Mission: Founded in 1983, the Northeast Writing Centers Association (NEWCA) is a regional affiliate of the International Writing Centers Association (IWCA). NEWCA’s mission is to foster communication and collaboration among writing centers and to provide a forum for professional concerns related to writing center work. Members include administrators and staff of writing centers and persons interested in writing centers. NEWCA membership consists of, but is not limited to, individuals from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
News & Upcoming Events
Spring 2021
January: Writing Center Administrator Virtual Conversations
Friday, January 15, 2-3pm: Writing Center Administrators’ Conversation #1: Reflecting on Fall, Looking Toward Spring. Join us for an opportunity to talk about how things went for your centers this Fall and what goals/challenges you’re facing this Spring. To RSVP and receive the Zoom link, please fill out this short GoogleForm: https://forms.gle/LHgS224Ek1tDR3os6
Thursday, January 21, 2-3:30pm: Writing Center/Library Faculty/Staff Conversation #2: Integrating Research & Writing Services: Let’s Chat! Please join Kate Tirabassi & Elizabeth Dolinger in a conversation about the integration of library research and writing services. Over the past few years, we’ve worked to merge our library’s research services with the writing center’s services at Keene State College. This integration resulted in a newly named Center for Research & Writing. We would like to begin what we hope will be an ongoing conversation between library and writing center faculty/staffs who may be interested in doing similar work.
We will first share a bit about our experiences and what we have learned. Then we will facilitate a roundtable conversation about some key questions based on group interests (see RSVP form below). Whether you are at the start of such a collaboration or have already fully integrated your services please join us on Thursday January 21st!
Please share this invitation with your library and writing center colleagues – to RSVP, please use the following link: https://forms.gle/dY4YxvGD5c4L6RVo6
Announcing a NEWCA/ECWCA Book Club Partnership!
NEWCA and ECWCA are now partnering for a spring 2021 book club! We’ll be reading The Things We Carry: Strategies for Recognizing and Negotiating Emotional Labor in Writing Program Administration edited by Courtney Adams Wooten, Jacob Babb, Kristi Murray Costello, and Kate Navickas.
We are happy to report that we can provide 10 participants with a free book! Please register here by 1/15 to be entered into the drawing: https://iu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_20iTQpAMtV0P2i9
If you’d like to obtain your own copy of the book, please enjoy a 10% discount with the code SMLLBLKBS.
The book club will meet (virtually) just once a month for an hour with our first meeting taking place in late February (to ensure everyone has time to obtain their book and do some reading). We plan to offer three groups at different meeting times to make the club accessible to more people. More details about the meeting times coming soon!
Regards, Genie Giaimo, Barbara Sabo, and Marilee Brooks-Gillies
Save the Date: NEWCA Webinar with R. Mark Hall!
Webinar Title: Reconsidering the Concept of “Communities of Practice” presented by R. Mark Hall, PhD, Professor & Chair, UNC Charlotte Writing, Rhetoric & Digital Studies Department
March 4, 2021, 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Webinar Description: The concept of “communities of practice” has a long association with Writing Center Studies. It is a theory of learning, which has been written about, read about, talked about, and applied in a multitude of contexts for 30 years. In his recent book, Around the Texts of Writing Center Work: An Inquiry-Based Approach to Tutor Education, winner of the 2018 International Writing Centers Association Outstanding Book Award, R. Mark Hall examines the values and assumptions underpinning a writing center “community of practice.” In this interactive presentation, he will revisit this important concept. Because its frequent use–perhaps over-use–has generated some confusion about both its affordances and its constraints, one goal will be to examine more recent research on “communities of practice” to better understand how its principles can be applied to advance writing center work. (NOTE: RSVP Information coming soon!)
Presenter Biography:
R. Mark Hall is professor and chair of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Writing, Rhetoric & Digital Studies Department (WRDS). He has led writing centers at the University of Central Florida, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and California State University, Chico. Research interests include literacy practices in popular culture, teacher and tutor education, writing program administration and assessment, and transfer of learning. Hall has published chapters in several edited collections and articles in College English, The Writing Center Journal, WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship, Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, Composition Forum: A Journal of Pedagogical Theory in Rhetoric and Composition, and others. He is the author of Around the Texts of Writing Center Work: An Inquiry-Based Approach to Tutor Education, winner of the 2018 International Writing Centers Association Outstanding Book Award. Hall also writes occasional creative nonfiction, which has recently appeared in The Timberline Review, Lunch Ticket, The Sand Hills Literary Magazine,Passengers Journal, Hippocampus Magazine, The Fourth River, and others.
Fall 2020 Events:
December 15, 9-10am: 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 12-1pm: Tutor Conversation Hour: Building Rapport & Writer Confidence, hosted by Keene State College Center for Research & Writing’s tutor Sarah Flynn. Join the conversation via the following link: https://keene.zoom.us/j/9690997408
November 9: 3pm: Conversation Hour for NH & NY Tutors:
Contact NEWCA’s NH State Representative: Molly Parsons (Molly.Parsons@keene.edu) if you have any questions about the following NEWCA state event.
Interested NH & NY tutors can join the conversation with this link
