Stetson hosts Small Liberal Arts Colleges Writing Program Administrators

Group photo of the four women standing in the writing center.

By Leigh Ann Dunning

Group photo of the four women standing in the writing center.
During the conference, tutors Vanessa Petion, from left to right, and Jeanette Jakupca gave tours of the Stetson University Writing Center. They are pictured with Megan O’Neill, associate professor of English and director of Stetson’s Writing Program, and Leigh Ann Dunning, director of the Writing Center and assistant director of the Writing Program.

The Stetson University Writing Program & Writing Center hosted the 11th annual Small Liberal Arts Colleges Writing Program Administrators (SLAC-WPA) conference Jan. 12-13, which brought 40+ writing administrators to Stetson from Dennison University, Pomona College, Davidson College and Bucknell University, among others.

Discussion at the conference centered around this year’s conference theme, “Reading and Writing with Agency in the Liberal Arts.” The theme ignited meaningful conversation on how writing-intensive curriculums and courses, as well as writing centers and writing fellows programs, can empower student writers.

“At Stetson, student agency—autonomy, individuality and self-efficacy—is probably at the top of the list of reasons we exist as a college. Like most SLAC schools, we intend to graduate students who can create and lead meaningful lives, who take our education out into the world to make it better,” explained Megan O’Neill, associate professor of English and director of the Writing Program. “The synchronicity of the conference theme and Stetson’s own interests created a very productive and thoughtful space for us. I’m going to be processing what I heard about for a while.”

As Director of the Writing Center and Assistant Director of the Writing Program, I was thrilled when O’Neill suggested that we host the conference at Stetson. I was particularly interested in networking with writing center administrators from campuses across the United States who share similar institutional values, missions and curricula history as Stetson. I knew that much of what was being discussed about student agency could be integrated into our SU tutor education program.

The conference’s small size and collaborative activities, such as speed-shares of ongoing research projects and roundtable discussions, forged a close-knit group. Jill Gladstein, associate professor of English and director of the Writing Associates Program at Swarthmore College, described the impetus for this group’s creation a little over 11 years ago.

“There were three of us who met at a larger writing administrator conference in Tempe, Arizona, and we felt like it wasn’t talking to our specific context of small liberal arts colleges.” She said, “We thought—What if we got a group of administrators from SLACs together in the same room? What would happen?”

large group photo in the duPont-Ball Library of the attendees at the conference
Stetson University hosted the 11th annual Small Liberal Arts Colleges Writing Program Administrators (SLAC-WPA) on Jan. 12-13.

From its conception, SLAC-WPA was a success. Gladstein hosted the first SLAC-WPA conference at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania in 2008. Since then, the group has written by-laws, established a rotating Executive Committee, and held yearly conferences. O’Neill, who has attended several of the previous 10 conferences, said, “I wanted to learn about what others have done in situations I face at Stetson. By listening to colleagues at peer schools who work in the same SLAC world as I do, I’ve been able to capitalize on existing strengths, hear about innovations that would probably not even get piloted at a larger school, and create a network of resources that benefit writing instruction at Stetson.”

In fact, a number of initiatives in the Stetson Writing Program came to fruition as a result of hearing from administrators at other SLACs: Writing Fellows, for example, is one such initiative. Fellows are embedded within writing-intensive courses across the disciplines, which is one more way the Writing Center benefits our students. After learning about the successful implementation of Writing Fellows Programs at other SLACS,  Stetson piloted a small program in 2016. The program has continued to grow since.

The conference kicked off on Friday night, Jan. 12, at the Daytona Plaza Resort and Spa with presentations, a reception and dinner. Attendees of the conference spent all day Saturday on Stetson’s campus. As Megan and I reflect on the conference, we are very thankful for the administrators, faculty, staff and writing center tutors who supported us in hosting the conference.