Weathering the Storm
186 pages, 6 x 9
2
Paperback
Release Date:23 Aug 2019
ISBN:9781607328940
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Weathering the Storm

Independent Writing Programs in the Age of Fiscal Austerity

Utah State University Press
Weathering the Storm assesses the socioeconomic and political conditions that have surrounded the rise of independent writing programs (IWPs) and departments. Chapter contributors look at the institutional conditions and challenges that IWPs have faced since the 1980s with a focus on enduring the financial collapse of 2008.
 
Leading writing specialists at the University of Texas at Austin, Syracuse University, the University of Minnesota, and many other institutions document and think carefully about the on-the-ground obstacles that have made the creation of IWPs unique. From institutional naysayers in English departments to skeptical administrators, IWPs and the faculty within them have surmounted not only negative economics but also negative rhetorics. This collection charts the story of this journey as writing faculty continually make the case for the importance of writing in the university curriculum.
 
Independence has, for the most part, allowed IWPs to better respond to the Great Recession, but to do so they have had to define writing studies in relation to other disciplines and departments. Weathering the Storm will be of great interest to faculty and graduate students in rhetoric and composition, writing program administrators, and writing studies and English department faculty.
 
Contributors: Linda Adler-Kassner, Lois Agnew, Alice Batt, David Beard, Davida Charney, Amy Clements, Diane Davis, Frank Gaughan, Heidi Skurat Harris, George H. Jensen, Rodger LeGrand, Drew M. Loewe, Mark Garrett Longaker, Cindy Moore, Peggy O’Neill, Chongwon Park, Louise Wetherbee Phelps, Mary Rist, Valerie Ross, John J Ruszkiewicz, Eileen E. Schell, Madeleine Sorapure, Chris Thaiss, Patrick Wehner, Jamie White-Farnham, Carl Whithaus, Traci A. Zimmerman
 
Weathering the Storm’s value as a collection comes from the range of schools/programs presented and the creativity with which different programs had to respond to similar crises across the nation. The case-study history is rich, and the recollections of problems and solutions provide possible paths and opportunities for other readers.’
—Nicole Caswell, East Carolina University
 
Illuminating and useful for those whose concern is administering for sustainability. The chapters in the collection provide a wealth of concrete ideas for such administration, from routinizing vision and planning activities to forming alumni and industry advisory committees.’
—Susan Lawrence, George Mason University
 
Richard N. Matzen Jr. is professor of writing at Woodbury University. His administrative experience includes creating an intensive English program and being a writing program director, writing center director, WAC/WID director, writing department assistant chair, and writing department chair. He has published journalism, academic articles, and poetry in a variety of venues and is coeditor of Reformation: The Teaching and Learning of English in Electronic Environments.
 
Matthew Abraham is professor of English, specializing in rhetoric and composition and the teaching of English at University of Arizona, where he also served as the chair of the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure. He is coeditor of the September 2016 College Composition and Communication symposium “Independent Writing Programs in the Age of Austerity,” has published in a variety of journals, and is editor, coeditor, or author of four books.
 
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