We are pleased to welcome new and returning members of the Executive. The Executive met recently to discuss plans for the coming year, namely more serious commitment to diversity and inclusion in Writing Studies and related fields.

Joel Heng-Hartse, Vice President and Conference Program Chair, is working with the program committee on an exciting conference for 2021 (updates to come) and will be in touch with last year’s scheduled presenters. Congress will issue a decision on Nov. 1 to indicate whether the 2021 conference will be hybrid or virtual. Please contact Joel at Joel_HengHartse@sfu.ca if you have any questions about the conference.

Also, Kim Mitchell and Sean Zwagerman, co-editors of the Canadian Journal for Studies in Discourse and Writing/Rédactologie, are currently fielding three submissions, so keep your eyes out for those.

Best wishes as we continue to unite through these times,

Dana Landry, CASDW-ACR President

The Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy (ISUP) at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) is searching for six new faculty members in Writing Studies in Higher Education. These six positions include:

• Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream (3 positions)
• Assistant Professor (2 positions)
• Associate Professor (1 position)

The ISUP was established in July 2020 to promote the study of university pedagogy, especially the experiences of undergraduate students, through collaborative research, instruction, training, scholarship, and assessment.

The ISUP builds on the success of the UTM Teaching and Learning Collaboration and the Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre (RGASC). It is also home to the new Foundational Writing Skills Initiative and other writing programs previously administered by the RGASC. Foundational Numeracy Skills courses are being developed.

A new book in the Inkshed: Writing Studies in Canada series has just been released by Diana Wegner (faculty emerita, Douglas College and CASDW-ACR member).

Wegner’s book, titled A Genre Analysis of Social Change: Uptake of the Housing-First Solution to Homelessness in Canada (Parlor Press), contributes to current scholarship in rhetorical genre studies and discourse analysis in contexts of social change. More specifically, it explores the ways that historical genre systems can be transformed through the process of discursive uptake across genres and their spheres of activity. In this study such cross-genre uptake is pursued from its beginning in advocacy genres to its incorporation into higher-level, institutional genres.

A Genre Analysis of Social Change represents the summation of Wegner’s work over many years on how systems of genre can adapt to change as groups and institutional systems negotiate the uptake of solutions to major social challenges, in this case study the Canadian “Housing First” solution to ending homelessness. Her study shows how rhetorical genre analysis can offer insight into issues related to social justice for marginal groups within society.

As previously announced, Inkshed Publications is able to support the publication of additional monographs and edited collections. Please contact the publishers of Inkshed Publications, Heather Graves and Roger Graves, for information.

Following our CASDW-ACR AGM, I’d like to welcome our new President, Dana Landry. Dana’s energetic two-year term as Vice-President and Conference Chair gave us a terrific conference in Vancouver last year. Many thanks to Dana and the organizing team who worked so hard on planning this spring’s conference, some of which we will get to experience next year in Edmonton, Alberta.

I’d also like to welcome the newly elected and continuing members of our executive:

• Vice-President & Conference Chair: Joel Heng Hartse of Simon Fraser University, whom you know as co-editor (with Sibo Chen, Ryerson University) of our journal, Canadian Journal for the Study of Discourse and Writing/Rédactologie
• Journal Co-editors: Kim Mitchell of Red River College and Sean Zwagerman of Simon Fraser University
• Secretary: Sarah Banting, Mount Royal University
• Communications Officer: Matthew Falconer
• Treasurer: Brock MacDonald, University of Toronto
• Graduate Student Representative: Britt Amell, Carleton

Thanks to the outgoing members of the executive: Rachael Cayley, Communications Officer; Kim Mitchell, Secretary; Sara Doody, Graduate Student Representative; and Sarah King, ex-officio Canadian Writing Centre Association (CWCA) Board Member.

A highlight of this year’s AGM was presenting the awards for the Joan Pavelich best dissertation and the best article/chapter. At the AGM we voted to name the best article/chapter award in honour of the late Doreen Starke-Meyerring, who was a former CASDW-ACR President; a longtime member; a distinguished scholar; and much beloved teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend.

It has been an honour leading CASDW-ACR for the past two two years and chairing our conference as Vice-President for two years before that. During this time we added a graduate student position to the executive and reconfigured the conference to make it more collaborative event and introduce new types of sessions. Another highlight has been building closer links to sister organizations such as ACUTE and CWCA, through multi-organization conference forums, the exchange of ex-officio board positions, and other collaborative undertakings such as the revision of the Statement on Writing Centres and Staffing, which CWCA has been developing with involvement from CASDW-ACR.

I am heartened to leave CASDW-ACR in the hands of the new executive, including journal editors, Kim Mitchell and Sean Zwagerman, who will no doubt continue the excellent work undertaken by Joel and Sibo to build and sustain our journal. Speaking of which, the current issue has an outstanding article by our own Rachael Cayley on the supervisory practices of doctoral writers.

CASDW-ACR is poised to thrive under Dana’s enthusiastic and capable leadership; her goal to make our organization more inclusive is a timely one.

Enjoy your summer and hope to see you next year at our conference in Edmonton.

Sincerely,

Andrea L. Williams

 

 

The Writing & Learning Centre (WLC) at OCAD University (OCADU) in Toronto is hiring for three types of short term contract positions in its English for Art and Design (EAD) Bridge to First Year Program, a 6-week summer bridging program for English Language Learners (ESL/multilingual students) who have received a conditional offer of admission to OCADU and are planning on starting for-credit courses in September 2020. EAD Bridge will run from July 6^th 2020 – August 14^th 2020, with training and prep time beginning in mid-to-late June. This year, the program will be delivered online, predominantly asynchronously, with some synchronous components. The course team includes course leaders with previous experience teaching EAD, and the curriculum for the program has already been developed; while preparation for teaching will be required, curriculum will not need to be developed.

Links to the postings with further position details can be found below. Applicants with experience working with ELLs at a post-secondary level as well as those with TESL certification are encouraged to apply. Please note, the deadline for applications is rolling and appointments are subject to cancellation, pending enrollment confirmation.   

English for Art and Design (EAD): Art and Design Studio Instructor

English for Art and Design (EAD): Visual Culture Instructor 

 Writing & Learning Consultant, English for Art and Design (EAD)