ABOUT THE SITE
During the spring of 2016, I was given the good fortune of enrolling in a Writing Program Administrators course led by one of the most respected figures in the field and one of my personal composition heroes. In this class, we learned so much from program assessment to working within tight budgets to dealing with burnout to motivating a faculty. We read much of the scholarship that you will see on the site, we worked with WPAs from other institutions, we role-played different WPA scenarios, and we had countless discussions on what life can be like for a WPA.
What I realized during this class was how much of a remarkable opportunity it was--not all new WPAs are given the time, the opportunity, or the pleasure of learning what being a WPA entails before becoming a WPA herself. I decided that since this remarkable opportunity isn't shared by everyone, perhaps I can give new WPAs the benefit of a space to create their own opportunity to learn about becoming a WPA. This website is a direct result of my work in my WPA class and I hope it provides new WPAs a space to start building the knowledge and opportunities I was afforded.
As described above, my purpose for the site was to create an opportunity for new WPAs who may need quick information when starting a new career as a WPA. The website is by no means an exhaustive repository of all WPA-related issues; in fact, I purposefully omitted much of the scholarship and resources directed to general rhetoric & composition since it is assumed that someone in a WPA position has already had access to those sources. I have highlighted and included links to important books, journals, and online sources of WPA scholarship, but I also welcome any feedback if there are others that should be included or ones that have been published since the site was created.
Also, please keep in mind that I am NOT an expert in WPA studies and I am not attempting to tell new WPAs how to run their programs. I did not include any advice, suggestions, or musings from myself since I am a novice to the field as well. Rather, I am collecting and organizing resources that I believe will be useful to someone who is new to the WPA position.
And finally, please know that there are many fantastic and renowned books already in the field that discuss how to survive as a new WPA, and many of those books have been included on this website. My purpose was not to do the same thing as those books or edited collections, but to provide a space that is free and easy to access. The medium of a website lends itself well to this project because it allows me to link the new WPA to online resources and to other people in the field. I was inspired and owe a debt of gratitude to the researchers at CompPile who have created innumerable web resources for the new Writing Program Administrator; I hope this site serves as an extension of that project or perhaps brings more people to participate in its many research opportunities.
I hope that you enjoy the site and find it to be useful in your new position. Please let me know if you have any questions for me or if you have any suggestions for the site. You are more than welcome to contact me via email (klandre3@ncsu.edu)or leave a note on the Contact Page.
MY VISION FOR THE SITE
