The 2019 Southern California Writing Centers Association Tutor Conference — the organization’s 15th — was held at the University of California, Irvine in Irvine, California on Saturday, February 23, 2019.
The Southern California Writing Centers Association invites proposals for our 2019 Tutor Conference. This conference, SoCal WCA’s fifteenth, will be held at the University of California, Irvine on Saturday, February 23, 2019. The theme for this year’s conference is “In(vis)ability.” Worth is often measured by image and ability. These judgments can occur in, around, and about the writing center. How our Writing Centers are perceived can alter our effectiveness as a student resource. But what about the unacknowledged and unrealized? Who or what is (in)visible and (un)able in, around, and about our centers?
For the 2019 Tutor Conference, we ask you to consider who and what goes unacknowledged in our writing centers. What is—and what should be—revealed about writing centers, tutoring, and tutors themselves when we explore what is and is not visible? To what extent do assumptions about ability and/or visibility affect tutoring practices, relationships across campuses, and writing center missions?
Potential guiding questions you might consider as you develop your proposal:
- What abilities are visible and valued in our centers? What others remain unseen or undervalued?
- How does visibility enhance cultural awareness for a diverse student body, including international students?
- How do we highlight and capitalize on writers’ (and tutors’) hidden talents and aptitudes?
- How and why do we present ourselves the way we do?
- Who are we visible to—and not visible to—and what opportunities does this (in)visibility present?
- How do we know what is (in)visible? How can we recognize hidden abilities and disabilities?
- How our public personas complement and carry our personal missions, methods, and desires?
- How do tutors develop professional and scholarly personas?
- What role do writing centers play in helping increase the visibility of underrepresented students?
- How can visibility on campus enhance working relationships
Click here to view the Call for Proposals online. Proposals were due no later than November 2nd, 2018.
Conference registration fees will be $50 for administrators ($75 if registered after January 22, 2019) and $25 for tutors ($40 after January 22, 2019).