The International Writing Centers Association announced on September 24, 2019 the candidates selected to fill posts on the IWCA board.  Among those selected were RMWCA members Elizabeth Kleinfeld and Eduardo Mabilog.  Elizabeth currently serves as RMWCA Treasurer, and Eduardo is a peer consultant at Nevada State College.  Congratulations to Elizabeth and Eduardo!

The Executive Board of the Rocky Mountain Writing Centers Association is proud to announce that it has officially endorsed International Pronouns Day 2019:

“We endorse International Pronouns Day, which seeks to make respecting, sharing, and educating about personal pronouns commonplace. Referring to people by the pronouns they determine for themselves is basic to human dignity. Being referred to by the wrong pronouns particularly affects transgender and gender nonconforming people. Together, we can transform society to celebrate people’s multiple, intersecting identities. We encourage colleges, schools, workplaces, and local organizations to hold educational and empowering events on International Pronouns Day.”

International Pronouns Day 2019 will be held on October 16, 2019.  We encourage RMWCA individual and institutional members to visit the IPD website for useful links about the day:  https://pronounsday.org/

RMWCA President Elect Lisa Bell has been awarded the 2019 IWCA Dissertation Grant for her project “Training Tutors to Scaffold with L2 Writers: An Action Research Writing Center Project.”  Congratulations to Lisa! 

On Thursday, June 20, 2019, writing center directors from all across Utah gathered in Logan, Utah at Utah State University to exchange ideas and discuss writing center theory and practice.  Topics included community outreach and marketing; tutor recruitment and development; supporting discipline-specific centers; online tutoring; accessibility and inclusion; obtaining financial support; collaborating with high schools; and graduate student involvement. The symposium concluded with a robust question and answer session, and a luncheon in USU's posh Skyline Restaurant. The event was completely funded by USU, and organized by USU Writing Center staff.  Attendees were very appreciative of the generosity of both the school and the staff. While the event was not officially sponsored by RMWCA, the association still encourages such events around the region, and seed money is available in order to help development. If you are interested in hosting a similar event (or any sub-regional event), please contact your RMWCA State Representative, or any of the Executive Board Members for more information.

In order to support further sharing, the organizers set up a Google Drive where anyone involved in writing center work (within Utah, the RMWCA region, or beyond) may drop materials.  Session notes may be found in the "Utah Writing Center Director Symposium '19" folder. The notes are very thorough, and should prove useful to those who could not attend the symposium.

We've got some exciting news!  RMWCA has developed a new system to award research and travel grants, as well as seed money grants.  While we have previously given by travel and seed money grants, RMWCA has not awarded research grants. Our process for awarding the grants was also pretty informal. We've formalized the process in order to ensure that grants can be awarded in a timely and equitable fashion in future.

As an organization, one of the key goals of RMWCA is "to facilitate community and professional development among RMWCA members."  Research and travel grants do not be paid back. Seed money grants are used to develop local/regional conferences within RMWCA boundaries and need to be paid back within in 90 days after the event. All members of RMWCA are eligible to apply for the grants. The selection committee will consist of the RMWCA Executive Board, and there are two deadlines for the grants:  January 15and August 15of each year. Applications will be evaluated and funds will be dispersed based on the following criteria:

• RMWCA membership
• Financial need
• Representation of an underrepresented demographic
• Not having received funding within the previous year
• Quality of application
• Benefit for general membership (outcomes, inclusion, etc.)

To apply for the grants or seed money go to https://rmwca.wildapricot.org/Travel-&-Research-Grants.  You will need to log in to your RMWCA account to access the page.

Thanks for RMWCA President Elect Lisa Bell for heading up the efforts to revise our process.

Members of the Rocky Mountain Writing Centers Association (RMWCA) have selected Dr. Laura Greenfield’s new book Radical Writing Center Praxis: A Paradigm for Ethical Political Engagement from Utah State University Press for their upcoming 2019 RMWCA Summer Book Club. According to USU Press Dr. Greenfield’s book “...calls for a paradigm change in writing centers, imagining a field whose very reason for being is to facilitate justice and peace.” Clint Gardner, President of RMWCA, stated that Greenfield’s book has been “highly anticipated, and will undoubtedly be influential on writing center theory and practice for years to come. I’m really excited that RMWCA members selected such a ground-breaking book to discuss.”

Jamaica Ritcher, RMWCA Outreach Coordinator explained the purpose of the Summer Book Club: "It's not uncommon for writing center administrators to feel somewhat isolated within their larger institutions, perhaps especially so during the quiet summer months. The Summer Book Club is proving to be an easy and really enjoyable way for us to stay connected with each other and with the latest in writing center scholarship." The RMWCA Summer Book Club began in 2018 with a discussion of R. Mark Hall’s Around the Texts of Writing Center Work. RMWCA members gathered online to discuss the book during the summer of 2018, culminating with a session with Mark Hall to discuss the work. Dr. Greenfield will also be taking part in the culminating session for 2019, where she will discuss the book with Summer Book Club participants. Gardner hopes to expand the number of discussions in 2019, but notes that RMWCA has not finalized the schedule yet. The final schedule will be determined shortly, and will be found at www.rmwca.org.

Dr. Laura Greenfield, (Ph.D. in English from Washington University in St. Louis) is the founding Director of the Transformative Speaking Program and Faculty Associate at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. According to her Hampshire College website, Dr. Greenfield’s “research and teaching interests include speaking and writing program administration, with a particular focus on social justice frameworks; critical pedagogy and anti-oppression education, with a particular focus on race and gender; public speaking, composition, and rhetoric; sociolinguistics, with a particular focus on ESOL and racially stigmatized language use in the United States; and contemporary multicultural American literatures, with a particular focus on ‘hybrid’ or borderland identities.” Dr. Greenfield’s previous publications include International Writing Centers Association Outstanding Book Award winning Writing Centers and the Racism: A Call for Sustainable Dialogue and Change--co-edited with R. Karen Rowan (USU Press, 2011).

RMWCA is a regional chapter (covering Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah & Wyoming ) of the International Writing Centers Association. This regional network acts as a support and resource for administrators and tutors and gathers at the Rocky Mountain Writing Centers Conference to celebrate and learn from those who tutor writing. More information about RMWCA and the Summer Book Club may be found at www.rmwca.org.

Here are files submitted for the TutorCon2019 File Share Archive.

Your name	Session Block	Presentation letter	Description of file uploaded	URL
Anne McMurtrey	Block 1	A	Power Point on Small-Group Tutorials	https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pn9V9ptu9Bi0PvZA4IQv1CVUc5nuatpQ
Chris LeCluyse			Administrator Workshop: Session Observations and Reflections (Consultants)	https://drive.google.com/open?id=15RQjpb6DHN07UVVSvvngJ6rz75elKxgD, https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yrsWsRxtE9ywwaAKCfSaciEpbxaX8sGD
Elizabeth Kleinfeld	Block 2	A	slides for "Creating a Culture of Self-Care in the Writing Center"	https://drive.google.com/open?id=12yTCEckoLT10tKkyhT56qwWLhgCvHxxh
Elizabeth Kleinfeld	Block 5	C	slides and worksheet for "Forming and Sustaining a Writing Practice"	https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Bv7G4mfWc6ylnAJiKlA2NFSJViInObFp, https://drive.google.com/open?id=10fXsQmBR-rynt0HlvgeyY4df5qDZCghW
Abigail Dunn	Block 1	H	I uploaded the presentation I gave on the work that I did to help incarcerated students. I also attached the packet of "Academic Writing Tips" that we created and distributed to the incarcerated students.	https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sBnwfR2HcVbcfVrB9AsfFDWdcbWO6USO, https://drive.google.com/open?id=1V3fexBEeStm2HArbk-YSb34L7_aLBWiw
Jess Fahlsing	Block 3	H	Attached are my powerpoint and copy of the presentation I gave. The presentation itself is entitled, "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work at the University of Wyoming: A Case Study of (over)Work and Heightened Importance."	https://drive.google.com/open?id=10JrXoJ9sV-FG_dbokeojxzhYDOCU_Fpf, https://drive.google.com/open?id=1c-Q5YdQsTyRiqIGAdCo1oLLRWhIcYBo8

Jessica McDermott of has been duly elected as Colorado State Board Representative.  

With the elections of new officers for RMWCA, we have several colleagues who have completed their service.  RMWCA wishes to thank all lapsing officers for their hard work and service.  RMWCA would not be where it is today without you.

Past President Kelly Webster, rather than moving into the official position of Past President, has been excused from that duty because of her challenging new job at Montana State University as Chief of Staff of the President of that University.   

Former Secretary Michelle Miley will be taking on a new roll in the International Writing Centers Association as their new Treasurer.

Robyn Rohde, who recently accepted a teaching position as the College of Southern Nevada and has moved out of the Writing Center their, will be missed as our first-ever web editor, and Nevada State Representative.

Jessica McDermott who did great work in organizing our webinars will be stepping away from Tutor Representative.

Finally we have several state representatives moving on: Nathan Cushing (Arizona) who stepped up for service when the previous Arizona Representative moved out of state; Michelle Medeiros (Colorado); Melissa Keith(Idaho); Rachel Dunleavy (Montana); and Leigh Ann Copas (Utah).

RMWCA extends its mutual thanks to all, and wishes them all the best in the future.

The Rocky Mountain Writing Centers Association (RMWCA) is proud to announce the results of the 2018 elections. 

Lisa Bell will serve as President Elect for two years, and then move into the role of President for the subsequent two years.  She will serve alongside Clint Gardner as President/Past President.  Kelley Webster, has been excused from her duties as Past President due to her demanding new position at the University of Montana.

The following positions will serve until 2020.  Jamaica Ritcher has been re-elected as Outreach Coordinator.  Aubrey Julianna Baucum will be the new Tutor Representative. Matt Drollette takes on the role of IWCA Affiliate Representative. Jess Carroll will be our new Secretary.  

Heather Graham will serve as web editor until 2021.

State Representatives serve two year terms, and work closely with the Outreach Coordinator.  They are, Arizona: Nick Cenegy; Montana: Erin Strickland; Nevada: Rachel Herzl-Betz; New Mexico: Katie Denton; and Utah: Michelle Szetela.

RMWCA is still seeking State Representatives from Colorado and Idaho.  If you are interested in running for those positions, contact Clint.Gardner@slcc.edu.