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Writing professionals
from across Mississippi will gather at Millsaps Sept. 27 to attend
the Second Annual Mississippi Writing Center Conference. The goal
of the conference, which will be held from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.,
is to bring Mississippi writing professionals together to share
ideas.
"Writing professionals,
including writing center administrators, have a range of national
conferences, but our local conference allows us to approach local
issues and share our expertise," says Kathi Griffin, Director of
the Millsaps Writing Center and a coordinator of this year's conference.
The first writing
center conference was held last year at Tougaloo College. Tougaloo,
which was hosting its own writing center forum, invited Griffin
and her Millsaps staff to participate, and then decided to invite
other area colleges, such as Jackson State University and Mississippi
College, to the gathering. The participants developed a strong sense
of professional community at the event, and planned a similar event
for the following year.
"The conference
allows us to rejuvenate professionally," said Griffin. "We share
ideas, practices that work and the challenges we face. We can then
move forward and become excited again about what we do."
This year's
conference, The Art of the Writing Center in Mississippi,
will feature Carol Severino, director of the nation's oldest writing
center, as keynote speaker. Severino, professor of Rhetoric at the
University of Iowa, has written several publications on writing
center work as well as contrastive rhetoric. Topics to be discussed
include writing for the ESL student, teaching vs. tutoring and preparing
high school students for writing in college.
"We've had a
wonderful response from the professional writing community," said
Griffin. "Participants in Tennessee and Alabama have called to find
out more about the event. These instructors are hungry for an opportunity
to discuss issues with their colleagues."
Other coordinators
of the conference include Dr. Steve Price, Chair of the English
Department at Mississippi College; Kerri Jordan, Director of the
Writing Center at Mississippi College; and Dr. Jean Chamberlain,
Professor of English at Jackson State University.
For more information
about the conference, contact Kathi Griffin at (601) 974-1308 or
griffkr@millsaps.edu.
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