to anti-racist work and Indigenization at writing centres, to our recent experiences arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to writing and writing centre theory, pedagogy, praxis, programming, administration, research, physical and online environments, advocacy, or activism.

Writing centres have committed to making their spaces and services accessible, inclusive, and democratic, not least to students and tutors from marginalized backgrounds (Geller et al., 2007; Greenfield & Rowan, 2011; Hitt, 2012; Lang, 2017; Martini & Webster, 2017). Even as COVID-19 has inflected, sharpened, and foregrounded systemic inequities, the Black Lives Matter movement, Indigenous movements for social justice such as 1492 Land Back Lane and Idle No More, and the Disability Rights Movement have called upon us, with greater urgency than ever before, to expand the definition and the scope of access, and revitalize writing centres as social justice projects. Continue reading “Announcement || CWCA/ACCR 2021 Conference CfP – Transformative Inclusivity: Social Justice and Writing Centres” →