A Minefield of Dreams: Triumphs and Travails of Independent Writing Programs

Edited by Justin Everett and Cristina Hanganu-Bresch
Copy edited by Don Donahue. Designed by Mike Palmquist.

CoverIn A Minefield of Dreams: Triumphs and Travails of Independent Writing Programs, Justin Everett and Cristina Hanganu-Bresch highlight both cautionary tales and stories of resounding success that can inspire and provide paths toward addressing the challenges faced by faculty who lead independent writing programs (IWPs). More than a decade after O'Neill, Crow, and Burton's survey of IWPs—and with attention to some of the same programs addressed in that collection—the contributors to this collection assess the state of IWPs at a variety of American and Canadian institutions. The four sections in the book address key issues faced by IWPs: the quest for independence; disciplinarity, labor, and professionalization; curricular reforms, program design, and faculty training and empowerment; and rhetorics of transformation and justice.

About the Editors

Justin Everett is Director of Writing Programs at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, where he was instrumental in the formation of the university's independent writing program. With Robert Lamm, he is author of Dynamic Argument (Houghton Mifflin 2007 and Cengage 2012) and, with Jeffrey Shanks The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales: The Evolution of Modern Fantasy and Horror (Rowman and Littlefield, 2015). His research interests include writing program administration and popular culture.

Cristina Hanganu-Bresch is Assistant Professor in Writing and Rhetoric and Assistant Director of Writing Programs at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, where she helped establish a Writing Minor and Writing Across the Curriculum initiatives. She has a strong pedagogical interest in scientific writing and medical rhetoric and has published articles and chapters on psychopharmaceutical advertising, asylum genres, and patient memoirs. Her work (with Carol Berkenkotter) has appeared in Written Communication and Literature and Medicine.

Publication Information: Everett, Justin, & Hanganu-Bresch, Cristina (Eds.). (2016). A Minefield of Dreams: Triumphs and Travails of Independent Writing Programs. Perspectives on Writing. Fort Collins, Colorado: The WAC Clearinghouse and University Press of Colorado. Available at https://wac.colostate.edu/books/minefield/

Online Publication Date: September 18, 2016.
Print Publication Date: March 1, 2017.

Contact Information:
Justin Everett: j.everet@usciences.edu
Cristina Hanganu-Bresch: c.hanganu-bresch@usciences.edu

Table of Contents

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Front Matter

Foreword, Barry Maid

Introduction. Toward a Schema of Independent Writing Programs, Justin Everett and Cristina Hanganu-Bresch

Part I. Mythos: The Stories We Tell

Chapter 1. Coming into Being: The Writing Department at Grand Valley State University in its 13th Year, Dan Royer and Ellen Schendel

Chapter 2. An Outsider's Perspective: Curriculum Design and Strategies for Sustainability in a Canadian IWP, Judith Kearns and Brian Turner

Chapter 3. An Alternative History of an Interdependent Writing Program, Keith Hjortshoj

Part II. Topoi: The Places We Inhabit

Chapter 4. TA Training in an Independent Writing Program: Revisiting the Old Comp./Lit. Split in a New Venue, Jennifer K. Johnson

Chapter 5. Integrating Writing into the Disciplines: Risks and Rewards of an Alternative Independent Writing Program, W. Brock MacDonald, Margaret Procter, and Andrea L. William

Chapter 6. Still Trying to Break Our Bonds: Contingent Faculty, Independence, and Rhetorics from Below and Above, Georgia Rhoades, Kim Gunter, and Elizabeth Carroll

Chapter 7. Part of the Fabric of the University: From First Year through Graduate School and Across the Disciplines, Chris Thaiss, Sarah Perrault, Katharine Rodger, Eric Schroeder, and Carl Whithaus

Part III. Techne: The Methods We Employ

Chapter 8. Inscribing Justice: IWPs and Inclusivity Education, Michelle Filling-Brown and Seth Frechie

Chapter 9. Quo Vadis, Independent Writing Programs? Writing about Writing and Rhetorical Education, Cristina Hanganu-Bresch

Chapter 10. Not Just Teachers: The Long-Term Effects of Placing Instructors in Administrative Roles in an Independent Writing Program, Laura J. Davies

Part IV. Praxis: The Transformations We Enact

Chapter 11. Managing Change in an IWP: Identity, Leadership Style and Communication Strategies, Valerie C. Ross

Chapter 12. Navigating the Minefield of Dreams: Branding and Strategic Planning as Conceptual Core for Independent Programs, Justin Everett

Chapter 13. The Five Equities: How to Achieve a Progressive Writing Program within a Department of English, William B. Lalicker

Afterword. Between Smoke and Crystal: Accomplishing In(ter)dependent Writing Programs, Louise Wetherbee Phelps

Epilogue. Marginalization on the Home Front: The Curious Sibling Relationship between English Studies and Composition Studies. A Personal Account, George D. Gopen

Contributors

Perspectives on Writing

Series Editors: Susan H. McLeod, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Rich Rice, Texas Tech University

Acrobat Reader DownloadThis book is available in whole and in part in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). It is also available in print at University Press of Colorado.