The Reluctant Supervisor: Recognizing and Rethinking Power in Writing Center Supervisory Practices

The discipline of writing center studies has long emphasized collaboration in every context, including leadership. But what does this emphasis mean for supervision, which is inherently hierarchical? The Reluctant Supervisor attends to how power―institutional, racial, and otherwise―operates in work relationships, staff policies, and administrative decisions.

Giving sustained attention to writing center administrators as supervisors (in addition to their roles as leaders, directors, mentors, and teachers), contributors write from the specificities of their local contexts, institutional positions, and embodied histories in ways that deepen our understanding of writing center supervisory practice.

The Reluctant Supervisor wrestles with the tensions, contradictions, and challenges necessary to name, own, and recognize supervision as a fundamental part of writing center work. It provides valuable perspectives for aspiring, new, and experienced writing center professionals and others in higher education looking to develop a more reflective supervisory practice―especially those who want to center equity and justice in their workplaces.

Rachel Azima is writing center director and professor of practice at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Their writing center scholarship has appeared in The Writing Center Journal and Praxis.

Katie Levin has been working in and researching writing centers for over thirty years. Her research has appeared in The Writing Center Journal and Praxis as well as several edited collections. She works at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

Meredith Steck has been a writing consultant, administrator, and instructor for over ten years. Her research has appeared in The Writing Center Journal and other scientific publications. She works at Case Western Reserve University. 

Jasmine Kar Tang hopes to enact administrative practices that are built on consent, love, and equity. Her research has been published in Praxis, The Writing Center Journal, and other journals and edited collections. She works at Minneapolis College.