The Conference on College Composition and Communication is the leading organization in writing studies. Annually, about 3,000 attend this conference. It convened this February 15-18, 2023, in Chicago, earning its moniker as the “Windy City.”
Associate Professor Avery Edenfield participated in a professional and technical writing session on “Embracing the Hope Already Present: Amplifying Open Education Resources as an Ethical Practice.” Another technical communication presentation by Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow Calvin Pollak focused on “From Analysis to Action: Rhetorics of Data in Sexual Misconduct Prevention Communication,” part of a goal of seeing the community, civic, and public contexts of writing. Assistant Professor Chen Chen, new to the USU faculty this year and a member of the CCCC Executive Committee, spoke on “Elevating Graduate Student Voices: Reconsidering Spaces of Professionalization.”
Another new face in the department this year, Lecturer Michael DuBon, spoke on “Cultivating Self-Advocacy in the First-Year Classroom and Beyond,” where he described his use of invoking professional wrestling characters to help students develop a confidence in their own writing persona.
Director of Composition, Beth Buyserie, spoke at a session devoted to seeing stories as a form of knowledge.
The department was particularly well-represented in a session on “Strengthening Writing Partnerships with Concurrent Enrollment Faculty,” which included Lecturer Deanna Allred, Principal Lecturer John Engler, Lecturer Jeremy Ricketts, and Sky View High School’s Andrea Thompson. Organized by Assistant Professor Jessica Rivera-Mueller this was hailed as a “masterclass” in presentation delivery.
Two faculty members were leaders in half-day workshops that book-ended the conference. Jessica again focused on dual-enrollment composition while Distinguished Professor Joyce Kinkead kicked off a pre-conference workshop on inclusive mentoring for undergraduate researchers. Workshops provide more intensive opportunities for conference goers to explore topics and build action plans. Joyce also attended a half-day workshop for Consultant-Evaluators of the Council of Writing Program Administration.
Notably, Chen also won a 2022-2023 CCCC Emergent Research Award, along with several colleagues from other institutions on for their project “Teaching and Learning about Privacy and Surveillance: Creating Coalitions Through the Digital Rhetorical Privacy Collective.” And Associate Dean of CHaSS Rebecca Walton received two awards prior to the actual conference for her scholarly work.