Please note that this is a preliminary schedule. It is likely to change, at least to some extent, prior to the conference.
5:00 to 7:00 pm Opening Reception: Prost Fort Collins Taproom, 1510 South College Avenue
Abstract: Preconference Workshop
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Workshop Leaders: Christopher R Basgier R. Basgier and Whitney A. Davis, Auburn University
Abstract: In this interactive workshop, facilitators will lead participants through a structured sequence of activities that will help them build, or refine, a visibility strategy for their local WAC programs. The workshop will begin with findings from a qualitative study of WAC directors’ rhetorical strategies for WAC program visibility, after which participants will reflect on the rhetorical situations in their own WAC programs. Next, facilitators will showcase a range of WAC visibility artifacts, and participants will identify visibility genres that may align with the audiences and exigences they identified in part 1. Finally, participants will create a concrete plan for enhancing WAC program visibility via a specific type of artifact that they have not utilized before.
Abstract: Preconference Workshop
Area: The Role of WAC in Advancing Social Justice
Workshop Leaders: Rebecca Taylor and Megan Callow, University of Washington
Abstract: This interactive workshop provides participants with an opportunity to engage with the curriculum used during the Writing@UW Fellowship, a faculty development program at the University of Washington that completed its pilot year in 2024. In the Writing@UW Fellowship, we sought to support faculty members as they considered a critical multimodal framework to meet their goals for equity, inclusion, racial justice, and linguistic justice. Through hands-on engagement with fellowship materials, participants in this pre-conference workshop will discuss strategies for encouraging faculty to broaden writing practices, especially within disciplines that can prioritize traditional or rigid genres. This session aims to equip participants with adaptable frameworks and practical tools for fostering a more inclusive, multimodal approach to writing instruction that resonates across diverse academic fields.
Abstract: Preconference Workshop
Area: The Role of WAC in Advancing Social Justice
Workshop Leaders:
Sarah Young and Catherine Brooks, University of Arizona
Priya Mohan, TU Delft (NL)
Abstract: This submission proposes a workshop where I deliver the results of a series of nineteen interviews with students and senior scholars in the US and the Netherlands involved in the development of quantum technologies who note the desire to explore topics of social and human interest but are met with resistance to non-technical explorations in their hierarchies. Addressing issues of social justice and social impact in quantum science is an important issue to explore early on in the development process so that these potential revolutionary technologies are built with social justice by design. As a writing and communication scholar in regular contact with quantum scholars, I have an eager audience looking for suggestions on how to do “quantum for good." The workshop will ask attendees, as experts and parties interested in WAC activities, to co-construct a work-in-progress deliverable that addresses best practices for getting WAC explorations of the social impact of technologies into more technical quantum programs. If participants wish, they will be invited to keep in contact to work on a more polished, public deliverable for quantum science scholars.
Abstract: Preconference Workshop
Area: Histories of WAC
Workshop Leader: Kristen Welch, Spartanburg Methodist College
Abstract: In the first part of this workshop, I will share from this research and discuss the way that archivists or those who are using archives for research can work to recover the histories of marginalized groups. I will share the basics of archival work and discuss how WID helps us understand the dynamics of shaping histories using artifacts provided by institutions and those created or collected by scholars who wish to work towards social justice and recovery. In the second part of the workshop, I will broaden the discussion and ask for attendees to generate ideas for archival materials that help to shape our own histories as scholars of rhetoric and composition, particularly those which prioritize recovering the voices and contributions of members of marginalized communities. We will use this list as a proposal for organizing archival collections that could be housed on the WAC Clearinghouse Repository.
Abstract: Preconference Workshop
Area: The Role of WAC in Advancing Social Justice
Workshop Leaders: Sherri E. Craig, Virginia Tech, Al Harahap, CUNY - Queens College, Aimee C. Mapes, University of Arizona, an d Stacey Sheriff , Colby College
Abstract: This 2025 IWAC Conference workshop presents an opportunity for WAC specialists from a variety of contexts to articulate the most pressing challenges facing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs. The workshop will also create a collaborative space for participants to explore strategies for maintaining and advancing DEI efforts in the face of growing opposition and legislative restrictions.
Abstract: Preconference Workshop
Area: WAC and Technology
Workshop Leaders: Chris Basgier, Auburn University, Kirsti Cole, North Carolina State University, Crystal Fodrey, University of Louisville, Kristi Girdharry, Babson College, David Grant, University of Northern Iowa, Sylvia Hayes, Midlands Technical College, Magdelyn Helwig, Furman University, Swan Kim, Brooklyn College, Mary Laughlin, Fairfield University, Nicole Makert, Eastern University, and Paula Rosinski, Elon University
Abstract: In January 2023, the Association for Writing Across the Curriculum (AWAC) published its “Statement on Artificial Intelligence Writing Tools in Writing Across the Curriculum Settings,” which situated AI within a broader technological evolution and affirmed the irreplaceable role of writing in learning and enculturation. Two years later, AWAC is revising this statement to reflect evolving theoretical and pedagogical insights that focus on four subsections: academic integrity, critical AI literacy, learning change, and uses and misuses of AI. In this interactive workshop, participants will be among the first to examine how the updated AI Statement can be refined for usability across diverse contexts. Participants will engage directly with draft subsections and offer feedback on their applicability for different stakeholders as well as generate practical, actionable ideas for integrating these concepts into activities and assignments. By prioritizing collaboration and inclusive practices, this session advances AWAC’s mission to provide innovative resources and foster global connections in WAC. Participants will leave with refined tools and strategies for navigating the challenges and opportunities of AI in WAC pedagogy, which will ultimately be shared with members of the larger WAC community.
Abstract: Preconference Workshop
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Workshop Leaders: Kirsti Cole, North Carolina State University; Sarah Henderson Lee, Minnesota State University, Mankato; Kelly Moreland, Minnesota State University, Mankato; and Jennifer Turner, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Abstract: In a rapidly evolving academic landscape, integrating Writing and Information Literacy (WIL) is essential for fostering student success and building a resilient institutional framework. This workshop equips educators with practical strategies to embed writing and research skills across curricula, drawing from interdisciplinary perspectives such as Writing-Enriched Curriculum (WEC), First-Year Writing (FYW), TESOL, and Library Science. Grounded in the latest research on Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and information literacy, the session emphasizes the importance of collaborative, faculty-driven approaches that enhance both student learning and institutional cohesion. Participants will explore evidence-based practices, such as critical friendship and reflective inquiry, to support diverse student populations, promote critical thinking, and bridge disciplinary silos. Through interactive work sessions, participants will create action plans tailored to their institutional needs, focusing on strategies for implementing WIL, fostering faculty-librarian partnerships, and integrating multimodal and multivocal literacy practices. By the end of the workshop, participants will leave with a clear roadmap for fostering transformative change through interdisciplinary writing and literacy initiatives.
Abstract: Preconference Workshop
Area: The Role of WAC in Advancing Social Justice
Workshop Leader: Francis Seeck, TH Nuremberg
Abstract: This workshop examines the structural impact of classism within educational and professional settings, highlighting how discrimination based on class background and class position restrict access and limits access to WAC settings. While efforts toward inclusion in academia and the workplace often focus on race, gender, and disability, classism remains an underexplored yet pervasive barrier. Aligned with this conference’s theme of fostering inclusive environments, the workshop provides a framework for recognizing and dismantling class-based discrimination and creating equitable pathways for students and academics from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.
Abstract: Preconference Workshop
Area: WAC and Technology
Coordinator: Autumn Long and Genevieve Witter, University of Oregon
Abstract: This interactive workshop invites us to explore how emergence theory can reshape our approaches to teaching ethical GenAI use across disciplines. We propose ethical GenAI integration in writing requires more than just guidelines—it demands a fundamental shift in how we conceptualize the relationship between human writers and GenAI tools. As a part of our workshop, we aim to demonstrate how the concept of "emergence", particularly through moments of witnessing "unbecoming", offers a curious approach to ethical GenAI integration. By engaging participants with these concepts through their own teaching experiences and challenges, we hope to facilitate productive discussion that prompts reflection and curiosity that reframes their relationship with GenAI as a teaching tool. Participants will collaborate to adapt or design their own teaching tool that incorporates ethical GenAI use and inspires students to utilize emergent writing methods to navigate and explore GenAI as a collaborative writing technology.
Abstract: Preconference Workshop
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Workshop Leader: Pathmanathan Sivashankar, Auburn University
Abstract: This workshop will explore how to sustain ePortfolios as a key element of Writing Across Curriculum (WAC), emphasizing the role of Open Education Resources (OER) in enhancing the sustainability of ePortfolio programming. The workshop will entail three sections. First, we will trace the history of ePortfolio adoption at our university, discussing key programming initiatives. We will also address the challenges of sustaining these programs and introduce our publication of an OER as a sustainable approach. Secondly, we will dive into the content of our OER material, exploring how it supports student learning, digital literacy, and reflective skills across disciplines. In the final section, we will offer practical recommendations for program administrators on how to sustain ePortfolio programming through the integration of our OER material or by publishing their own. Participants will have the opportunity to develop an action plan for supporting ePortfolios within their own WAC programs.
Abstract: Preconference Workshop
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Workshop Leader: Bonnie Vidrine Isbell, Biola University
Abstract: This pre-conference workshop offers hopeful classroom practices based in the learning sciences and developed in response to multidisciplinary research across fields of cognition, education, and writing. The workshop will demonstrate two WAC activities. First, founded in emotional intelligence and regulation work, is a 10-minute writing exercise used to better understand one’s internal emotional world and build self-regulation practices that prepare the mind for a state of learning. Second, grounded in social neuroscience work, is a scaffolding exercise for building relationships through multi-sensory exposure in learning. This workshop begins as a demo with attendees participating as “students." After experiencing the activities, an overview of the brain-based support for the activities will be presented. Question and answer discussion and time for workshopping adaptations of activities (i.e., scaffolding up and use in various contexts) is to follow. This workshop was inspired by Joanthan Haidt's recent book The Anxious Generation and seeks to prioritize wellbeing practices within classroom teaching.
Abstract: Preconference Workshop
Area: WAC, Civic Action, and Engagement
Workshop Leader: Gerd Bräuer, University of Education Freiburg (Germany)
Abstract: This workshop calls for an international partnership in future handling of the climate crisis through writing and other forms of expression and communication across the curriculum and beyond educational institutions. Participants of the workshop can try out "hands on" the scaffolding task design of the project "wikiCLIMATEchange" and develop ideas of how to integrate the intention of the project into their teaching in form of multimodal writing tasks. These writing tasks are designed with a significant potential for action and collaboration across the curriculum. The larger goal here is to weave environmental literacy through writing into the fabric of the curriculum.
Type of Session: Poster Presentation
Area: WAC and Technology
Presenters: Vesna Bogdanovic, Vesna Bogdanovic, and Dragana Gak, University of Novi Sad Faculty of Technical Sciences
Abstract: The cover letter typically accompanies a resume as a personal introduction, detailing an applicant’s interest in a specific job and company, while highlighting their qualifications, experiences, and motivations. To make a strong first impression, the cover letter has to be well-written, showcasing unique skills and attributes. However, in the 21st century, undergraduate students and soon-to-be employees are increasingly exploring more modern, tool-oriented manners to present themselves, with infographic cover letters emerging as a popular alternative. This study examines undergraduate students’ approaches to creating both traditional written and infographic-style cover letters. As a part of a regular assignment, students first learn about and write a traditional cover letter for a potential job. Subsequently, they are given the opportunity to design an infographic cover letter. The objective of the study is to determine whether undergraduate students perceive traditional written cover letters as an effective self-representation tool and whether they are willing to invest time and effort in creating a more visual, infographic letter that may align better with their everyday interests. These two formats will be compared in terms of the depth of information conveyed, creativity presented, and wordiness displayed.
Type of Session: Poster Presentation
Area: WAC as an International Movement
Presenter: Niveditha Pookkottuvariam, Texas Tech University
Abstract: This poster explores the adaptation of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) for India, contributing to its development as a global movement. While WAC has thrived in the United States and other countries, applying it to India's diverse and multilingual higher education system presents distinct challenges. Many Indian students, particularly those from local-language educational backgrounds, face difficulties writing in English, exacerbated by the rise of AI tools that diminish critical engagement with writing. This proposal advocates for a culturally tailored WAC model that incorporates oral communication as a precursor to writing. Students would first express their ideas verbally—either in their native language or English—before using technology like voice-to-text tools to transform spoken thoughts into written work. This approach aligns with India’s oral traditions while reducing the cognitive load associated with writing in a second language. Additionally, by emphasizing ethical writing practices and critical engagement with AI, this framework addresses issues of plagiarism and originality. The poster presents a WAC model that not only enhances writing proficiency but also makes the writing process more accessible and meaningful within India's linguistic and educational context, offering insights for WAC’s expansion into other transnational environments.
Type of Session: Poster Presentation
Area: WAC and Technology
Presenters:
Adam Sparks [Institution Missing]
Alexandria Sparks, Stanford Graduate School of Education
Abstract: Generative AI has upended K12 writing instruction. ChatGPT can now easily write for students and its influence can be almost impossible to detect once writing leaves the classroom. How do we teach and assess writing in this new reality? How do we motivate students to want to learn how to write in a world where machines can write for us? Join us to discuss these questions and more while detailing our work with schools across the country with Short Answer, including lessons learned and questions yet to be answered. Our poster presentation will dive into practical strategies and leading research addressing some of these fundamental new challenges in K12 writing instruction.
Type of Session: Poster Presentation
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Presenters:
Caitlin Martin, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach)
Lindsey Ives, Tacoma Community College
Abstract: This poster shares initial findings of an ongoing study to document “Talk about Writing” in a private, STEM institution as it began a quality enhancement plan focused on writing in the disciplines. We report on a mixed-methods study of 15 faculty in three departments that included thematic analysis of teaching artifacts and discourse-based interviews with the faculty who created them. Using semantic network analysis, we identify dis/connections in how writing is discussed on our campus, as well as what this discourse illustrates about our larger institutional culture of writing.
Type of Session: Poster Presentation
Area: The Challenges that Unite Us as a Community
Presenters: Julie Birt and Christy Goldsmith, University of Missouri
Abstract: In this poster, we evaluate the effects of the changing professoriate on our writing retreat attendance and outcomes. Facilitators of our established WAC program have noticed a shift at faculty writing retreats: more non-tenure track faculty are attending. As often asserted by the National Writing Project, we know the best teachers of writing are writers themselves. We have found that more teaching faculty are taking advantage of the writing retreats to publish scholarly works beyond the scope of their prescribed workload. In 2025, the International Writing Across the Curriculum Conference will convene our community to address broad challenges. We present this writing retreat program evaluation as evidence of ways to support non-tenure track faculty navigating the various demands on their time. The future of WAC requires programsâ—especially enduring programs such as ours at the University of Missouri—to reevaluate the ways we support all faculty writers by directly influencing their teaching of writing.
Type of Session: Poster Presentation
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Presenter: Madona Giorgadze, Alte university
Abstract: Over the years, the traditional education system did not allow learners to disclose their individuality and it blocked creative activity. Even now, if we look at school and university syllabus, we find that creativity is neglected compared to literacy and academic skills, which leads to the decrease of motivation to think and, especially, to write creatively. And since creative writing is a unique way of self-expression, there is a pedagogic problem - to provide adequate conditions for realizing creative capabilities in the learning process. The goal of the research is to prove that integration of activities and strategies aiming at developing creative writing in academic disciplines is a unique opportunity to diversify and increase the efficiency of the academic process. The article analyzes the barriers and obstacles that impede the development of creative writing skills in the classroom, including syllabuses and cultural-social norms. The work is based on Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, and based on the studies by Tony Buzan, through the case of specific technique of Mind Mapping the author proves its relevance for developing both academic and creative writing skills.
Type of Session: Poster Presentation
Area: WAC and Technology
Presenters: Jacob A. Kaltenbach, Jacob Kaltenbach, and Irina Negrea, Purdue University Global
Abstract: The proposed poster presentation showcases the role of a scholarly academic blog hosted by the English and Rhetoric Department of Purdue University Global as a platform to share innovative pedagogical approaches, address emerging educational technologies and challenges, and advocate for institutional changes related to writing instruction and communication across the curriculum. Authored by faculty committed to WAC, for an audience of faculty, staff, and university leadership, The WACademic offers a forum to disseminate best practices with the main goal of supporting student retention and persistence.
Type of Session: Poster Presentation
Area: The Role of WAC in Advancing Social Justice
Presenter: Jaden N. Cowley, Texas Tech University
Abstract: The hidden curriculum—the unspoken expectations and assumptions of college life—presents a formidable barrier for many first-year students, especially first-generation, international, and underprivileged students. For these students, the unseen rules of academic discourse, campus navigation, self-advocacy, and communication often hinder their transition into higher education (Collier & Morgan, 2008). This proposal seeks to illuminate how Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs can bridge these hidden gaps, fostering a more equitable and inclusive academic experience that prepares students for success beyond the boundaries of writing classes.
Type of Session: Poster Presentation
Area: WAC in Diverse Social and Linguistic Contexts
Presenter: Zafira Demiri, Monmouth University
Abstract: This study will explore training methods and techniques writing program administrators can use to prepare their faculty to teach courses based in Writing about Language (WAL). This investigation seeks to center black, indigenous, and Hispanic perspectives in the United States as foundational for developing considerate and inclusive training regimen for faculty that supports all students equitably. The misconception that simply being a translingual speaker is enough preparation will be addressed as every individual, no matter their discipline or background in linguistics, should be fully prepared in what it means to “language across the curriculum.” This kind of faculty professional development emphasizes, most significantly, the importance of promoting student agency in WAL, limiting instructor authority, and proposes a cyclical model of ongoing training that is meant to be included in all professional development sessions, regardless of the umbrella topic.
Type of Session: Poster Presentation
Area: WAC, Civic Action, and Engagement
Presenters:
Kristine Gatchel, Eastern Michigan University
Jeffrey Austin, Wayne RESA Intermediate School District
Ann Blakeslee, Eastern Michigan University
Melissa Brooks-Yip, Eastern Michigan University
Abstract: This multimodal poster will document a multi-generational, disciplinary writing program focused on democracy with activities that align with the Common Core State Standards in social studies and English Language Arts and with the state’s disciplinary literacy essentials. The poster will document the origins of the project, provide examples of the guides and activities produced for it, address assessment data, present examples of the writing that students and community members have produced, and share the voices and perspectives of those who developed the materials along with those who have used the guides each group created. This project speaks directly to the important question for the field of, “how can we respond effectively to forces that embrace values at odds with our mission of enhancing learning, critical thinking, and the development of writing and speaking skills?”
Type of Session: Poster Presentation
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Presenters:
Kayla Taylor, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Lindsey Ives, Tacoma Community College
Abstract: Understanding how genre conventions shape written communication within collegiate flight programs is an emerging area of WAC research. Collegiate flight students, who will enter the aviation industry in a variety of roles, must be able to write in various genres, including incident and accident reports, in ways that allow a range of readers to partake in a proactive safety culture. This study explored how supplemental discipline-specific guidance affected the writing quality of incident report narratives composed by students at a flight school within an accredited university in the United States. Participants were either given no guidance, bullet-point guidelines, or examples of incident reports at the time of writing and asked to compose an incident report narrative after viewing a video of a mid-flight incident. Three aviation subject matter experts assessed the quality of the narratives according to the AAC&U VALUE written communication rubric after a calibration and rubric interpretation session with a WAC scholar. No statistically significant differences were found between the three groups, suggesting that collegiate student pilots may need more faculty or expert instruction to make effective use of genre models. Further research is necessary to provide additional insight into how WAC practices can support emerging aviation professionals.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC, Civic Action, and Engagement
Chair: Elizabeth Wardle, Miami University
Presenters:
Rena Perez, Miami University
Elizabeth Wardle, Miami University
Elizabeth Hoover, Miami University
Caitlin Martin, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
Abstract: WAC programs have long innovated in response to persistent higher education challenges. As higher education’s access, equity, and inclusion efforts currently come under threat, WAC leaders are uniquely positioned to help faculty resist and innovate in the face of such attacks. This session offers a framework for fostering deep institutional change (Kezar, 2018) drawing on a sensemaking method that the panelists have been developing. The panel will describe the sensemaking for deep change framework, and its use in the Summer 2024 Sensemaking for Student Success seminar they led, funded by the Lumina Foundation. The seminar brought together teams of faculty and staff from seven Ohio colleges and universities to imagine solutions to complex, systemic teaching and learning problems. Session leaders will describe their experiences as seminar leader, table leader, and assessment coordinator, and highlight preliminary research results about the impact of the seminar on participants and their home institutions. Session attendees will identify ways they could extend their current WAC work, and will leave with a framework for designing sensemaking and problem-solving spaces.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC and Technology
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Angela M. Mitchell, Washington State University, “Understanding AI's Impact on Differently-Abled Students in WAC Courses: Creating AI Policies that Work for All Students”
Brooklyn Walter, Washington State University, “A Writing Center Director Looks at Trends of Paranoia and Reactiveness Among WAC Faculty”
Lisa Johnson-Shull, Washington State University, “The Impact of AI on WAC Faculty Development: The Importance of Critical Reading”
Melanie Thongs, Washington State University, “The Impact of AI on WAC Faculty Development: The Importance of Critical Reading”
Abstract: This panel explores, through different WPA voices on a single R1 campus, the various approaches used to address AI’s impact on students and faculty across the writing curriculum. A long-standing WAC Program, Washington State University has been focused on supporting writing-intensive classes in the major for almost 40 years. With the advent of AI technology becoming more available to students and faculty, our program is working in various ways to adapt to emergent AI platforms that speak directly to student and faculty needs. We recognize the diverse impact of AI, both positively and negatively, in our writing-intensive courses and appreciate that faculty in the disciplines will be making different decisions about how to incorporate or manage AI use in their majors. We seek to provide a flexible but sustainable approach to WAC faculty and administrators regarding AI use in writing-intensive courses.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Judith A. Swan, Princeton University
Presenters:
Benjamin Fancy, Keel Geheber, Judith A. Swan, and Marina Fedosik, Princeton University
Respondent: Benjamin Fancy, Princeton University
Abstract: A longstanding assumption articulated by students and faculty alike is that only a more advanced researcher is capable of providing feedback on research writing in a discipline. Indeed, it is congruent with the WAC statement of principles on Writing in the Disciplines: “… writing is highly situated and tied to a field’s discourse and ways of knowing, and therefore writing in the disciplines (WID) is most effectively guided by those with expertise in that discipline." Yet this position runs counter to the philosophy of many Writing Across the Curriculum programs and Writing Centers, which frequently approach offering feedback on writing from a non-specialist perspective. This is the situation at our institution, which despite prioritizing a capstone senior research project nevertheless established a writing program consisting of only the Writing Center and a required first year writing seminar (FYWS). The approach the program has taken to address writing across the university is to incorporate WAC elements into the FYWS: The seminars are topic based, taught by interdisciplinary faculty, and more recently designed to elicit interdisciplinary projects. The pedagogy developed for the seminars includes teaching for transfer, relying like Yancey and colleagues (2014) on metacognition of key writing concepts, to which we add metadisciplinary awareness â— inquiry into how key writing concepts present differently in different fields and discourse communities. Thanks to the increased flexibility available to faculty in the Princeton Writing Program, in this panel we explore the limits of non-specialist approaches to writing pedagogy in settings outside of the first-year course. What are the limits to the efficacy of non-specialist feedback? Are there moments when disciplinary expertise becomes essential? What does “in the disciplines” actually mean in practice, and where is the locus of expertise in a conversation between outsiders and insiders to a discipline about research writing? When does a WAC-interaction become WID? Our experience in these settings suggests that Hendricks’s (2018) framing of WAC/WID as transdisciplinary (Mittelstrass, 2011) offers valuable insights into disciplinary practices and epistemology that can form the basis for more robust feedback from disciplinary outsiders to writing in specialized fields. We explore not only changing perspectives of disciplines but emerging thinking on what Marcovich and Shinn (2011) are calling new disciplinarity, especially as developed by Gere and colleagues (2015). We hope in this panel to spark an interactive discussion about ways that writing professionals can respond to the needs of broader campus communities by cultivating connections to discipline-specific experts. Speaker one develops the role of our writing center in diagnosing moments of tension between specialist and non-specialist feedback. Speaker two discusses developing and teaching sophomore research seminars to bridge the gap between first-year and junior-level research projects. Speaker three shares insights from research-focused writing courses for graduate students and postdocs. Speaker four shares experiences from consulting with departmental faculty in the departments on ways to teach writing as thinking in their discipline.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Olivia R. Tracy, University of Denver
Presenters: Brad Benz, Nicole Doris, and Gabrielle Welsh, University of Denver
Abstract: WAC/WID and Writing Center scholarship has long considered the ways that writing functions as a confluence between rhetorical knowledge, discipline-specific genre awareness, and disciplinary identity (Tracy, et al 2023; Velez, 2022; Lane, et al 2022; Devitt, 2004; Berkenkotter & Huckin, 1994). For STEM students, learning disciplinary content while developing writing and communication skills is paramount, not only because they will rely on that knowledge and those skills in their education and careers, but also because of the central role that writing plays in knowledge building in their disciplines. Our panel presentation will 1) provide an overview of the STEM Writing Support Initiative at the University of Denver, 2) focus on our efforts to support STEM faculty with their writing pedagogy, and 3) investigate how STEM Writing Center consultants help STEM writers understand the role of writing in their disciplines.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: Layli M. Miron, Indiana University
Presenters: Layli Miron and Mary Helen Truglia, Indiana University
Abstract: What are the affordances of a position with limited (or no) official authority, but significant institutional responsibilities? In posing this question, we are informed by WAC scholars who have sought to unsettle the WAC specialist’s assumed role as the institution’s “writing expert” who tells faculty the “right” way of teaching writing. Every institutional location and job title offers certain benefits and constraints, and in this session, we will invite participants to consider the strategic partnerships a given positionality enables. This session will move participants through a brief presentation on a case study of a WAC program’s changing status over several decades, relevant scholarship, reflection activities, and discussion questions, concluding with a planning activity so participants have a set of next steps once they are back at their home institution. Overall, participants will consider their flexibility to shape their role on campus and how they can influence actions taken by instructors of all levels at their institution.
Type of Session: Roundtable
Area: Histories of WAC
Chair: Michael A. Pemberton, Georgia Southern University
Presenters:
Julia Bleakney, Elon University
Cameron Bushnell, Clemson University
Michael Cripps, University of New England
Sue Doe, Colorado State University
Rick Fisher, University of Wyoming
Justin Hayes, Quinnipiac University
Yndalecio Hinojosa, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christ
Bruce Kovanen, North Dakota State University
Julia Voss, Santa Clara University
Abstract: In this roundtable, the editors of seven peer-reviewed journals disseminating scholarship in the area of Writing Across the Curriculum will present an overview of the journals’ missions, the editorial processes, and impressions of both ongoing areas of inquiry and emerging trends in the field. Following brief presentations, the audience will be encouraged to ask questions and participate in a discussion of publishing in the field. Editors for Across the Disciplines, Open Words, Double Helix, Academic Labor, Writing Lab Newsletter, Prompt, and The WAC Journal will present and be available to discuss possible submissions. Attendees with projects that might fit within the publication mission of one or more journals are encouraged to share those projects, either during the roundtable session or following it.
Abstract: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Stephen McElroy [Institution Missing] and Kristi Girdharry, Babson College, “Thinking WAC with a Longitudinal Study of Writing Transfer”
Neve David. Eilam and Laura Baumvol, The University of British Columbia, “Collaborative Writing Pedagogy: Exploring Students’ Experiences in a First-Year Research Writing Course”
Tony Mangialetti, Texas Tech, “Community Across the Curriculum”
Abstract: This panel explores the results and insights drawn from three study of the use of writing to support student learning. The first presentation reports on an ongoing longitudinal study of students’ perceptions of and experiences with writing during their time at an undergraduate business college and examines ways these findings might point to specific WAC initiatives that could positively impact students' literate practices across the institution. The second presentation explores students’ experiences with collaborative writing in a first-year research writing course that adopts a writing-in-the-disciplines approach. The themes emerging from the study highlight benefits such as improved learning, engagement with diverse perspectives, classroom community development, and collaborative skill-building. Themes concerning challenges perceived by students include workload, group disagreements, and grading criteria. The third presentation reports the results of interviews with faculty at a large Western university and nationally recognized WAC scholars. The results of the study led to the creation of seven principles to guide the development of sustainable WAC programs. The talk focuses on one principle: WAC initiatives can create community for faculty across their campus, or "community across the curriculum.”
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Christy Goldsmith, Christy Goldsmith, and Julie A. Birt, University of Missouri, “Sustaining Faculty Governance in a Changing Academy: Lessons from MU’s Campus Writing Board”
Thomas Polk and Joan Hwang, George Mason University, “Exploring the Possibilities for Deep Change through a Whole-Systems Sensemaking Methodology”
Sara Austin, AdventHealth University, and Lauren Garskie, Gannon University, “Understanding the Role of Small Failures in Building WAC Programs”
Abstract: Drawing on reflective methodologies, the presenters on this panel reflect on lessons learned from work developing and assessing WAC programs. The first presentation considers patterns in faculty participation that mirror national shifts in faculty composition and service work. The speakers examine these dynamics and their impact on recruitment, engagement, and workload distribution and propose strategies for a changing academic landscape. The second presentation examines how combining sensemaking (Glotfelter et al., 2022) with a whole-systems methodology (Cox et al., 2018) can create conditions for sustainable change in WAC programs. Drawing on assessment data from a large-scale curriculum enhancement initiative, the speakers explore how this integrated approach prompted academic units to reimagine the goal(s) of their writing-intensive course(s) and to identify support structures that enhance course sustainability. The thrid presentation invites participants to reflect on recent small WAC failures in designing and leading WAC programs. The speakers will share their contexts of two small universities with two newer WAC programs, consider what it means to fail in WAC and to ask “Is it really failing?“, and develop a framework with participants for reconceptualizing failure.
Abstract: Panel Presentation
Area: Histories of WAC
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Michael Pemberton, Georgia Southern Univesity, “WAC and Writing Centers: An Update”
Pamela Childers, The McCallie School, “A History of WAC in K12 Institutions”
Doug Hesse, University of Denver, “40 Years in WAC: A Personal Professional History”
Abstract: The members of this panel reflect on the development of WAC over several decades, examining its development in the context of writing centers, K12 institutions, and varying colleges and universities. Drawing on experiences in multiple institutional settings, the speakers will consider developments in curricula and instructional materials, professional development techniques, assessment strategies, and research approaches. Their talks will reflect on both the trajectories these areas have followed and possible futures.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC and Technology
Presenters:
Mandy R. Olejnik and Rena Perez, Miami University (Ohio), “Adapting to AI: A Principled and Long-term Strategy toward Innovating WAC Faculty Development”
Heidi G. Nobles, University of Virginia, “Training Faculty to Use GenAI as an Editor: A WAC Approach to Improve Publishing Equity and Quality for Faculty Authors Across the Disciplines”
Melody Denny, St. Lawrence University, “Supporting Faculty Navigation of Generative AI Across the Curriculum”
Abstract: The presentations in this panel explore the impact of generative artificial intelligence on writing across the curriculum programs. The first presentation advocates for a principled response to generative AI that offers not only immediate faculty development support but also longer-term, multi-part programming to engage faculty in an extended process of sensemaking to enact meaningful change in their writing pedagogy (Kezar, 2013). The second presentation introduce resources to help faculty leverage generative AI tools for self-editing, an approach that enhances equity and quality in the publishing process while familiarizing faculty with AI tools—knowledge they may pass on to students. The third presentation explores initiatives that combine GAI policy development with practical pedagogical support for faculty across disciplines. This presentation addresses the conference theme’s call for “flexibility” and “innovative approaches” by sharing faculty development programs that thoughtfully integrate GenAI while maintaining humanistic values.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC, Civic Action, and Engagement
Chair: Erin Goldin, University of California, Merced
Presenters:
Erin Goldin, University of California Merced
Kathryn Lambrecht, Arizona State University
Merrilyne Lundahl, Southern Oregon University
Abstract: This panel will bring together three different stories of how “stealth WAC”—or WAC that operates below the radarâ—features prominently across different contexts including a writing center, interdisciplinary research collaboration, and outdoor youth literacy development program. We offer ideas for how stealth WAC can be used to frame writing work across the disciplines from the bottom up, rather than the top down.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC and Technology
Chair: Matthew Luskey, University of Minnesota
Presenters:
Waverly Tseng, University of California Irvine, “PapyrusAI: A Multiyear Study of Student Interaction with AI and Evolving Pedagogies”
Phil Barry, University of Minnesota, “A Large Variance of AI Use and Fluency in an Undergraduate Computer Science and Ethics Course”
Daniel Emery, University of Minnesota, “What Science and Engineering Faculty Talk About When They Talk About Generative AI”
Matthew Luskey, University of Minnesota, “Inductivism and Exploration: Supporting the Teaching with Writing in an Age of AI ”
Respondent: Patrick Bonczyk, University of California Irvine
Abstract: Ethan Mollick (2024) and others (2023) describe the leading edge of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technologies as a “jagged frontier.” The metaphor works in two ways: first, it describes the uneven progress and adoption of these tools in workplaces (despite the gold rush promises of many tech companies), and, second, it describes how AI tools sometimes appear to easily succeed at complex writing tasks while struggling mightily with some tasks that human writers find simple. In this panel, we extend this metaphor by exploring case studies in the context of undergraduate education in science and technical fields. Our panel, composed of subject-matter graduate instructors and faculty in engineering and computer science and writing across disciplines specialists, explores case studies on the uneven adoption and complicated performance of generative AI technologies. We'll show how our case studies reveal important distinctions and nuances in how generative AI conversations may affect student writing, including predictions about AI's potential to automate, augment, or transform students' writing development.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Anne Ellen Geller, St. John's University
Presenters:
Anne Ellen. Geller, St. John's University, “Meaningful Writing Project Research: Recent Findings and Implications for the Student Writing Experience”
Neal Lerner, Northeastern University, “Meaningful Writing Project Research: Recent Findings and Implications for the Student Writing Experience”
Emily Jo Schwaller, University of Arizona, “Meaningful Writing as Servingness”
Anh Dang, University of Arizona, “Meaningful Writing as Servingness”
Brendan Shapiro, College of Southern Nevada, “The Meaningful Writing Experience Initiative ”
Robyn Rohde, College of Southern Nevada, “The Meaningful Writing Experience Initiative ”
Elizabeth Kimball, Drexel University, “Meaningful Writing, Meaningful Work”
Qianqian Zhang-Wu, Northeastern University, “Multilingual Writers and Meaningful Writing Experiences”
Alison Stephens, Northeastern University, “Multilingual Writers and Meaningful Writing Experiences”
Abstract: The overall intent of this panel is to offer participants insight into the ways the Meaningful Writing Project has been replicated, revised, and enriched by additional research extending the original findings. Panelists offer findings from an updated survey, extensions of this research conducted with specific student populations and at multiple institutions, and a discussion of students' meaningful writing experiences in these new contexts. As the data grows, so does confirmation of what students tell us about their meaningful writing experiences: we now know more about the conditions for meaningful writing to occur and what practices need to be in place. But what are the implications for pedagogical shifts that can support students' meaningful writing? Participants will gain ideas for how they may both study and embed teaching for meaningful writing within their own institutional contexts.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: April Mann, University of Miami
Presenters:
Adina Sanchez-Garcia, University of Miami, “Assessing and Advancing: Building a Unified Approach to Writing across the Institution”
April Mann, University of Miami, “Maintaining Faculty Stakeholder Buy-in for a WAC/WEC Program in an Era of Artificial Intelligence”
Victoria Calderin-Lemus, University of Miami, “Cloaking Accessible Design in University-wide Faculty Training ”
James Robert. Britton, University of Miami, “Symbiosis in the Classroom”
Respondent: Adina Sanchez-Garcia, University of MIami
Abstract: Our presentation will explore our Writing Studies Department’s recent attempt to create an under-the-radar Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program--at levels that range from the broadly institutional to the individual stakeholder. With no dedicated office or budget, a fuzzy and uneven mandate for change, and our own positions as contingent faculty, we are attempting to create a sustainable and ethical WAC program. Our panel will examine our context on multiple fronts: Our first presenter will discuss the institutional barriers and opportunities that led to our unique version of WAC/WEC; Our second presenter looks at how AI has affected the buy-in of previously supportive faculty; Our third presenter discussed her strategy of embedding accessible design principles in a faculty professional development module on WAC; Our fourth presenter looks reports on the symbiotic relationship he developed with an upper-level Biology class during our department’s first WAC initiative.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Caleb L. González, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, [Presentation Title Missing]
Sue Doe, Colorado State University, [Presentation Title Missing]
Abstract: This panel responds to identifying the need for a decolonial, equitable, and sustainable praxis which the field of WAC identified at the 2020-2021 IWAC Conference as an exigency for professionals in the field. In their 2021-2021 plenary address and proceedings chapter, Al Harahap, Federico Navarro, and Alisa Russell (2023) explained that “each of us must do the individual work of reflecting on how issues of coloniality, equity, and sustainability mark our work. Then we can move toward collective reflection in our programs and across our field.” Our panel builds on this exigency by considering the ways in which equity and access are enacted at various institutions (including open access institutions) through pedagogy, faculty development, and supporting university initiatives related to student success and writing across the curriculum.
Type of Session: Roundtable
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Jill Dahlman, California Northstate University
Presenters: Damon Meyer, Nicholas Valley, Jill Dahlman, and Kristopher Keane, California Northstate University College of Health Sciences
Respondent: Jill Dahlman and Damon Meyer, California Northstate University College of Health Sciences
Abstract: The motivating factors that encourage undergraduate student participation in writing centers have been extensively described (LeCourt, Villanueva, Harris, Zawacki & Cox, etc.). Do we require visits? Do we leave students on their own to discover the writing center? Who should staff the writing center as consultants (student peer consultants or professional consultants)? These questions (and more like them) have been addressed; however, little research regarding faculty motivation to participate in writing centers as consultants, administrators, and volunteers from across the disciplines exists. Similar questions, though, are pertinent. In a small college/department environment with limited faculty, two inquiries arise: 1) What are the benefits of staffing the writing center with faculty who do not specialize in writing, and 2) How do we encourage/guide faculty to participate? This roundtable brings together an Assistant Dean of Faculty and Pedagogy, co-directors of the writing center and participating faculty from the natural sciences to discuss the merits and the positive outcomes observed in our college when faculty across the disciplines participate in the writing center. We seek audience participation in an interactive discussion on increasing faculty participation from multiple disciplines/departments in writing centers as well as its impact on students, faculty, and college.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
David R. Russell, Iowa State University, “Motivation and Genre as Social Action in the Disciplines: Help for Starting and Sustaining Writing”
Xiangying Huo, University of Toronto. “Seven Antiracist and Anti-oppressive Pedagogies in WAC: Celebrating Linguistic Diversity and Advocating for Social Justice”
John M. Ackerman, University of Colorado at Boulder, “Prospects for Dialogue: Epistemic Diversity for Shifting Publics”
Abstract: This panel explores approaches for addressing dialogue on social action and social justice. The first speaker offers a discipline-sensitive theory of writing motivation based on genre as social action, suggesting how a genre-based theory of motivation can help us, as teachers and as writers/researchers ourselves in a discipline to understand issues of motivation and genre. The second speaker considers the ways in which deficiency models based on standard English have othered multilingual students and perpetuated a linguisticism that has led to inequality in WAC. The presenter discusses seven antiracist and anti-oppressive pedagogies that have dramatically improved learner confidence, critical thinking skills, developed agency, identity, voice, a sense of belonging, and inclusive transformation to celebrate linguistic diversity and advocate for social justice. The third speaker reports on a three-year effort to build the scaffolding for an equitable, intellectual exchange between a long-standing autonomous writing program, yoked to the gen-ed core, and select departments and disciplinary clusters identified by writing program faculty as “cognate.” Noting that the effort did not seek to transfer required writing into larger disciplinary classes or become fungible, migrant labor, the speaker discusses how the "dialogues" have morphed from a small, funded course-development committee to a pillar in the program’s current cycle of program review. This talk will share some of the tension in our work on an AAU campus with most of our time devoted to sharing how we actualize “epistemic diversity” and the shared promise of “public and campus facing” writing instruction.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: The Challenges that Unite Us as a Community
Chair: Chair
Presenters:
Tom Deans, University of Connecticut, ““These things have to move together”: The Writing Attitudes and Composing Processes of STEM Undergraduates at an East African University”
Chloe Crull [Institution Missing], “Beyond Self-Selection: Contradictions Between Writing Centers’ Theorized and Practiced Approaches to Building Institutional Relationships”
Lucas Street and Farah Marklevits, Augustana College, “The Writing Center as Ad-Hoc WAC Site”
Abstract: This panel will examine 3 unique challenges and experiences where WAC is used to bridge the gap between cultural, classroom, theory, and writing work through a reassessment of relationships. Each presenter examines study/student respondents’ impressions and attitudes toward writing work in order to realign potentially pre-existing and mistaken beliefs about how certain students see, and may best succeed, in their writing work.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: TBD
Presenters:
Kirsti Cole and Roy Schwartzman, North Carolina State University, “Revitalizing Writing Enriched Curriculum: Leveraging Institutional Ethnography for Program Design”
Alison Farrell, Orla Hanratty, and Lisa O'Regan, Maynooth University, Ireland, “Exploring the Potential Place of Writing-Enriched Curriculum (WEC) in a University Education Framework”
Cameron F. Bushnell and Katalin Beck, Clemson University, “Writing to Engage: Toward Activated WAC Programming”
Abstract: The presenters on this panel offer new approaches for designing effective WAC programs. The first presentation explores how concepts from institutional ethnography (LaFrance and Nicholas 2012) and institutional literacy (Cole, Hassle, and Giordano 2023) can be used to situates WAC programs as a pivotal resource within broader institutional landscape, connecting departments, majors, and student needs. Highlighting the role of institutional relationships and program design in sustaining and growing WAC initiatives by linking support processes and units back to the individual departments and majors, this presentation offers practical tools for conducting institutional analysis and strategies for building or revitalizing WAC programs. The second presentation explores how the WEC framework might be integrated alongside other curricular considerations and approaches, and in alignment with professional learning and strategic priorities more broadly. The third presentation, drawing on the current understanding of writing-to-engage (WTE) as a “middle ground between writing-to-learn and writing-in-the-disciplines” (Palmquist, 2020), advocates integrating service-learning into WAC at the intersection of writing-to-engage. The speakers discuss the theory and practice of WTE reconsidered as we have implemented it at their university in three programs, arguing that creating an opening for SL at the center of WAC programming in the form of engagement allows WTE to becomes not only transitional between writing to learn and writing in the disciplines but also transformational for WAC programs.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC and Technology
Chair: TBD
Presenters:
Susanne Hall, California Institute of Technology, “Sustainability Concerns Raised by Incorporating Generative AI in Writing Curricula: Questions and Considerations for WAC/WID”
Joy Bracewell [Institution Missing], “Balancing Innovation and Personalization: Examining AI Diagnostic Tools in Writing Center Tutoring Across Disciplines”
Joseph M. Moxley, University of South Florida, “Preserving Human Agency in the Age of AI: A Call for WAC Leadership on Authorship and Integrity”
Abstract: As WAC and writing programs integrate generative AI tools into their pedagogies, we face complex questions that will shape the direction, sustainability, and effectiveness of those programs. The presenters on this panel address issues that, in some cases, have been overlooked in recent discussions of generative AI’s impact on teaching and learning. The first speaker raises questions about sustainability—in particular, generative AI's environmental footprint—that have been largely overlooked in current discussions. The second speaker argues that generative AI has redefined the writing landscape, raising questions about its implications for writing center tutors addressing unfamiliar disciplinary conventions. Drawing on a pilot study that explores the potential for an AI tool developed by a business professor to assist tutors in identifying discipline-specific writing features, the speaker considers how this project helps us understand how we might integrate AI into tutoring practices as a complement to, rather than a replacement for, human judgment. The third speaker points out that the rise of generative AI destabilizes core notions of authorship, copyright, intellectual property, and academic integrity, placing students' future reputations and careers at risk. Arguing that WAC leaders are uniquely positioned to address these challenges by developing coherent, evidence-based policies that preserve human agency, the speaker emphasize the urgency for our field to lead in maintaining human control over the writing process.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC, Civic Action, and Engagement
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Mohi Uddin, University of Utah
Muhammad Shamsul Islam, University of North Dakota
Tasnuva Tabassum, Florida State University
Md. Abul Kasem, University of Arizona
Respondent: Mohi Uddin, University of Utah
Abstract: This presentation considers writing skills beyond professional boundaries, which helps students understand and address social issues, raise awareness, and contribute to bringing about changes through writing practices. This panel discussion, which pays close attention to the writing instructions, aims to consider that writing classes should not only teach professional skills but also help students address social issues and create genres that can be used to connect with stakeholders and advance advocacy campaigns. In other words, writing classes can be designed to be formative, and therefore, the projects in the writing courses should be intended to help students develop their deliberative skills. That being considered, this panel will present some conceptual understanding, examples of social advocacy campaign writing, and some short pedagogical activity on curating voices for liberatory practices, followed by some writing narratives from the Bangladeshi socio-political landscape.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC and Technology
Chair: Ekom Udoete, Texas Tech University
Presenters: Ekom Udoete, Iveren Akula, Damilola Adebayo, Patricia Mensah, and Jesutofunmi Adeyanju, Texas Tech University
Respondent: Ekom O. Udoete, Texas Tech University
Abstract: Join us for an engaging exploration into how digital tools—AI-powered writing assistants, translation software, and online writing labs—are reshaping academic writing support for multilingual undergraduate students at Texas Tech University. This presentation delves into ongoing research that evaluates these tools' ability to tackle challenges such as grammar, vocabulary, and self-editing while also addressing their limitations, including overreliance and lack of contextual understanding. Through an overview of preliminary findings from a mixed-methods study, attendees will discover practical strategies for effectively integrating these tools into WAC pedagogy. Together, we aim to foster inclusivity, linguistic diversity, and equity in multilingual classrooms, striking a balance between the promises and pitfalls of digital technologies.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Alisa Russell, Wake Forest University
Presenters:
Zak Lancaster, Wake Forest University
Alisa Russell, Wake Forest University
Holly Thompson, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Respondent: Alisa Russell, Wake Forest University
Abstract: Speakers present findings from two mixed-methods research studies that juxtapose faculty and student participants’ verbalized representations of their writing beliefs and conceptions with the actual texts and textual practices being described. The first study focuses on the metadiscourse features of upper-level undergraduate students’ academic writing, and the second study focuses on disciplinary faculty’s pedagogical materials (e.g., writing assignment prompts and written feedback). Together, the speakers demonstrate methodological possibilities for probing writers’ writing knowledge and goals, including corpus linguistic software for identifying textual patterns that are unavailable to explicit awareness, as well as comparative triangulation across diverse data sets. Overall, the panelists offer research-based evidence for the tacit nature of both student and faculty writing knowledge and goals. Attendees will take away methodological and pedagogical ideas for faculty development, as well as reflections on their own practices as both writers and as teachers.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Aly P. Welker, Colorado State University
Presenters:
Kelly Bradbury, Colorado State University, “Presenter 1: From Reading to Responding: Developing GTA Feedback Skills through Literacy Narratives ”
Aly Welker, Colorado State University, “Writing Critical Literacy Narratives in the Sciences: Reshaping science identity and curriculum”
Joe Schicke, Colorado State University, “Listening for Dissonance: Critical Literacy Narratives and the Relationship Between Grading and Learning ”
Genesea Carter, Colorado State University, “Developing Peer Relationships in Workshopping and Peer Review: Insights from the Critical Literacy Narrative Unit”
Respondent: Aly P. Welker, Colorado State University
Abstract: At a time when faculty across the disciplines are asking themselves how generative AI like ChatGPT is affecting literacy practices and whether—and why—we should continue to assign writing (Lieberman 2024; New York Times 2023), this panel argues that faculty and writing programs must not forget to turn to students to help us answer those questions. We have much to learn from surveying students across the curriculum about their past and present literacy experiences, about what role they feel reading and writing have played in their learning, and about the most impactful moments in their literacy histories (including the introduction of AI). As concerned WAC and writing program administrators and teachers, we have turned to our own students at a large, land-grant, public university to learn from them. Like Clark & Medina (2000), we recognize the value of learning through reading and writing literacy narratives, so we have initially sought students’ input through critical literacy narratives, discussions, and reflections. Presentations will focus on how critical literacy narratives inform feedback practices (Presenter 1), reshape science student identities (Presenter 2), help us question traditional grading practices (Presenter 3), and deepen peer review processes (Presenter 4). Together, the panel will show how centering student voices in literacy narratives can transform teaching practices, curriculum development, and our understanding of writing across the disciplines.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: Barbara E. George, Kent State University
Presenters: Barbara George, Jeremy Rosselot-Merritt, Alan Kohler, and Julie Pal-Agrawal, Carnegie Mellon University
Respondent: Barbara E. George, Kent State University
Abstract: Our case study explores emerging practice in an informal WAC program at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. Our presenters include instructors who teach the Writing for the Professions course and a Professional Communication in Engineering course to upperclassmen across many disciplines. The courses generally focus on genre and rhetorical knowledge as students begin to consider professional identities beyond the classroom. Until recently, the courses have consisted of students in mixed disciplines in each class. However, in the last two years, we have dramatically expanded our offerings to include sections of the course that offer more discipline and genre-specific learning groups that meet requirements for specific programs or colleges - and one course offered in the engineering curriculum. This case study shares how our programming has shifted in recent years, including our early efforts to plan more robust sustainable WAC principles and theoretical principles shared in the IWAC training, including institutional assessment, reaching out to stakeholders to understand institutional ecologies as related to writing within disciplines on our campus, and to planning instructor and student assignments and supports accordingly. This case study also adds to conversations about informal WAC program planning as lecturer lines continue to expand in higher education.
Type of Session: Roundtable
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters: Kali Yamboliev, Jennifer K. Johnson, Peter Huk, Tym Chajdas, Elizabeth Saur, and Katie Baillargeon, UC Santa Barbara
Abstract: This roundtable discussion examines how Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) pedagogies can address the growing wellbeing crisis among college students. As institutions face increasing pressure to support student mental health, writing classrooms have become critical spaces for intervention. Six lecturers from UC Santa Barbara's Writing Program will present findings from their year-long study of diverse student populations, including first-generation students, formerly incarcerated persons, international students, doctoral writers, and graduating seniors—with particular attention to challenges posed by the current political climate. Building on Waldo's (2008) work on sustainability education and recent scholarship on curriculum-embedded wellbeing approaches, the presenters will explore how WAC classrooms can engage students "where they are at" while fostering meaning, purpose, and critical thinking. The roundtable will share data on qualitative student experiences across various constituencies and propose concrete pedagogical strategies that support both academic growth and emotional wellbeing. By examining how writing instruction intersects with student mental health across different populations, this presentation contributes to broader conversations about sustainable, inclusive pedagogies that address the complex challenges facing today's college students.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: The Role of WAC in Advancing Social Justice
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Shuvro Das, Virginia Tech, “Equitable Assessment in Writing Across the Curriculum: Advancing Inclusion Through Innovative Practices”
Julee Rosser, Indiana University East, “Mindfulness and Writing Across the Curriculum: Tools for Transformative Education”
Shuv Raj Rana Bhat, Texas Christian University, “Advancing Social Justice through Writing Across the Curriculum: A Critical, Multimodal and Multiperspective Analysis of Student-Created Brochures”
Abstract: This panel explores crucial perspectives on the role of WAC in advancing social justice across the curriculum. The first speaker discusses equitable assessment practices through labor-based grading and the need to create supportive learning environments where all students can thrive. The second speaker discusses mindfulness as cultivating awareness, insight, and focus in WAC-related contexts. The third speaker explores WAC pedagogy through semiotic resources connected to students’ cultural, social and educational values, ideologies, beliefs and motivations that can aid them in probing into the ways in which language participates in racial violence. This panel combines various areas of teaching to create a discussion related to WAC-pedagogy and the advancement of social justice today.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Qian (Fiona) Wang, North Carolina State University, “Using Portfolio to Foster Reflection and Active Learning in Business Communication - Enhancing Communication Skills Across Curriculum”
Lindsay Clark, Sam Houston State University, “Podcasting in a Business Course to Address Communication Apprehension”
Leslie Ann Roldan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “WAC Adaptations to the Rise in Computer Science Degrees”
Abstract: This panel explores writing innovations in business communication courses and WAC pedagogies in STEM disciplines. The first speaker discusses the role of writing and self-assessment and reflection through portfolio assignments that support student learning. The second speaker discusses the role of podcasting in addressing communication apprehension in business communication courses. The third speaker explores WAC innovations through communication intensive learning in STEM-related courses. This panel focuses on the role of communication as a WAC-related praxis in supporting students in courses related to business communication and STEM in enhancing pedagogy and supporting student learning and success.
Note: The following C.9 sessions will be combined into a panel at this time slot.
Type of Session: Individual Presentation
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Presenters: Juli J. Parrish, Ellwood Colahan, and Olivia Tracy, University of Denver
Abstract: As the music librarian and writing center directors at our university, we are engaged in a multi-year project to teach two groups of students how to learn about, and support one another (and future students) in, academic music writing. Both groups are relatively unfamiliar with the conventions and expectations of academic music writing. Our project involves 1) asking these students to articulate and teach one another about academic music writing in a provisional community of practice, and 2) to share what they have learned with future students and writing consultants by revising resources created by previous groups. Bringing these groups together has allowed each to learn from the other; what has emerged from our conversations is an awareness of productive intersections between the groups: the central role of observation, the act of belonging to a provisional community of practice, and the collaboration involved in producing knowledge about writing.
Type of Session: Individual Presentation
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Presenters:
Carroll Nardone, Sam Houston State University
Renee Gravois, Sam Houston State University
Jamile Forcelini, Sam Houston State University
Leslie Anglesey, St. Mary's College of California
Kendall Gragert, Sam Houston State University
Abstract: Presenters will share results from a multi-disciplinary research study designed to answer the questions of how online guided peer review might help students improve their writing and revision skills, and whether the experience improves learning to write in disciplinary settings. A total of 197 students over three semesters participated from courses in English, Spanish, Marketing, Editing, and Freshman Experience. Participants completed three questionnaires based on their experiences in peer review activities in classroom writing assignments. The survey was conducted in three phases â— pre survey, immediate post survey, and post survey â— and included both closed- and open-ended questions. Participants reported it helpful to see their peers’ writing deliverables as a means to think about ways to improve their own writing. In addition, participants reported that receiving peer feedback was helpful to their learning, and valued the comments from their peers as an aid to strengthening their written work. These results corroborate previous research that supports peer review as an effective way to help students strengthen their writing. Based on our research, presenters will share strategies and tools for faculty to integrate peer feedback activities more easily into courses across the curriculum.
Type of Session: Individual Presentation
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Presenter: Sarah Hart Micke, Texas State University
Abstract: Peer tutoring benefits not only tutees, but also peer tutors themselves, who may learn not only collaboration skills but also, as Limlamai, Wilson, and Gere (2024) show, new approaches to disciplinary content. Given these extensive benefits for peer tutors, this paper takes up Limlamai, Wilson, and Gere’s question about expanding students’ access to peer tutoring roles, such as writing center consultant and embedded writing fellows roles. How might expanding students’ access to such roles enhance, for example, inclusion efforts, student retention, and/or students’ collaboration with peers (Limlamai, Wilson, and Gere 19)? What risks might expanding access pose to the quality of peer tutoring and/or to the sustainability of WAC and Writing Center programs with limited resources? This paper explores such lines of questioning by applying lenses of community literacy and community-engaged pedagogies to WAC programming. This approach invites participants to co-innovate possibilities for fostering intra-campus partnerships that expand students’ access, agency, and engagement with the global writing and writers on their campus.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC and Technology
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Nupur Samuel Samuel, OP Jindal Global University, “ChatGPT in a Writing Class: Many Possibilities and Issues of Voice and Stance”
Pauli Lai [Institution Missing], “Enhancing Writing Education through Generative AI: Affordances and Challenges in Writing Across the Curriculum”
Olha Ivashchyshyn, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, “Innovative Resources for Developing Academic Writing Skills in English Classes”
Abstract: This panel explores innovations of WAC and technology including the role of artificial intelligence in the context of student learning. The first speaker explores ChatGPT as an AI tool in an ESL writing classroom. They also examine the role of critical AI literacy by sharing “insights from academic writing classrooms at the undergraduate university level in India to explore the potential and pitfalls of using ChatGPT as a tool to engage with meaningful, critical, and personalised writing.” The second speaker discusses “the development and implementation of AIReAS (AI Review Assessment System), a rubric-based generative AI (GenAI) platform designed to provide immediate, content-focused feedback to university students on their writing assignments” including “improvements in student writing outcomes and favorable feedback from both students and teachers.” The third speaker explores (TALAS), a web-application that creates an online environment for teaching English, including Academic Writing. This panel focuses on WAC and technology including both innovations and challenges in the context of rising artificial intelligence and languaging across contexts and across the curriculum.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: The Role of WAC in Advancing Social Justice
Chair: Julia Voss, Santa Clara University
Presenters:
Michael J. Cripps, University of New England
Hannah Locher, Ohio State University
Julia Voss, Department of English, Santa Clara University
Abstract: Taking up the 2025 IWAC CFP's invitations to 1) consider WAC's role in advancing social justice and 2) reflect the diversity of social and linguistic contexts in which WAC (and WAC scholarship) is produced, this session will share Across the Disciplines’ design and launch of a process to revamp the journal’s author- and reviewer-facing policies and documentation. It will also document the journal's â— and the field’s â— current baseline of publishing and review processes, what the editorial team has learned so far about the nature of this work, and our goals and hypotheses for the next steps for this process.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: Histories of WAC
Chair: Jeffrey R. Galin, FAU
Presenters:
Michelle Crow, Cornell University
Jeff Galin, Florida Atlantic University
Dan Melzer, UC Davis
Abstract: In this panel presentation, speaker one will revisit our analysis of the state of WAC as a field in the final chapter of Sustainable WAC to examine these new developments, taking into consideration these new threats as well as increased infrastructure and mentorship opportunities within WAC. Speaker 2 will review and update information on the components of the U.S. WAC movement (pp. 220-223) and update the network map of the field of WAC (p. 225), illustrating how a field that was once a set of loosely connected components has coalesced around two central hubs: the WAC Clearinghouse and AWAC. Data for this updated analysis includes contents of the websites of the Clearinghouse and AWAC, as well as publications that discuss the development of these two organizations (e.g. Palmquist, 2022, 2024; Basgier et al., 2020). Speaker three will argue that on the whole, the field of WAC has become more vibrant, more sustainable, and better poised to make transformative impact on the field of writing studies. We will conclude by offering recommendations to the field for its continued growth, development, and long-term viability.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Marcela Hebbard, The University of Texas Rio Grande
Presenters: Bonnie Garcia, Denae Dibrell, and Marcela Hebbard, The University of Texas Rio Grande
Abstract: In this session, three writing faculty members will share their experiences designing and implementing two 3-hour workshops for business faculty that focused on integrating AI into curriculum development that supports student success. The presentation will detail the workshop’s goals and activities, focusing on interdisciplinary faculty interactions and highlighting lessons learned from this experience, specifically, the complex challenges and opportunities encountered when collaborating across disciplines to address issues of AI and writing - who decides what is ethical use of AI, for whom, and on what grounds? What are effective ways to integrate AI in writing across disciplines? Using a worksheet, panelists will engage participants to discuss in small groups how they can offer interdisciplinary workshops in their institutional contexts.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: Lindsey Harding, University of Georgia
Presenters: Lindsey Harding, Elizabeth Davis, Laura McKee, and Sara Steger, University of Georgia
Abstract: The WAC Clearinghouse has modeled what a decentralized collaborative can do for academic publishing, resource sharing, and community building. This panel seeks to explore how the Clearinghouse might serve as a model to help describe, understand, and align a large university’s writing programs so that they might come together to innovate the future of writing across a campus. First, we will identify key characteristics and components of a collaborative and map those onto our university’s writing programs. This initial mapping exercise will show how a collaborative framework can suggest productive opportunities and potential roadblocks for extending coordinated efforts around writing across campus. Then, the panel will address potential roadblocks, namely the fact that most writing program administrators on a traditional, hierarchy-driven campus are non-tenure-track faculty. Ultimately, this panel will suggest that striving to apply the WAC Clearinghouse as a model collaborative allows us to reenvision how various distributed writing programs at a university might work together and innovate how writing is supported, engaged, and valued across campus. Attendees will leave with a set of considerations so they might similarly reflect on the writing-related programming available on their campuses.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters: Kimberly Harrison, Ming Fang, and Michael Creeden, Florida International University
Abstract: In this panel, we highlight our Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program’s efforts to promote AI literacy for faculty and students across campus. We begin by discussing the motivations behind this effort, including the growing need for AI competency in academic and professional contexts, and the pedagogical challenges and opportunities that AI tools present for teaching. Then we detail our strategic partnerships with campus units such as the Center for Advancement in Teaching, the Micro-Credentialing Office and the Graduate School, which have been integral to making our WAC effort on AI literacy both visible and sustainable. These collaborations have allowed us to integrate AI literacy into faculty development. Next, we explore key WAC programming designed to foster AI literacy, including a series of workshops focused on designing and assessing AI-infused writing assignments. A highlight of the panel will be showcasing how faculty have “remixed and rebooted” their writing assignments by integrating AI tools, demonstrating increased knowledge and creativity. Finally, we share testimonials from faculty as evidence of the program’s success, while also addressing persistent challenges. These ideas will offer attendees practical takeaways and inspire further discussion on the role of AI literacy in writing across the curriculum.
Type of Session: Roundtable
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: Beth Carroll, Appalachian State University
Presenters: Beth Carroll, Sarah Zurhellen, Julie Karaus, Kelly Terzaken, Miles Britton, and Maddie Gorniak, Appalachian State University
Abstract: In this roundtable, six participants from diverse roles in our WAC program will discuss the strategies and relationships that have enabled its endurance and success. Through reflective dialogue, the session will offer practical insights into how WAC programs can support students, faculty, and institutional missions over time. Attendees will leave the session with strategies for building and sustaining WAC programs in diverse settings, focusing specifically on the role of general education in driving long-term success.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Megan D. Little, University of San Diego, “Popularization Assignments and Insider “Commentary” in Upper Division Student Writing”
Emmy Antonella González Lillo, Universidad de O'Higgins, “feedback enough to improve? Exploring the Impact of Teachers Comments on Academic Writing in a Language and Communication Pedagogy”
Katja Thieme, Laura Baumvol, and Katie Fitzpatrick, University of British Columbia, “Dialogic Pedagogy: Feedback Practices in Cross-Disciplinary Writing Courses”
Abstract: This panel discusses innovative WAC pedagogies and practices of feedback and response. The first speaker explores shares preliminary findings of a research project that tracks the revision work of Mechanical Engineering students in upper division (300-level) advanced writing classes, before and after they learn to write popularizations of technical journal articles.
The second speaker shares a study that used a qualitative approach to analyze assessment tasks, assessment instruments, and feedback for 52 first-year students from 7 teachers in a Chilean bachelor's programs in Pedagogy in Language and Communication. The third presentation discusses an interview project that analyzed feedback practices of 6 writing studies instructors through the exploration of dialogic pedagogy. This panel focuses on WAC pedagogies and practices that examine innovations of revision and assessment.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Akshata Balghare and Matt Haslam, Embry-Riddle Aeronuatical University, “Advancing Writing Instruction for Engineering Students: Evolution and Challenges of a Multi-disciplinary Writing Program”
Robin Konger, Towson University, “Preparing Engineers for Success: The Role of English Professors in Teaching Communication Skills to Engineering Undergraduates”
Michele N. Zugnoni, Northwestern University, “Building Bridges and Breaking Barriers: Developing Cross-Disciplinary OER for Writing Across the Curriculum in Engineering and Communication”
Abstract: This panel discusses innovative WAC pedagogies and practices of feedback and response. The first presentation discusses challenges and impacts of technical writing practices in engineering communication courses and the meaning of fostering “Engineering ways of thinking” in writing courses. The second speaker shares a study that includes three English faculty members who teach undergraduate engineering students. Their results include both challenges and the meaning of sustaining one’s writing identity in resisting “the engineering world’s tendency to downplay writing.” The third speaker discusses Design Thinking and Communication in a two-course sequence located within the School of Engineering that combines instruction in engineering/design with instruction in writing/communication. They share the impact of scalable and adaptable learning using Open Educational Resources (OER). Overall, this panel focuses on WAC pedagogies and practices that examine innovations of Engineering and Communication through writing identities and resources.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC and Technology
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Traci Gardner, Virginia Tech, “Role-Playing with AI: Simulating Real-World Writing Challenges Across the Curriculum”
Shu Wan [Institution Missing], “Being Twining Historians! Transforming the History Writing Assignment through Twine”
Kristina Markman, UC San Diego, “Transforming Equity in First-Year Writing: A Digital Curriculum Approach in the Humanities Program at UC San Diego”
Abstract: This hybrid panel explores the meaning of digital tools, curricula, and even role playing with AI through Writing Across the Curriculum. The first speaker takes up the question of using innovation in AI chatbots as interactive partners in professional role-playing assignments. They discuss strategies to implement AI-enhanced role-playing assignments, which, as they observe “empower students to navigate complex communication tasks with confidence and prepare for real-world workplace dynamics.” The second speaker discusses an emerging open-source tool for developing interactive writings, Twine (http://twinery.org) which has been widely utilized by literary scholars in their teaching and research. They discuss the use of Twine in supporting writing in history courses. The third speaker explores the development and impact of a digital writing curriculum implemented in the Humanities Program at Revelle College, UC San Diego. They discuss the specific question of what it means to emphasize the importance of digital spaces in building culturally responsive, inclusive learning environments.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Bonnie Vidrine Isbell, Biola University, “Reflection as Power: Writing Practices for Expanding Self-Awareness”
Sydney C. Sullivan, University of California, Davis, “Writing Across the Curriculum: Enhancing Undergraduate Well-being Through Digital Literacy Practices”
Stacy Ybarra, San Antonio College, “Learning Autobiographies: Fostering Self-Reflection and Goal Setting Online”
Abstract: This panel explores WAC pedagogies and practices that foster metacognitive reflection, learning awareness, and well-being including with digital tools that are increasingly available to students like generative AI. The first speaker provides a 20-minute presentation that draws attention to the act of reflection as a practice for students as well as for the growth of the instructor. As they note “Reflection remains a cognitive skill that must be developed in tandem with LLMs, as a writer must reflect on what work in the writing process can be offloaded, delegate the work through deconstructing the tasks, and then reflect and assess the rhetorical appropriateness of the AI product.” The second speaker provides insights into the impact of digital literacy education on student well-being. The discuss the meaning of rethinking composition practices and prioritizing student perspectives in fostering healthier learning environments. The third speaker explores the use of Learning Autobiographies in an online learning environment (Canvas) to promote self-reflection, goal setting, and the application of key course concepts related to personal development, leadership, and learning strategies. This panel provides perspectives on innovative practices of writing through metacognition that utilizes digital tools that students are increasingly familiar with.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: The Role of WAC in Advancing Social Justice
Chair: Lauren M. Bowen, University of Massachusetts Boston
Presenters: Lauren Bowen and Matthew Davis, University of Massachusetts Boston
Abstract: Despite disciplinary momentum toward antiracism, many institutions of higher education in which WAC/WID work happens are trending in the opposite direction, as the erosion of affirmative action in admissions and hiring, as well as legislation against diversity, equity, and inclusion and critical race theory in higher education present serious challenges to antiracist action in higher education. In this context, many existing WAC programs must, at best, tactically retrofit social justice into a campus culture not yet prepared to do the work of antiracism in a large-scale way; at worst, they act within an institutional context that is strategically opposed to antiracism and inclusion as core activities. Necessarily, conversations about antiracist, socially just approaches to WAC have been framed as a need to “renovate” WAC programs. But what might it mean to build an antiracist program from the ground up? Presented with the unique opportunity to do just that, the speakers on this panel--2 administrators and 2 faculty fellows from different disciplines--reflect on and examine their efforts to build a WAC program within an institution that aims to build a national reputation as a leader in antiracism. Collectively, we ask: What does it mean for a nascent WAC program to both harness and shape such institutional momentum toward antiracist practices?
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Heather M. Falconer, University of Maine
Presenters:
Mary PlymaleLarlee, Heather M. Falconer, and Julia McGuire, University of Maine
Abstract: This presentation describes activities to align the rhetorical practices and concepts taught in a required First-Year Writing (FYW) curriculum to first- and second-year Biology courses. The presentation will share strategy, tools developed, and findings showing improved understanding and implementation of citation practices and discourse conventions.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Aimee C. Mapes, University of Arizona
Presenters:
Audrey J. T. Kahn, University of Arizona, “Student Experience HIPs”
Leah Bowshier, University of Arizona, “Beyond “Just” Tutoring: High Impact Experiences for Tutors”
Aimee C. Mapes, University of Arizona, “Embedded Tutoring: A Story of High Impact Campus Collaborations”
Abstract: This panel presents early research into the impact of embedded writing tutoring as a strategic partnership between Writing Across the Curriculum, the Writing Center, and General Education at the University of Arizona. Speakers will offer preliminary findings of a study examining embedded tutoring as a potential High Impact Practice (HIP) for both students and writing tutors. They will emphasize the strengths of campus collaboration that support HIPs and lessons about implementing embedded tutoring as an equity-forward initiative aligned with the Whole Systems Approach to WAC defined by Cox, Galin, & Melzer (2018). This panel will also share resources and discuss how participants can adapt, improve, and repurpose these approaches for other institutional contexts.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: Michelle Crow, Cornell University
Presenters:
Cristyn Elder, University of New Mexico
Chris Fosen, California State University, Chico
Cheryl Duffy, Fort Hays State University
Respondent: Jeffrey R. Galin, FAU
Abstract: _Sustainable WAC_ drew upon vignettes of seventeen WAC programs from across the country and the combined experience of the co-authors. However, no programs had used the whole systems approach to develop their programs before its publication. For the past four years, the panelists, who are members of the Sustainable WAC Consortium, have been testing the efficacy of the WSA during a longitudinal study of WAC programs. Presenters focus on findings related to the understand stage, which, we’ve learned is more important/complicated than originally described in Sustainable WAC_. A survey of Consortium members revealed that out of the four stages of the WSA (understand, plan, develop, and lead), most members spent most of their time and energy in the understage stage, using a wide array of tactics (Galin & Duffy, 2023). In part, we attribute this focus to a need to build a strong case for program development, gather baseline data, and commit to the WSA approach. This panel presentation will share ways panelists have drawn on the understand stage at different points in their program’s development, sharing survey instruments, interview protocols, and key findingsâ—and explaining how these findings were used to inform program development and promote program sustainability.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: Diane Chardon, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
Presenters: Diane Chardon, Anna Loseke, Shannon Lujan, Julie McCarty, Mike McFavilen, and Roja Najafi, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
Respondent: Diane Chardon, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
Abstract: Conferences like IWAC are especially valued by community college practitioners for their mix of strong theoretical depth combined with practical strategies for addressing some of our most pressing educational and operational challenges. In this spirit, our panel will share how Chandler-Gilbert Community College’s unique Writing-Certified Class Program, our version of writing-intensive classes, successfully functions within a system that is generally under-funded and overtaxed, with frequent operational shifts dictated by the Maricopa County Community Colleges District of which we are a part, as well as external forces such as political fluctuations and technological advances. Based on individual experiences and data gathered from faculty, students, and staff, WCCP team members from different areas of the college will discuss how we’ve addressed 4 primary challenges in our efforts to meet and exceed the INWAC principles for effective, sustainable WAC programs: 1) Faculty recruitment, 2) Creating equitable, effective, and safe spaces for learning across all student demographics, 3) Assessment of learning and growth across writing-certified classes, and 4) Integrating the program into the fabric of the institution. In so doing, we will identify several critical features of our program that participants could use to begin or enhance their own programs.
Type of Session: Roundtable
Area: The Challenges that Unite Us as a Community
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Ann Blakeslee, Eastern Michigan University, “Coalition Building Within and Across Institutions in the Age of Generative AI”
Julia Bleakney, Elon University, “Coalition Building Within and Across Institutions in the Age of Generative AI”
Paula Rosinski, Elon University, “Coalition Building Within and Across Institutions in the Age of Generative AI”
Stacey Sheriff, Colby College, “Coalition Building Within and Across Institutions in the Age of Generative AI”
Nathalie Singh-Corcoran, West Virginia University, “Coalition Building Within and Across Institutions in the Age of Generative AI”
Respondent: Julia Bleakney, Elon University
Julia Bleakney, Elon University
Abstract: WAC and WC professionals have always distinguished themselves by their abilities to build connections and relationships as well as to collaborate with key stakeholders, both across our universities as well as across the field. As we grapple with the ways generative AI technologies have quickly expanded, changed, and challenged the work we are doing, building effective coalitions is essential. In this roundtable, five WAC and WC directors from four institutions discuss how we have approached our work with Gen AI in our various roles and on our respective campuses. Common themes across our presentations will be the valuing of the voices of our stakeholders and addressing issues of equity, inclusion, and access in relation to Gen AI. We will also describe how we have built cross-institutional coalitions and research projects to advance our efforts to improve both faculty teaching and student learning of writing, as well as the acquisition of critical GenAI literacies. Time will be set aside for discussion and writing activities.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Presenter:
Aimee McClure, Clarke University, “Leveraging WAC Principles in Retention Initiatives at a Small Liberal Arts College”
Amy Mecklenburg-Faenger, Courtney Rilinger, and Emily Sallee, Park University, “Feedback with Feeling: An Assessment of Feedback Training Uptake in a 4-week Online Instructor Training Course”
Rebecca Wilbanks, Johns Hopkin, “Writing Across Curricular Change: Researching Undergraduate Writing Experiences in the Context of Program-Building”
Abstract: The speakers on this panel explore innovative research and practices in WAC, focusing on faculty feedback strategies and undergraduate writing experiences to enhance writing instruction and program development. The first presentation explores the intersection of WAC principles and student retention initiatives at a SLAC in the Midwest. Arguing that, as institutions grapple with declining enrollments and financial instability and austerity (Matzen & Abraham, 2019; Scott & Welch, 2016), WAC emerges as a powerful, often implicit and stealthy, retention tool (Ruecker et al., 2017). The second presentation considers how faculty can implement feedback strategies taught in an online Writing Intensive (WI) certification course. The third presentation reports on the first year of a multi-year study investigating undergraduate experiences with writing at a private R1 university as new graduation writing requirements are implemented. Together, these presentations provide actionable insights into improving faculty-student interactions and fostering meaningful, institutionally supported writing development.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: The Role of WAC in Advancing Social Justice
Chair: TBD
Presenters:
Katja Thieme, University of British Columbia, Brittany Amell, University of Victoria, Katja Thieme, University of British Columbia, “Recurring Failures and Rhetorical Imprints: The Shadow CV as a Cross-Disciplinary Genre”
Alison Moore, University of California, Davis, The Battle for Truth Will Rely on Us”
Mysti Rudd, Georgetown University in Qatar, “Widening the Gyre: Developing WAC at an International Branch Campus in the Middle East”
Abstract: This panel explores the intersections of rhetoric, identity, and social justice within WAC contexts. The first presentation examines the emergent genre of the "shadow CV," analyzing how failure is narrated in academic careers and how it critiques traditional measures of success. The second presentation addresses the role of literacy experts in combating mis/disinformation propagated through powerful social media platforms, emphasizing the need for social justice-oriented pedagogies that prioritize diverse composing practices. The third presentation considers the design and development of a WAC program based on an “anthropological sensitivity to [the] context” (Anson & Donahue, 2015, p.23) of a particular international branch campus in the Middle East, one that is rich in linguistic diversity amidst heightened global tensions. Together, these presentations highlight the critical need for WAC practitioners to rethink traditional narratives and embrace inclusive, justice-centered approaches.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: The Role of WAC in Advancing Social Justice
Chair: TBD
Presenters:
Brian Hendrickson, Roger Williams University, “Supporting STEM Literacy and Identity Development: Findings from a Communications-Focused Scholarship Program for Low-Income, High-Achieving Undergraduates”
Jessa M. Wood, University of Minnesota, “Writing Against the Curriculum: Quiet Criticality in the Face of Political Restriction”
Haivan Hoang [Institution Missing], “WID Teachers’ Responses to the Idea of Asking Students to Write to Racially Diverse Audiences”
Abstract: This panel examines how WAC practitioners navigate politically restrictive environments and engage with issues of race and inclusion in their work. The first presentation shares findings from a qualitative interview study of the literacy trajectories of eight: undergraduate STEM students from historically underrepresented groups, with the aims of contributing to a growing body of research in writing across the curriculum on complex connections between literacy, identity, engagement, and belonging. The second presentation explores strategies used by WAC leaders to sustain inclusive and antiracist initiatives under increasing political constraints, offering insights from a national study of 45 programs. The third presentation investigates faculty perspectives on integrating race-conscious practices into writing-in-the-disciplines courses, highlighting both challenges and opportunities for fostering antiracist pedagogies. Together, these presentations provide actionable strategies for advancing equity and inclusion in challenging political and institutional contexts.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: The Role of WAC in Advancing Social Justice
Chair: TBD
Presenters:
Irene Clark, California State University, Northridge, “Imitation, Disciplinary Diversity, and Academic Integrity: Insights from Neuroscience Research”
Donald Moore [Institution Missing], “Writing About Writing, Embedded Writing Consultants, and Laboratory Teaching: Centerpieces to Developing a WAC Program”
Abstract: This panel examines how Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) practitioners navigate politically restrictive environments and engage with issues of race and inclusion in their work. The first presentation argues that imitation, both as a theoretical concept and as an instructional practice, can be used to help students approach writing tasks across the curriculum with greater insight and confidence. The speaker suggests that this approach can serve as a tool that will help students understand the requirements of unfamiliar writing tasks, foster their sense of themselves as writers, and provide them with a sense of agency and confidence. The second presentation explores strategies used by WAC leaders to sustain inclusive and antiracist initiatives under increasing political constraints, offering insights from a national study of 45 programs.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC and Technology
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters: Marit MacArthur, Sophia Minnillo, Lisa Sperber, Nicholas Stillman, and Carl Whithaus, University of California, Davis
Abstract: This panel will share results of our PAIRR (Peer and AI Feedback + Reflection) pilot study at UC Davis in 2024-25, which reached 654 students in 12 distinct courses across the curriculum, including composition, professional writing and large writing-intensive STEM courses. With the goals of leveraging AI to strengthen support for students’ writing development, especially for underserved students, and develop AI literacy for undergraduates, TAs and faculty, we still center humans in the feedback process. Our approach is guided by research demonstrating that peer review provides crucial practice for understanding the social and rhetorical dimensions of writing (Anson 2023), and that students’ relationships with teachers and peers impact their engagement, motivation, and sense of belonging, which correlate with student success and retention (Kirby & Thomas, 2021). We share findings related to students’ feelings about AI feedback vs. peer feedback, what each type of feedback offers, and how pairing both types of feedback, with critical reflection, may build AI literacy and writerly agency. As our team expands the PAIRR project across California, thanks to a $1.5 million Learning Lab AI Grand Challenge grant, we are also eager for feedback from the WAC community on our OER materials, which we will share as part of our presentation.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Christopher R. Basgier, Auburn University
Presenters: Christopher R. Basgier, Russell Mailen, Jeffrey LaMondia, Sushil Adhikari, and Katharine H. Brown, Auburn University
Abstract: This panel will share the Writing SySTEM, a structured model of graduate writing support developed for a National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education (NSF-IGE) grant. The Writing SySTEM is a sustainable and transferrable, multi-tiered, resource-based system that equips graduate students with strategies and resources needed to write effectively in STEM fields. Panelists will share the general model and specific examples of its primary components, including STEM writing courses, writing workshops, writing groups, and online writing resources.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Maureen Mathison, University of Utah
Presenters:
Rachel Bryson, University of Utah, “Generative Artificial Intelligence and Failure in Writing-Intensive Courses”
Zac Jones, University of Utah, “Teaching STEM Students to Identify False Data and Understand Its Harms in Scientific Writing”
Maureen Mathison, University of Utah, “Teaching Students to Write about Failure in the Laboratory”
Abstract: Failure is an inevitable component of how we learn in all fields, and especially in STEM. While some failures can be beneficial to growth in STEM fields, others can be detrimental to their credibility. As instructors in a variety of disciplines consider the role of failure in their fields, we present three cases where failure is instrumental to understanding STEM and WAC practices. Our goal is to highlight how we can be more attentive to issues of failure and to take advantage of when it works and to minimize where it harms. Speaker 1 will address the intersections of Generative AI (GenAI) policy in multidisciplinary writing and how these policies can influence how we define and respond to failure in writing-intensive courses. Speaker 2 will address the need for WAC instructors to teach STEM students how to identify and understand the damage of academic misconduct and false data in scientific writing. Speaker 3 will address how students in STEM manage writing about failed experiments and suggest a pedagogy that treats failure as a feature of learning in experimental science.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: Lindsey Ives [Institution Missing]
Presenters:
Ann Marie Ade, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Worldwide
Amelia Chesley, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Prescott
Taylor Mitchell, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Daytona Beach
Lindsey Ives, independent scholar
Abstract: This panel reviews the development and progress of a large-scale, long-term, Writing in the Disciplines-focused Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) at a small STEM institution. Our "Writing Matters" QEP leadership team, comprised of writing studies faculty across 3 campuses, worked to follow the fifteen whole systems strategies that Cox et al. (2014) recommend in Sustainable WAC. These strategies allowed the program to grow and begin making a positive impact on student writing across disciplines. However, it has been challenging to balance the diverse priorities of various disciplines and the complexities of different campuses’ infrastructure. Additionally, shifts in institutional policy and increasing turnover among the program’s participants have posed additional hurdles for the initiative. Panelists will provide an overview of Writing Matters goals and interventions, and each speaker will then discuss their respective strategies for leveraging opportunities and responding to challenges. They conclude by estimating future outcomes for Writing Matters and sharing useful takeaways for managing a large-scale WID program made up of many semi-independent, flexible, faculty-led approaches.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: David Shawn, Boston University
Presenters: Jessica Kent, David Shawn, and Max White, Boston University
Respondents: Jessica Kent and David Shawn, Boston University
Abstract: This presentation examines a WEC-inspired program at an R1 university that adapts the University of Minnesota model to our own university’s particular circumstances. While we have much in common with Minnesota, in practice, our approach to developing disciplinary writing plans differs in a number of ways. Most notably, for this presentation, we emphasize the role of the WID Faculty Consultant, a NTT faculty member from the CAS Writing Program, who works intensively with a departmental committee to facilitate the department’s writing plan. This person is an outsider to the department and a writing pedagogy expert. As Writing Studies faculty, we are particularly interested in how cross-departmental collaboration taps into the enthusiasm of disciplinary colleagues and confronts faculty resistance. Our presentation will not only indicate ways in which our program has benefitted from the Minnesota model, but it will also showcase our alternative approach that is grounded in our understanding of the motivations and resistances felt by disciplinary faculty regarding both “writing” in general and “writing within the discipline”; in our belief that the guiding and facilitative role of writing studies expertise is built on trust and long-term relationship-building; and in the processes we undertake in cultivating the relationship between disciplinary faculty and writing studies faculty.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Rosana Serra Iraola, Adrián Silveira Aberastury, and Bruno Fonseca Lema, Administración Nacional de Educación Pública, “La ortografía literal y acentual en la escritura: un análisis psicométrico aplicado a una rúbrica para evaluaciones estandarizadas”
Olalekan Adepoju, College of Staten Island, “Working with Transnational Writing Assets in the Writing Center: Lessons from International Multilingual Graduate Students’ Narratives”
Narjis Sherafati, University of Louisville Department of English, “Navigating Translingual Challenges for the First-Year Graduate Student Writers in Academic Contexts in the US”
Abstract: This panel explores innovative approaches to writing evaluation and support, focusing on diverse linguistic and cultural contexts. The first presentation examines the challenges of standardized writing assessments by analyzing orthographic dimensions through psychometric models, offering insights into creating more effective and equitable evaluation tools. The second presentation emphasizes the transformative potential of adopting a transnational approach in writing center praxis to support multilingual writers. The third presentation highlights the challenges faced by first-year graduate students in navigating academic writing in U.S. contexts, offering strategies for fostering their success. Together, these presentations underscore the importance of multidimensional and inclusive approaches in writing pedagogy and assessment.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: The Role of WAC in Advancing Social Justice
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Lydia Boateng, New Mexico State University, “Decolonizing Writing Across the Curriculum: Language, Power, and the Politics of Academic Writing - Embracing Ubuntu for Inclusive and Culturally Responsive Academic Writing”
Vani Kannan [Institution Missing], ““I Am Where I Write”: Developing Land- and Place-Based Writing Across the Curriculum Initiatives”
Esther R. Namubiru [Institution Missing], “Local Pedagogies As Acts of Resistance: Preliminary Findings from a Narrative Inquiry Study on Ugandan English University Writing Instructors”
Abstract: This panel addresses the urgent need to decolonize Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) by challenging traditional Western-centric norms and embracing diverse linguistic, cultural, and place-based perspectives. The first presentation proposes a decolonial WAC framework grounded in Ubuntu, advocating for intellectual rigor through linguistic and rhetorical diversity. The second presentation explores land- and place-based approaches to WAC, linking multimodal writing with social justice struggles. The third presentation examines how Ugandan university writing instructors navigate multilingual teaching, complicating dominant notions of linguistic justice and decolonial approaches. Together, these presentations offer transformative frameworks for creating more inclusive, equitable, and socially engaged WAC programs worldwide.
Abstract: Panbel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Shareen Grogan and Amy Ratto Parks, University of Montana, “Strategizing our Next Decade of WAC: An Assessment Trying to Grow into a Program”
Kristen Garrison, Midwestern State University, “Deep Change from the Deep End: Rebuilding a Writing Program”
Derek R. Sherman, University of Findlay, “Going WAC-Less: Identifying Opportunities to Incorporate WAC Theory & Practices”
Abstract: This panel examines the challenges and opportunities of developing, sustaining, and innovating Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs in diverse institutional contexts. The first presentation reflects on a decade of university-wide writing assessment at the University of Montana and explores strategies for transitioning from assessment to a full-fledged WAC program. The second presentation shares the journey of rebuilding a writing program at a mid-size regional university following its abrupt elimination, emphasizing the transformative potential of faculty-driven WAC initiatives. The third presentation investigates how WAC principles can be embedded and expanded in institutions without formal WAC programs through innovative frameworks like bioecological systems theory. Together, these presentations offer practical insights and strategic approaches for advancing writing culture and pedagogy across institutions.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Magnus K. H. Gustafsson, Chalmers University of Technology, “Translating WAC and WEC to a European Context for Sustainable Writing Development Support”
Megan Callow and Rebecca Taylor, University of Washington, Seattle, “Informed Self-Placement? Examining a Task-Free, Online Directed Self-Placement Model at the University of Washington”
Tobias Lee, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, “Addressing the Feedback Conundrum in Hong Kong: A Case Study in Transnational Composition and WAC as a Global Movement”
Panel Abstract: This panel explores Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) practices and innovations in diverse global contexts, highlighting program redesigns, placement models, and pedagogical challenges. The first presentation examines the redesign of a European writing program through a Writing-Enriched Curriculum model, emphasizing faculty collaboration, assignment development, and tailored student writing pathways. The second presentation assesses an innovative, fully student-empowered placement approach, considering its implications for inclusion and linguistic justice. The third presentation explores the challenges of feedback, generative AI, and writing pedagogy in a large English-as-a-medium-of-instruction university. Together, these presentations offer insights into the evolving global landscape of WAC and writing pedagogy.
Type of Session: Roundtable
Area: The Challenges that Unite Us as a Community
Chair: Ann Blakeslee, Eastern Michigan University
Presenters:
Ann Blakeslee, Eastern Michigan University
David R. Russell, Iowa State University
Sherri Craig, Virginia Tech
Thomas Polk, George Mason University
Heather Falconer, University of Maine
Abstract: Selecting a publisher for scholarship, no matter what stage of our careers we’re in, includes a variety of considerations and variables – not least of which is the prestige and credibility of the publisher and/or publishing venue in the field. How both institutional and external evaluators view a publisher or a venue in which we publish can impact reviews of reappointment and promotion materials and, ultimately, decisions about reappointment, tenure, and/or promotion. While open-access publishing has been increasingly viewed with favor in the disciplines of WAC and Writing Studies, it may still face closer scrutiny and challenges within our institutions and departments. This roundtable offers both historical and present-day perspectives on perceptions of and biases toward open-access publishing within the academy. For individuals at institutions that do not have a history of open-access awareness, positioning the value of such venues can be a tricky rhetorical enterprise. Roundtable speakers will briefly discuss their own orientations and experiences before opening the session up to questions from and conversation with those in attendance. An emphasis will be placed on providing strategies for demonstrating prestige and credibility with open-access publications.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC and Technology
Chair: Elizabeth Caravella, York University
Presenters:
Elizabeth Caravella, York University
Sarah Riddick, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Rich Shivener, York University
Jason Tham, Texas Tech University
Respondent: Elizabeth Caravella, York University
Abstract: WAC programs have historically supported multimodality, emphasizing that text-based argumentation is one of many available means of composing in courses. However, among these crucial studies for understanding how faculty and writers have worked with multimodal texts, virtual reality (VR) as a multimodal composing resource is not addressed. Further, while some studies have uncovered some potential positives for student writing, such as increasing their sense of creativity and self-efficacy after using VR, few studies have examined how VR influences the writing process itself, especially when the writing actually takes place within a virtual environment. The lack of research inquiries in VR in WAC scholarship is no surprise, as it has only become more readily accessible to publics in the last decade (e.g., the Meta Quest series; Playstation VR) and become an emerging site of research inquiry in communication and education studies contexts. That said, as writing studies scholars, we rely on technology to write and communicate, and newer technologies continue to offer exceptional features to compose. In other words, writing technology not only shapes our composing activities, but also our means of thinking, our interactions with physical and virtual spaces, and our perceptions of other writers. We write with, about, and sometimes against, technology. This panel, then, reports on a grant-funded international research project exploring current VR technologies as immersive-experience technologies and whether they are viable in WAC contexts.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Erika Scheurer, University of Saint Thomas
Presenters:
Erika Scheurer, University of Saint Thomas -- Saint Paul, Minnesota, ““They are engaged, sometimes they doodle!”: Faculty Return to Handwritten Assignments”
Kevin Mummey, University of Saint Thomas -- Saint Paul, Minnesota, “ Hand it Over: Writing as a Means of Connecting to the Human Experience”
Eva Solomonson, University of Saint Thomas -- Saint Paul, Minnesota, “The Social Work Field Journal: A Practical Tool for Reflective Professional Practice”
Abstract: When it comes to AI text generators, on the one hand, we must keep up with the constantly improving capacities of the technology, incorporating what we learn into our teaching; on the other hand, we must work to ensure that students do not misuse AI to bypass the writing and learning at the core of our course learning objectives. The latter has become increasingly complicated as AI text generators become ever more proficient at mimicking not only academic prose, but informal reflective writing. In this interactive panel, a WAC director, using survey responses from faculty across the disciplines, will describe a phenomenon she has noticed on her campus: faculty are turning to in-class handwritten writing assignments to ensure that students engage with the course content. She will reflect on this turn to writing by hand in the context of current literature on the effects of handwriting on cognition and reflection, drawing in WAC faculty experiences with this practice (including in her own). Then, two WAC faculty members who have assigned in-class handwritten journals will share their experiences, one in an introductory level World History general education survey and the other in an upper-level Social Work Field Practicum.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Tereza Joy J. Kramer, California Northstate University
Presenters: Emily Mills Ko, Tereza Joy Kramer, Jasmeen Bains, anbd Emaan Rahmanzai, California Northstate University
Respondent: Tereza Joy J. Kramer, California Northstate University
Abstract: Training undergraduate STEM majors in the methodologies and rationales that undergird Humanities research offers a multiplicity of benefits. Future scientists gain skills and appreciation for the value of Humanities research, while Humanities professors broaden the perspectives of their research teams. STEM students might not be aware that their futures may hold as much opportunity for mixed-methods research as for strictly laboratory work. Therefore, we are called to teach them how to conduct thematic coding, statistical analysis, and other RAD research methods that inform Humanities academic research but also could inform their future careers and the world at large. We are a writing professor, an immunology professor, and two of the lead undergraduate researchers. Together, we will share how we designed our mixed-methods research into public-audience writing in both science and writing courses, and how we are conducting the data analysis and thematic coding as a team. We will unpack the students’ struggles understanding Humanities research methods and reflect on what this generative process is teaching all of us. As part of the interactive portion of the panel, we will engage participants in thinking about whether and how to attract science students to their collaborative research table.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: Christopher E. Manion, The Ohio State University
Presenters: Chris Manion, Lynn Hall, Jennifer Herman, and Julie Johnson, The Ohio State University
Abstract: This panel will explore the roles that WAC programs and advocates might play in supporting first year writing initiatives offered beyond English or Writing Studies Departments, in this case, Writing and Information Literacy (WIL) courses in Ohio State’s new General Education curriculum. Ohio State’s WAC coordinator and representatives from two departments offering WIL courses will share data about the broader context for first year writing at Ohio State, explore the process departments took for adapting their curricula for WIL in the new GE, report on how they approached the assessment of WIL courses, and share some of the take-aways from their process. Overall, the collaborations we’ll discuss looked to balance local assessment priorities with wider institutional needs in evaluating the broader GE curriculum. They also looked to build a broad and flexible consensus around shared values and pedagogical commitments for WIL courses and has begun to lay a collaborative groundwork for valuing and prioritizing the labor of assessment and curricular development. While significant challenges remain, the collaborations we’ll discuss point to a role WAC programs and advocates can play in strategically building sustainable support for teaching and assessment of First Year Writing initiatives across the curriculum.
Type of Session: Roundtable
Area: WAC in Diverse Social and Linguistic Contexts
Chair: Steven Fraiberg, Michigan State University
Presenters:
Terry Zawacki, George Mason University
Magnus Gustafsson, Chalmers University of Technology
Joan Mullin, University of North Carolina Charlotte
Abstract: Editorial decisions about scholarly submissions shape a field, determining what research is published and, therefore, how it is “counted.” From its inception, the WAC Clearinghouse challenged the profession’s understandings of what “inclusive,” “equitable” and “open” look like when actually applied to publishing practices (Palmquist, 2023). Palmquist understood that “open-access publishing in digital formats freed scholars from the market-driven economies that shape most traditional academic presses” (2022, p.123). Recognizing that those involved in editing/reviewing for publications are in key positions to push against practices that reinscribe barriers to equity & linguistic justice, many of our organizational/publication’s boards revised their policies and practices. However, those involved in open access publishing that crosses disciplinary, rhetorical, methodological, and, these speakers add, transnational boundaries, can uniquely shift Anglo-north linguistic and rhetorical traditions off-center. As international book series editors, the roundtable speakers first explain the research and inquiry processes in which they engaged to shape policies and practices that respect and fairly review scholarship challenging traditional Global-North linguistic and rhetorical traditions; then they open discussion that addresses a hidden barrier to continuing activist publishing, one, if articulated strategically, that can further ensure increasing transnational agency, equity and inclusion.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC in Diverse Social and Linguistic Contexts
Chair: Chair
Presenters:
Johanna Ramirez and Frances Kvietok, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, “Pedagogías multiletradas críticas y decoloniales en la formación de estudiantes EIB en una universidad peruana”
Bailey McAlister, [Institution Missing], “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Sustainability in WAC: Learning from Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Industry Rhetorics”
Abstract: Through this panel, a wide variety of cultural learning atmospheres and learning systems will be examined while presenters explore and challenges and unique opportunities to learn through WAC in complex and often underserved and underrepresented environments: ranging from local/regional HSIs to indigenous knowledge systems at work in the service industry.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Chair
Presenters:
Kathryn Northcut, Rachel Schneider, Michelle Schwartze, and Devin Burns, Missouri University of Science and Technology, “Focus on Faculty: Developing a Cross-Disciplinary Teaching Evaluation Rubric”
Amy Lannin and Linda Blockus, University of Missouri, “Enhancing High Impact Practices (HIPs) through Faculty Development and Course Pilot Program”
Shuting Zhang, Colorado State University, “Understanding the Writing Teachers' Professional Development in a Chinese Teaching Contest”
Abstract: this panel will focus on the ways that faculty can develop and expand their use of WAC in a variety of disciplines and in an variety of ways to enhance and assess their own skill sets. Purposes, develop, and use of WAC stragagies examined will range from self-evaluation to developing rubrics for multi-discipline teaching evaluations; to enhancing high impact practices through faculty development and writing-teacher specific professional development.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC and Technology
Chair: [TBD]
Presenters:
Meghan Hancock, Marshall University, “The Incorporation of Reading Instruction and the Ethical Use of AI Reading Assistants in Writing Courses”
Emily Hall, UW-Madison, “Democratic Approaches to Generative AI: WAC's Role in Moving Beyond Surveillance and Submission”
Abstract: The presentation on this panel explore the impact of initiatives that incorporate generative AI. The first speaker shares results from a two-semester-long multidisciplinary faculty learning community that explored teaching students ethical uses of AI reading assistants and an approach advocated in Ellen Carillo’s A Writer’s Guide to Mindful Reading. The second speaker, drawing on philosopher Annette Zimmerman's work on “democratizing AI” proposes a framework that brings student writers’ voices into decisions about AI's role in writing assignments and activities. Rather than positioning faculty as either police or promoters of AI, this framework posits instructors and students as co-investigators of AI's role in relation to writing processes and as co-developers of critical AI literacy - understanding AI’s inherent bias and its social, environmental, and labor impacts in addition to its generative capabilities.
Type of Session: Teaching Demonstration
Area: The Challenges that Unite Us as a Community
Presenter: Martine Devine [Institution Missing]
Abstract: Everyone Writes is a complete writers workshop that allows students to become proficient in the genres of informative, narrative, compare/contrast, opinion, and persuasive writing. It is primarily directed to grade levels 3-5 but it can also be used for struggling readers and writers in grades 6-8. It adapts interactive writing language strategies employed in primary grade instruction to scaffold intermediate students. It is multi-sensory and allows students to pace their writing by the use of mnemonics and color tabs. Students work individually, as part of a whole class, in small groups, and with partners. •Participants will learn and apply interactive language strategies to create written pieces. •Participants will apply a multi-sensory process to create essays. •Participants will participate in a complete writing process: Generation of a topic to complete scored written pieces with illustrations.
Type of Session: Roundtable
Area: The Challenges that Unite Us as a Community
Chair: Manuel Piña, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Presenters:
Manuel Piña and Susan Murphy, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, “Teaching-for-Transfer: Turning (Again) to Rhetoric and Process”
Technologies: Testimonios For More Inclusive Online Writing Instruction”
Isaac Hinojosa and Andrea Montalvo, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, “The On-Going Evolution and Persistent Re/Imagination of Co-Requisite Support”
Respondent: Manuel Piña, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Abstract: This roundtable foregrounds the unique potentials and challenges that accompany Writing Across the Curriculum programs and pedagogies within the context of a regional, R2 university that is designated both as a Hispanic and Minority Serving Institution (HSI/MSI). From implementing transfer-focused teaching practices and exploring inclusive online instruction to evolving co-requisite program models, this roundtable takes up the question/s of “servingness” and what it means to support a linguistically and culturally diverse student population through WAC principles. Through this roundtable, we aim to surface strategies that balance institutional expectations with the realities of serving traditionally marginalized communities.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC and Technology
Chair: Leslie Bruce, California State University Fullerton
Presenters:
Beth Harnick-Shapiro, UC, Irvine and CSU, Fullerton
Leslie Bruce, CSU, Fullerton
Stephanie Tran, Cypress Community College
Respondent: Leslie Bruce, California State University Fullerton
Abstract: Can GenAI tools really support humanistic, ethical writing instruction? This panel discussion challenges a perceived dichotomy between humanistic values and technological advancements. We’ll share our work with PapyrusAI, UC Irvine’s NSF-funded AI writing coach, which has convinced us that GenAI can enhance ethical and humanistic values in writing instruction when used purposefully by instructors. Our conversation will demonstrate how emphasizing transparency, security, and equity in GenAI pedagogy can support Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) practices, such as teaching with writing, privileging process over product, and cultivating writing as a social process that can initiate students into their disciplines. Our interdisciplinary team from UCI, CSU Fullerton, and Cypress College will share our experiences integrating PapyrusAI across diverse academic contexts. Our intersegmental collaboration allows us to address our campuses’ varied needs, utilize the tool’s adaptability to support diverse learners, better prepare transfer students, and align instruction with industry expectations. Prioritizing “human-centered AI” practices, we are intentionally integrating the tool in ways that foreground student and instructor agency. Join us for this panel to explore critical questions about AI's role in writing education and the evolution of the writing process itself.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Brad E. Lucas, Texas Christian University
Presenters:
Brad E. Lucas, Texas Christian University, “For Program Visions and Campus Transformations: A Graduate WAC/WID Research Enterprise”
Caylie Cox, Texas Christian University, “Rhetoric Falling Through the Cracks: How WAC Can Help Bridge the Divide between English and Communication Studies”
Emily Durney, Texas Christian University, “Taking Care of Business: Writing Values and WAC Possibilities in the Business College”
Abstract: In this session, panelists will discuss the motives, aims, processes, and takeaways from a Spring 2025 collaborative research study of WAC/WID practices on their campus. The study will be mobilized through a graduate seminar designed not only to support individual investigations of discipline-specific units, but also to promote collaborative work that aims for parity without requiring conformity. Coinciding with an accelerated university-wide strategic planning cycle and a renewed interest in revising General Education requirements, the combined research studies will be unified into a formal proposal for upper administration to commit to increased support for WAC education and initiatives—or at the very least provide a baseline for improving cross-curricular partnerships and advocates in the future. The panelists will illustrate an approach for graduate pedagogy, institutional ethnography, mixed methods approaches, and strategies for generating scholarly knowledge while advocating for institutional reform. Case studies from Communication Studies and from Business will be foregrounded to highlight graduate student approaches, experiences, and takeaways from such inquiry.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Paul Feigenbaum, University at Buffalo
Presenters:
Paul Feigenbaum, University at Buffalo, “The Emergent Genres and Blurred Boundaries of Writing to BEND”
Dalia Muller, University at Buffalo, “The Impossible Necessity of Communication: Developing Shared Language in the Cross-disciplinary Classroom”
Jay Barber, University at Buffalo, “Learning to BEND with students at the Intersection of Policy, Social Justice, and Civic Engagement”
Abstract: This panel conceptualizes and provides two case studies of writing to BEND, which is an acronym for: Building true collaboration, Enacting collective unlearning, Nurturing critical imagination, and Discovering purpose in social justice work (“B.E.N.D.”). BEND is the guiding ethos of the Impossible Project, a cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional learning experience that situates faculty, students, and community partners to work for justice together amid the “impossible” demands of navigating multiple High-Impact Practices in one semester. Writing to BEND responds to Justin K. Rademaekers’s call for investigating how writing operates in disciplinarily diverse teams as partners tackle complex and dynamic problems together. Writing to BEND, we suggest, is a praxis for cultivating reflexivity, openness, and situatedness in knowledge making work across disciplines and communities. In both case studies, the opportunities and constraints associated with language, logistics, and project management across disciplines and institutions made it infeasible for students to write to learn typical genre conventions of their respective disciplines. Instead, partners wrote to BEND. That is, they collectively composed an emergent and blurred array of genres through which they documented, reflected on, and presented the dynamic learning process they were collectively experiencing.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Program Design and Leadership
Chair: Elena Kalodner-Martin, MIT
Presenters: Malcah Effron, Elena Kalodner-Martin, Thomas Pickering, and Michael Trice, MIT
Abstract: This panel addresses the challenges and strategies involved in onboarding instructors into writing-in-the-disciplines (WID) and writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) programs across STEM fields, with a focus on mathematics, engineering, and computer science. Each speaker will explore how instructors from diverse academic backgrounds are prepared to teach communication skills within technical courses, highlighting the cross-disciplinary methods that foster successful integration and collaboration. By sharing innovative practices—from collaborative lesson rehearsals and rhetorical reframing to disciplinary translation and the integration of instructional tools—our panelists demonstrate how effective onboarding fosters cross-disciplinary understanding and promotes program sustainability across communication-intensive courses (Cox et al., 2018). Collectively, these contributions highlight practical, adaptable methods that can empower institutions to better prepare instructors for the complexities of teaching writing in technical contexts, ultimately enriching both faculty development and student learning experiences.
Type of Session: Roundtable
Area: WAC and Technology
Chair: Michael A. Pemberton, Georgia Southern University
Presenters:
Christopher Basgier, Auburn University
Ann Blakeslee, Eastern Michigan University
Lindsey Harding, University of Georgia
Mike Palmquist, Colorado State University
Michael Pemberton, Georgia Southern University
Abstract: On this roundtable panel, the publisher and several associate publishers of the WAC Clearinghouse will provide a brief overview of its development, outline current concerns, and explore questions about its continued development. In particular, they will provide a “behind-the-scenes” look at some of the pressing ethical and practical concerns the Clearinghouse has been addressing recently, including diversity, accessibility, transparency, sustainability, technology, and visibility. The members of the roundtable will also offer perspectives on two issues relevant to future policies and publication guidelines â— the impact of AI/LLM technologies and the sustainability of open-access publishing â— and invite audience members to join the conversation.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC in Diverse Social and Linguistic Contexts
Chair: TBD
Presenter:
Jay Jordan, University of Utah, “WAC/WID and International Student Pathway Programs in the US”
Beth Lee, Purdue University, “Decolonizing Writing Instruction in WAC: Challenging Standardized Notions of Writing”
Muhammad Nurul Islam, University of Houston, “Pedagogy for Life as Experienced’ as Effective Pedagogy in Multicultural Heterogeneous Composition Classroom: A Study at University of Houston”
Abstract: this panel will explore the unique ways that individual students from various backgrounds often international backgrounds can use whack to explain their experience and 10 and valuable scholarship to the discipline. This panel will provide ways for educators to potentially use new methods and unique student experiences’ and backgrounds to explore and expand upon pre-existing and traditional curriculum and methods (such as reassessing the traditional literature review).
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: TBD
Presenters:
Victoria Appatova, University of Cincinnati, “How WAC can promote CLAC (Critical Literacy Across the Curriculum)”
Damian H. Diaz, Sofia Ache, Yanet Fuster, and Gonzalo Gomez, Universidad de la República, “Learning to Read and Write in Social Sciences: Development of Undergraduate Students' Capacities and Identities”
Madeline Scott, Appalachian State University, “Online Reader Communities and WAC: Locating Models for Online Community-Building and Student Engagement in the Writing Classroom”
Abstract: This panel explores various unique opportunities to engage with reading and writing through WAC in critical and challenging environments: to encourage critical literacy skills through writing; to encourage undergraduate students to use their own identities through writing within the social sciences; and to enhance students experiences in online and digital communities/writing environments.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: TBD
Presenters:
Katelin Anderson, Ohio State University, “Innovating and Accessing: Disabled Student Perspectives on Source Use”
Sara E. Wink, Purdue Global, “Illuminate the Invisible: Establishing Connections with Potentially Dyslexic Students”
Abstract: This panel explores the challenges and opportunities that self-described, and often missed or undiagnosed, disabled and dyslexic students can use to learn in the WAC world. From learning how to incorporate source and research work in unique and interesting ways to the challenging work of students with undiagnosed dyslexia, and/or instructors who are willing but unable/inadequately prepared to help with such challenges – this panel will cover various strategies to learn and thrive when dealing with reading and writing tasks in the undergraduate classroom a offer a wide range of perspectives to explore this important issue.
Type of Session: Teaching Demonstration
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Presenter: Emily Murai, University of California, Santa Cruz
Abstract: A literature review is one of the most common elements of scholarly writing. It is used in a variety of contexts for different purposes, appearing in project and grant proposals, research studies, dissertations and theses and standalone articles. Yet teaching students to write a literature review is notoriously difficult and existing scholarship frequently lament students’ inability to write one effectively. In this presentation, I demonstrate how a “mini-literature review” (consisting of 4-8 primary research studies) is an assignment powerhouse that can support undergraduates’ growing literacies around disciplinary knowledge and knowledge production. Through properly scaffolded assignments, students learn to read, write, analyze and synthesize disciplinary-specific research and familiarize themselves with rhetorical and epistemic norms of their fields, ultimately producing a paper that synthesizes a small body of research, clearly assesses the state of the current literature and proposes new contributions. I draw from my experiences teaching a literature review in a disciplinary communications course in Environmental Studies at a large, public research-intensive institution. Participants will receive sample assignments that they can adapt for their own use and suggestions about how a literature review fits within larger course and curricular frameworks.
Type of Session: Panel
Area: WAC Pedagogies and Practices
Chair: Emmy Antonella González Lillo, Universidad de O'Higgins
Presenters:
Verónica Chumacero Ancajima, Universidad Católica Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo, “Percepción de la efectividad de la IA Generativa (GenAI) en la escritura académica en una universidad peruana / Perception of the effectiveness of Generative AI (GenAI) in academic writing at a Peruvian University”
Carlos Machado, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, “EFL Writing in College: Can Source Text Writing and Content-Led Practices Become a Double-Edged Sword in the Development of Text Coherence?”
María Verónica. Strocchi , Universidad del Desarrollo , “Prácticas de enseñanza de la escritura académica en universidades chilenas / Academic Writing Teaching Practices in Chilean Universities”
Damián Díaz, Universidad de la República, “Multilingual Reading to Write intervention in the Communication field: results and challenges”
Constanza Cerda Canales, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, “Evidencia empírica de una propuesta para apoyar la escritura de tesis en ingeniería: efecto de una intervención didáctica sustentada en lingüística de corpus y pedagogía del género / Empirical Evidence of a Proposal to Support Thesis Writing in Engineering: The Effect of a Pedagogical Intervention Based on Corpus Linguistics and Genre Pedagogy”
Abstract: The Latin American Association for the Study of Writing in Higher Education and Professional Contexts (ALES) is an academic, democratic, and non-profit organization that promotes research and teaching initiatives focused on writing in higher education and professional contexts. ALES aims to create a scientifically validated disciplinary space that fosters a critical mass of researchers and educators from various fields. It also aims to work collaboratively in strengthening theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical WAC-related developments in these areas. Through this sponsored panel, attendees will learn what it means to teach writing as informed by both language theories and solid pedagogical approaches, and as a situated practice that adapts to specific cultural and social contexts.