Past Events

7/21/26

Panel Discussion on Academic Freedom and Creative Resilience

Please join WPA-GO (Writing Program Administrators-Graduate Organization) for a virtual panel discussion with Dr. Kelly Bezio, Dr. Holly Hassel, and Dr. Teresa Klein on academic freedom. The virtual event, “College English in 2026: Disruption and Innovation” is hosted by WPA-GO's Diversity Committee. 

This is a great opportunity to discuss and learn about some of the changes in English and higher education due to legislative and cultural changes in the US. The theme is “disruption and innovation”, with an expectation that this discussion will share tips for resilience, adaptation, and staying informed about policies.

Most of the event will be a Q&A. The event registration form includes space for suggesting questions or topics. Our hope is to let participants lead the discussion, share their experiences, and problem-solve in a safe and empathetic space. 

Please see the details for the event below:

Date: Tuesday, July 21st, 2026

Time: 4:00 pm PT/ 5:00 pm MT/ 6:00 pm CT/ 7:00 pm ET 

Registration: Please register for this event by Friday, July 17. A link to the registration form can be found here:https://forms.gle/3EvJ4puQe1DqiUYD8

Later registrations are welcomed too, but please give us enough time to share the Zoom link. The Zoom link will be distributed within one (1) day of the event

Speaker Bios: 

Kelly L. Bezio is Professor of English at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. She serves as Vice President of AAUP @ TAMU-CC and as Member At-Large for the Texas Conference of AAUP. She also serves on the Scholarly Engagement and Access Committee for the Society of Early Americanists. Her research areas include American Literature, Critical Race Theory, and Health Humanities. Her monograph In Contagion's Wake: Black Writers and the Development of Modern Outbreak Narratives was published by University of Massachusetts Press (2026).  

Holly Hassel is a teacher-scholar-researcher who specializes in writing studies--specifically writing program administration, the teaching of college writing, writing assessment, and writing pedagogy education. Her numerous leadership positions have included chairing the Two-Year College English Association’s Research committee, chairing the Conference on College Composition and Communication, and co-chairing the CCCC-MLA joint Task Force on AI and Writing from 2023-2025. Her commitment to blending research, service, teaching and administration is illustrated throughout her professional record, including her most recent coedited book, Writing Emergencies: Composing (Ourselves) in Times of Crisis, as well as her coauthored book, Reaching All Writers: A Pedagogical Guide to the Evolving College Writing Classroom (UP of Colorado/Utah State, 2024), which serves as a primer to preparing college writing teachers, and her coauthored 2023 book, A Faculty Guide to Shared Governance and Service.

Dr. Teresa Klein has her PhD in Counseling Psychology. She is a fourth-generation college graduate. She has worked as an educator at Del Mar College for 20 years. Her activism is a “genetic condition” starting with her grandparents who were active in both the grange movement as well as the Democratic Farm Labor party in Minnesota.  Dr. Klein is currently the President of the Texas American Association of University Professors – American Federation of Teachers (TX AAUP-AFT) which represents those who are involved in higher education including graduate students and faculty. The AAUP-AFT currently has members on 100 campuses throughout the state and is part of a larger national organization that has been around for more than 100 years. The mission of the organization is to promote the concepts of shared governance and academic freedom, as protected by tenure. Dr. Klein is speaking for herself as a private citizen.

The Zoom link will be distributed within one (1) day prior to the event. We look forward to seeing you there! Please share this opportunity with other peers who might be interested.

7/10/26

Practicing Crip Collaboration: Disabled and Neurodivergent Approaches to Writing Together

The workshop, scheduled for Friday, July 10th from 3:00-4:30 EST, will be facilitated by Sujash Purna, Rachel Herzl-Betz, and Ellen Cecil-Lemkin and will take place over Zoom. During the workshop, participants will use Cecil-Lemkin and Herzl-Betz's forthcoming chapter on scholarly co-authorship - which will be included in the edited collection Still Writing Together: Perspectives on Collaborative Scholarship in Rhetoric and Composition - as a starting point for active reflection, co-creation, and collaboration. Join us to explore access in your own co-writing process(es) and to foster your own accessible scholarly spaces!

To register for the event and receive access to the speakers’ chapter ahead of the workshop, please submit a response to the Summer Workshop Registration Form by Wednesday, July 8th. The Zoom link will be shared with respondents on the morning of Friday, July 10th. 

We also encourage you to share this email or the attached flyer with the grad students in your network. You may direct questions regarding the workshop to the Accessibility Co-Chairs, Kelsey Hawkins and Hunter Whitt.

6/15/25

Summer Workshop Series

WPA-GO's Mentoring Committee invites you to our 2nd Annual Summer Workshop Series dedicated to professionals and students who are interested in and/or participating in writing program leadership.

Today, WPAs (e.g., FYW, WC, WAC/WID directors) are inundated with wicked problems that have historically harmed our most under-resourced and underserved stakeholders. Even so, in order to temper burnout and cynicism, WPAs must also leverage their ability to recognize and cultivate joy in and with their work.

Navigating these problems and cultivating joy require deep (co)reflection and engaged social action.

Participants will be asked to attend three 3 virtual workshop sessions once-per-month.

All sessions will be (CST) 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM.

Session #1 (Tues. June 17th):

Mapping WPA Experience (120 mins)

Session #2 (Tues. July 22nd):

Collective Problem Solving (120 mins)

Session #3 (Mon. August 11th):

Transformations & Takeaways (120 mins)

A Zoom link will be provided upon registration. Participation is entirely free.

What will you gain from participating in this experience?

BUILD COMMUNITY

The work of WPA does not need to be done in isolation. These workshops are designed to help support your ability to network and build communities of thinking partners that you can leverage long after these workshops end.

PRACTICE PROBLEM SOLVING

These workshops will provide inroads to both specific contexts and generalizable scenarios that are typical to the work of WPA. You will engage with professionals in the field while you practice problem solving, compromise, and political savvy.

DEFINE VALUES & PRINCIPLES

Defining principles with precision -- principles that are both practical and flexible to your specific contexts -- is necessary, and it can be challenging work. Doing so in community can make this process more navigable and transformative.

For more information, visit this link or register here!

12/16/2024 

CWPA and WPA-GO Reestablish Organization Connection

The leadership of CWPA and WPA-GO are happy to announce that the two organizations have formally agreed to reestablish connections, supported by affirmative votes by both leadership teams. The three-year separation was spurred by WPA-GO’s withdrawal from CWPA following the public boycott of the organization in 2021. In the intervening years, the two organizations have been in regular contact and have been drafting a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that articulates the formal relationship between the organizations. As of December 6, 2024, the MOU has been approved by both leadership teams.

We are first and foremost glad to acknowledge the necessary collaboration and mentoring that needs to happen between the two organizations, as well as the maintenance of a pipeline from newer and rising scholars into the field of writing program work. Highlights of what we have established include:

• Mutual recognition that the CWPA is WPA-GO’s “sponsor organization”;

• Establishment of voting rights on the CWPA Executive Board for one WPA-GO representative on behalf of graduate student interests;

• CWPA financial support for the WPA-GO in the form of an annual budget.

The MOU is a 5-year agreement, which may be renewed or revised through a mutual process in 2029. We believe this connection is vital for the health of both organizations and are happy to create a pathway for WPA-related professionalization, leadership opportunities, and support for incoming members of the field.

Signed,

Kelly Blewett, CWPA President

Taylor Dickson, WPA-GO Vice Chair

Roland Dumavor, WPA-GO Chair

Al Harahap, CWPA/WPA-GO Liaison

Erin Lehman, CWPA Vice President

Jagadish Paudel, WPA-GO Past Chair