Systems Shift: Creating and Navigating Change in Rhetoric and Composition Administration

This collection extends the discourse on systems within the field of rhetoric and composition by drawing connections among the administrative work we do, the values we hold, and the systems that shape our work and our selves. The contributors to this collection consider how rhetoric and composition administrators’ change-making efforts address, among other activities, equitable labor and working conditions, student and/or faculty retention, curriculum development and redesign, program assessment, professional development support, and mental and/or physical well-being. They explore how these efforts are embodied acts that interact with and participate in systems and networks that often remain unacknowledged even as those within these systems and networks actively work against that oppression. Recognizing that systems and networks can at times supersede administrator, faculty, and student consensus for change, each chapter includes recommendations for addressing the complexities involved in working toward a more just workplace and profession.

Genesea M. Carter is Associate Director of Composition at Colorado State University. Her work has appeared in Composition Studies, Journal of Teaching Writing, Open Words: Access and English Studies, and Writers: Craft and Context. She has guest edited Academic Labor: Research and Artistry and co-edited the collection Class in the Composition Classroom: Pedagogy and the Working Class.

Aurora Matzke is Writing Center Director at Chapman University. She enjoys learning about and working toward ways to create successful access pathways for all students. Most recently, she collaboratively guest edited a special issue of Writing Program Administration based on the legacy of Mike Rose and authored a chapter in Women’s Ways of Making. In press are a collaboratively guest edited special issue of Peitho and a chapter in Mentorship and Methodology.