Candidate for Vice President
Candidate: Meredith McCarroll, Bowdoin College, Director of Writing and Rhetoric
Professional Biography: As Director of Writing and Rhetoric at Bowdoin College, I oversee the writing curriculum. I also direct the Writing Center and the First-Year Writing Seminar Program. I teach courses in writing, whiteness and antiracism, and Southern Literature and Film with a focus on race.
Position Statement: When I began my position in 2015, I knew that I had much to learn about the structure of a Small Liberal Arts College–particularly the ways that the Writing Program functions within a SLAC. Having attended and worked at large public universities, I did not understand the institutional structures that would make connections with others in this organization so crucial. I joined SLAC-WPA and found a community of scholars and teachers who became friends and colleagues. After attending the SLAC-WPA conference for the past several years, I understand the importance of a clear and focused audience and community. Through dinner conversation, panel discussions, and year-round consultations and consults, I have felt supported by this organization.
In Spring 2020, as we foresaw a strange period ahead, I volunteered to help coordinate what became “Best Practices for Remote Teaching of Writing Courses for First-Year Students at Residential Liberal Arts Colleges.” That collaborative process, working closely with Diane LeBlanc, Stacy Sheriff, and Sandra Jamieson, inspired me to work toward giving back in the form of service to this organization that has given me so much in my first few years on the job.
I am a listener and a connector, a collaborator by nature. I am particularly interested in working together toward a more inclusive and equitable organization, focused on the structures of oppression that shape the spaces in which we work and which we might help reshape. I have previous board experience, as committee chair, Vice-President, and President of Appalachian Studies Association, and would look forward to learning more from this impressive group of scholars, teachers, and administrators.
Candidate for At-Large Representative
Candidate: Hannah Bellwoar, Juniata College, Director of Writing and Associate Professor of English
Professional Biography:
I am Director of General Education and Writing, Director of the Center for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and Associate Professor of English at Juniata College. I teach professional writing courses, and I administrate general education, first year writing, writing in the disciplines, and the professional writing major. My recent research traces literate activity of undergraduate students composing, collaborating, and publishing with faculty. I’ve co-authored articles with undergraduate students published in Harlot, OneShot, and Composition Studies.
Position Statement: I first joined SLAC-WPA in 2012, and the organization has really supported my transition from large state universities to a small liberal arts college. I was grateful to find a friendly community of rhet/comp/writing studies folks in the unique writing programs and positions of SLACs. I have since attended and presented at four conferences, participated in the ad-hoc group for publishing, served on the Martinson committee, and am currently serving on the events committee.
In 2020 when Juniata moved to remote teaching because of the pandemic, I along with many instructors rethought my assessment and moved to a model of ungrading. At a SLAC-WPA online event, I realized I was not alone in this work. So grateful to find a community and support for ungrading after feeling isolated on my campus for a semester, I organized a series of SLAC-WPA conversations and events related to ungrading. I am applying for an at-large because I feel committed to this ungrading and other work of SLAC-WPA and the community, which has supported my teaching, research, and administrative work for 10 years now. I am eager to work with other SLAC folks in our field to develop our teaching and research.