The 13th annual Summer Institute will take place in East Lansing, Michigan on June 14-19, 2015 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center on the Michigan State University campus. Download the SI 2015 flyer.

The Summer Institute continues an established tradition the International Writing Center Association began in 2003. See the history of previous sites.

The Summer Institute is ideal for current or would-be writing center directors and assistants, writing program administrators, tutors, writing teachers (high school or college), curriculum developers, graduate students, new Ph.D.s, and academic leaders.

SI leaders offer presentations and facilitate workshops on a variety of writing center topics. Leaders also work one-on-one with participants throughout the week. Participants from around the world are encouraged to apply.

Leaders

Whole group discussions, workshops, and lectures will fill the week. Special guests from the area will also join the group.

Valerie Balester, Ph.D.

Valerie Balester, Professor of English and Executive Director of the University Writing Center, specializes in rhetoric and composition and has an interest in Discourse Studies. Her 1993 Cultural Divide: Case Studies of African American College-Level Writers (Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook-Heinemann) earned an Honorable Mention for the W. Ross Winterowd Award for best book on composition theory. She edited Lationo\a Discourses (Boynton/Cook), a collection of essays on writing pedagogy, with Michelle Hall Kells and Victor Villanueva and contributed “How Writing Rubrics Fail: Toward a Multicultural Model” to Race and Writing Assessment (Eds. Asao B. Inoue and Mya Poe. New York: Peter Lang, 2012. 63-77). She also contributed “Tutoring Against Othering: Reading and Writing Critically” to Tutoring Second Language Writers, Eds. Shanti Bruce and Ben Raforth, which is forthcoming.

Balester has worked in writing centers since 1978, when she tutored at The Pennsylvania State University. She started a writing center at Texas A&M in 1990 with the help of English graduate students. She also served four years as the Director of Writing Programs at Texas A&M, training and supervising writing teachers for FY composition, technical writing, and writing about literature. In 2001-02, she served as Interim Director of the University Writing Center, which is responsible for the university writing-and-speaking-in-the-disciplines program, and she became its Executive Director in 2002. Her work with James McDonald, “A View of Status and Working Conditions: Relations between Writing Program and Writing Center Directors” in Writing Program Administration 24.3 (Spring 2001): 59-82, won the International Writing Centers Association Best Article of Year for 2001-02.

Rusty Carpenter, Ph.D.

Rusty Carpenter came to Eastern Kentucky University in fall 2009 as the director of the Noel Studio for Academic Creativity where he is also Assistant Professor of English. He completed his doctoral work in Texts & Technology at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Carpenter serves as President of the Southeastern Writing Center Association (SWCA) and chaired the 2012 conference held at EKU. He is also Past Chair of the National Association of Communication Centers (NACC) and received the Von Till Outstanding Newcomer award from the National Association of Communication Centers in 2010 for contributions to scholarship and service. He sits on the editorial board for Praxis: A Writing Center Journal and advisory board for Southern Discourse in the Center.

His 2011 book Higher Education, Emerging Technologies, and Community Partnerships with Dr. Melody Bowdon published in 2011. With Dr. Bowdon, he also co-edited a special issue of the Community Literacy Journal on digital technologies and community literacy. Dr. Carpenter recently completed Cases on Higher Education Spaces: Innovation, Collaboration, and Technology published in December 2012. With Dr. Sohui Lee of Stanford University, Dr. Carpenter also edited The Routledge Reader on Writing Centers and New Media. Dr. Carpenter currently serves as co-editor of the New Forums series in Applied Creative Thinking. He is currently co-editing a digital book, Sustainable Learning Spaces, with Dr. Dickie Selfe, Dr. Shawn Apostel, and Kristi Apostel. With Dr. Sohui Lee, he is also co-editing a special issue of Computers and Composition on multiliteracy centers. He also co-edited a special issue of Praxis: A Writing Center Journal on course-embedded writing support programs with Drs. Scott Whiddon and Kevin Dvorak in fall 2014 and a special issue of the Journal of Faculty Development on social media to be published in May 2015.

This is his second time as Co-Chair of the SI and third time as an SI Leader.

Kevin Dvorak, Ph.D.

Kevin Dvorak is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Writing Center at Nova Southeastern University. He is the President of the International Writing Centers Association and a past president of the Southeastern Writing Center Association. His book, Creative Approaches to Writing Center Work (Hampton, 2008), won the 2009 IWCA Outstanding Scholarship Award for Best Book/Major Work. He has also published articles in ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors (2004 and 2009), The Writing Center Director’s Resource Manual (2005), and The Successful High School Writing Center (2011), as well as in Praxis and The Writing Center Journal. This is his second time as SI Chair and Leader. Dvorak recently earned the 2014 SWCA Achievement Award. Kevin Dvorak is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Writing Center at Nova Southeastern University. He is the President of the International Writing Centers Association and a past president of the Southeastern Writing Center Association. His book, Creative Approaches to Writing Center Work (Hampton, 2008), won the 2009 IWCA Outstanding Scholarship Award for Best Book/Major Work. He has also published articles in ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors (2004 and 2009), The Writing Center Director’s Resource Manual (2005), and The Successful High School Writing Center (2011), as well as in Praxis and The Writing Center Journal. This is his second time as SI Chair and Leader. Dvorak recently earned the 2014 SWCA Achievement Award.

Trixie Smith, Ph.D.

Trixie Smith is the Director of The Writing Center and a member of the faculty in Rhetoric & Writing as well as the Center for Gender in Global Contexts at Michigan State University. After joining the faculty at MSU in 2007, she has hosted the East Central Writing Center Association and presently serves as the ECWCA Treasurer. She has also hosted the Michigan Writing Center Association Share Fair and serves on the MiWCA board. Her teaching and research are infused with issues of gender and activism even as they revolve around writing center theory and practice, writing across the curriculum, writing pedagogy, and teacher training. Likewise these areas often intersect with interests in pop culture, service learning, and the idea that we’re just humans learning with/from other humans (you know, with bodies, feelings, lives outside the academy).

Previously, while the director of the writing center at Middle Tennessee State University, she served on the SWCA board, hosting their conference in 2007, and co-founded the Tennessee Writing Center Collaborative. Recent publications include Bridges to Writing (Fountainhead Press, 2014 with Allison Smith), The Pop Culture Zone: Writing Critically About Popular Culture, 2 ed (Cengage, 2014, with Allison Smith) and articles in Working with Faculty Writers (Eds. Geller and Eodice, Utah State UP, 2013), WAC Partnerships Among Secondary and Post-Secondary Institutions (WAC Clearinghouse Perspectives on Writing book series, forthcoming), and The Pleasures of Identity: Living Queer (forthcoming). She is also co-editing a special issue of Across the Disciplines focused on graduate writing (Spring 2014). Other publications include a chapter in (E)merging Identities: Graduate Students in the Writing Center, several articles in Southern Discourse, and COMPbiblio: Leaders and Influences in Composition Theory and Practice (with Allison Smith and Karen Wright, Fountainhead Press, 2007) — a reference book focusing on the career arcs of leaders in composition studies. Trixie attended the first ever Writing Center Director’s Summer Institute and is excited to be giving back as a new leader for the SI.

Scholarships

Application review deadline: Sunday, March 1, 2015

Each year, the SI awards scholarships to participants to help offset the cost of attending. This year, participants can apply for scholarships of up to $650 to cover the cost of lodging for the week at the Kellogg Center, the site of the SI.

Applications must be received by the deadline.

To apply, complete the scholarship form and send to smit1254@msu.edu.

Lodging

The 2015 IWCA SI will be held at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, located on the MSU campus. The SI works to develop a strong community of professionals, so this year’s institute requires all participants to lodge at the hotel.

SI Group Rate: $118/night, for rooms for the week

For easy transportation to and from the hotel, shuttle service is available to Lansing’s Capital Region International Airport, only eight miles away from the Kellogg Hotel. For those renting cars or driving to East Lansing, you’ll find convenient parking in their 1,000-space covered parking garage.

View directions for making reservations under the group rate here.

Registration

The 2015 IWCA SI is now at capacity. All additional registrants will be placed on the waiting list. We will contact you if a space comes available.

If you have questions, please contact the SI chairs, Trixie Smith smit1254@msu.edu and Rusty Carpenter russell.carpenter@eku.edu.

Fee $800 and payable through the IWCA Membership site.

Payment due 10 business days after registration.

Refund Deadline: Friday, April 3, 2015.

Schedule (in progress)

Sunday, June 14

2:30 – 3pm Check-in

3:00 – 5:00 Introduction, Welcome, and Works in Progress Assignment

6:00 – 7:00 Reception Kellogg Center Patio

7:00 Group dinner

Monday, June 15

TBA

Tuesday, June 16

TBA

Wednesday, June 17

TBA

Thursday, June 18

TBA

Friday, June 19

8:00 – 9:00 Checkout

9:00 – 10:30 WIP Presentations

10:30 – 11:00 Wrap Up

11:00 – Adjourn

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