TYCAto You - NCTE · 330 TYCA to You TETYC Vol. 44, No. 3, March 2017 319 TYCA to You News from the Regionals of the Two-Year College English Association ... attendance at the TYCA

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to You TYCANews from the Regionals of the Two-Year College English Association

“2010 Regional Conference Reports” from David Lydic, Editor of “TYCA to You”

For each of the TYCA regions, our annual confer-ences are a highlight. We come together to com-miserate, to share, to laugh, to inspire. As one of the regional representatives put it, the conferences are akin to a family reunion as much as they are profes-sional development. As is the case with many of us, I attend many conferences each year, hundreds over my career. I never feel as at home as I do at TYCA regional.

In spite of economic hard times and a predict-able reduction in travel budgets, attendance at the TYCA regionals did not seem to suffer. I believe this is a testament to the richness of the programs, the knowledge that we will never learn as much from anyone as we will from our colleagues.

Following are the reports of each TYCA region’s annual conference. As you read them you will detect the love we have for our profession, our students, and each other. Enjoy.

David Lydic may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-West Report from Louise Bown

The 2010 TYCA-West Conference was held at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, NV, Oc-tober 8-9, 2010. The theme was “Entering the Con-versation: Creating Actionable Knowledge.” Ourguest speaker, Robert M. Sherfi eld, gave a presentation on how we can engage students in the conversations about writing.

March 2011 Prepared by David Lydic and the TYCA Regional Representatives

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March 2017

TYCA Conferences—Sybil Priebe, Editor of “TYCA to You”

Admittedly, I had not been to a TYCA conference in a few years. The sweet Midwest bunch I hold dear did excuse my absence after my fifth apology and student-like reasons. As much as I detest flying, I knew I had to get my butt to St. Louis this time around. Luckily, I had the funding (even as North Dakota—like many other states—was asking for 85–90% budgets from higher ed for the next bi-ennium) to accompany my consistent excitement and motivation for anything TYCA. To show rather than tell you of my experience, I give you the post

I sent into our Midwest Messenger editor Jen Richrath:

Therefore, maybe there’s a reason I leave TYCA-MW last, when I do attend. Maybe I am meant to be the non-elected, unofficial reflector of the event. Maybe I have become that person because I travel the farthest, typically, to TYCA-MW, being the North Dakota rep and all. Maybe it is because I love to write journal entries about my life anyhow. No matter the reason, here’s my Ode to TYCA (post Midwest conference in St. Louis, 2016).

Ode to TYCA To the nerdy family that exists within TYCA-MW, who welcomed me with open arms in 2009 at the Madison, WI, conference. To the long-lost “sisters” I’ve found in Jen Richrath, Mary Gruis, Kathy Steffens, Sara Jones, Carrie Finn, Connie Miller, and Michelle Byrne. To the long-lost “brothers” I’ve found in Rich Peraud, Paul Resnick, Alan Hutchinson, and Brian Harrell. To the conversations I’ve had with anyone at a TYCA-MW who listened and possibly reframed advice I’d already gotten from my favorite colleagues back home. To the ideas that congregate collectively in our minds when we are all together, and how they come out of us in articulate, silly, or blasphemous ways.

Prepared by Sybil Priebe and the TYCA Regional Representatives

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Copyright © 2017 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved

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To the laughter that pours from liquor-lined mouths when we tell stories about past TYCA’s, about students, and about ourselves. To the joy I feel when I am around people who are like-minded, yet come in all shapes and colors and backgrounds. To the happy exhaustion after the conference, trying to figure out what the hell to try in class—what ideas will work in 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months, or maybe in 3 years? To the nerd love. To the cocktails, and toasts to those who’ve come before us and reminded us to remain true to who we are: teachers of writing and lovers of thinking. To the “small, practical, hands-on conference,” this is and will continue to be (Byrne).

TYCA-West Report from Stephanie Maenhardt

It has been a busy year for the TYCA-West region. October found us meeting together for our annual regional confer-ence on the Charleston Campus of the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, NV. Centered on the theme of “Social Action and Engagement in the English Classroom,” the conference was a robust collaboration of presenters, topics, and ideas, ranging from workshops and roundtable discus-sions to discussions of innovations in pedagogies, texts, and

assignments, all focused on helping both our students and ourselves participate in social action and engagement in our classrooms and outside of them. In her address, keynote speaker Linda Adler-Kassner, Chair for CCCC 2017 and Past Associate Chair for CCCC 2016, focused on the importance of threshold concepts and how they can be vehicles for change and movement.

Program Chair Liz Larakers perfectly summed up the focus and intent of TYCA-West’s 2016 conference by noting, “When we frame information with an eye to current events, when we deliberately ‘edutain’ with popular culture, when we discuss or write about politics and social trends, and when we guide critical thinking on current problems and offer reasoned solutions, we are creating opportunities for engagement and interaction with the world.” Liz finished her note to confer-ence attendees by inviting everyone to join with colleagues to see how we are, in own and varied ways, following the admonition of Plutarch to not just fill a vessel when we teach, but to light a fire. This is exactly what happened at the conference, and presenters and attendees alike left the sessions with many new, engaging, and thought-provoking ideas to carry forward into the next semester’s teaching.

These exciting and active proceedings culminated in the recent postconfer-ence election of several new members to the TYCA-West REC. We are pleased to have Justin Jory, Lisa Packer, and Nathan Cole joining our REC as the Chair, Secretary, and Associate Webtender for TYCA-West. They will work together with other members of the REC as we look ahead to our 2017 conference on October 13–14 at Glendale Community College in Glendale, AZ. The conference theme

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for 2017 is “The Measure of Tomorrow: Assessment through the Lens of Race, Diversity, & Inclusion,” and a CFP will be available at http://tycawest.org/ soon. We would love to have folks from around the region join us in Glendale, so please check back for more details.

Stephanie Maenhardt may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Midwest Report from Suzanne Labadie

TYCA Midwest members were inspired to “Get off [Their] Apathy” at this year’s conference, held in St. Louis, MO. Hosted by a committee of faculty from Southwest-ern Illinois College, under the leadership of Chantay White-Williams, the conference featured local talent in its keynote sessions, including poet Treasure Williams and Professor Stefan Bradley of St. Louis University. These two voices connected us with the recent racial tension

brought forth by the Ferguson, MO, shooting, and explored the work of Fannie Lou Hamer in the civil rights movement. St. Louis is a perfect place to consider our country’s racial history, situated as it is between the north and the south, and these talks and the subsequent discussions attendees enjoyed could not have been more timely.

Below are a few reflections from attendees on their experience at this year’s meetings:

•“ThekeynotespeakerattheTYCAMidwestconference,StefanBradley,spoke about working with his students during the Ferguson uprising. He talked about how he didn’t consider himself a protester, or someone who would be in a march, but he got a call at night from his students who were protesting and in danger. He had to go. He had to respond to and support his students. His description of that night and the lessons he learned from it were powerful; he reaffirmed the need for what we do, for teaching about language. What stays with me more, though, is that his students called him. In the middle of the night. He was the person they turned to. He was the one they counted on. The students knew they had someone. That was not meant to be the focus of his talk, but certainly that’s where real teaching begins: Students knowing you are committed to their hopes and dreams and the ac-tions they have to take to see those dreams manifest.” Michelle Byrne, Chair, TYCA-Midwest

•“Iappreciatedhearinghowothercollegesacrossourregionaredealingwithdevelopmental offerings . . . getting creative with the way we teach/offer developmental reading and writing. It reaffirmed that my college is moving in the same direction as many of our peers around the nation.” Mart Gruis, Ridgewater College, Minnesota

•“OnehighlightwastheLifetimeAchievementAwardforLarryMcDoniel.He truly loved TYCA and gave many years to our organization. The other highlight was the keynote speaker talking about the Ferguson protests and

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at a time. Personalize the questions. Ask a specifi c student. During the discussion if questions arise, let students grapple with and fi gure out the answers. Hold back and observe. Strive to remain objective and non-judgmental during the discussion.

Sherfi eld concluded with the idea that the academic conversation promotes a culture of ideas, gives access to intellectual capital, and is an extension of something else. The academic conversation goes beyond the traditional classroom. Cyber conversations, blogs, emails, social media such as Facebook are ways to add to the conversation.

Breakout session presentations were given by faculty from Nevada, Arizona, and Utah on issues such as Best Practices for Teaching Basic Writing Students, Student Curate Library Exhibits, Evaluating Writing in the Age of Entitlement and Grade Infl ation, Developing a Framework for Success in First-Year Writing, and a Community-Based Mentoring Program.

Louise Bown may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Midwest Report from Karla Brown

The September 30-October 2, 2010 TYCA-Midwest Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, with the theme of “Harvesting Talent,” provided fertile ground for a rich crop of sessions and cross-fertilization of collegial sharing. A sampling of theme-related sessions included “Harvest-ing Teaching and Learning Success: Examining the Fruits of Our Labors” on program assessment of three general education student learning outcomes at Oakland Com-

munity College in Michigan; a session entitled “Dual Credit: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff,” which offered a national profi le of dual credit and an overview of issues involved, particularly regarding standards and assessment; a look at a service learning project at Zane State College in Ohio entitled “Growing Your Commu-nity: Technical Writing Classes Work with Farmers’ Markets”; and a presentation from Hawkeye Community College in Iowa called “Making the Most Out of Crop Rotation: Multiple Approaches to Improve and Assess the Peer Review Process.”

In addition to the break-out sessions, participants at the conference enjoyed the Friday luncheon, during which several awards were presented. The Adjunct Proposal Award went to Laura Gabrion and Rebecca Rivard from Macomb Com-munity College in Michigan for their session “Composting: Multiple Literacies in the Composition Classroom.” Mary Gruis, from Ridgewater College in Hutchison, Minnesota received the Outstanding New Faculty Award based on a recommen-dation from her peers and students. Carrie Barker, a nontraditional student from Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, acknowledged the impact of her teacher, Heal McKnight, as she accepted a national award, the Norton’s Writer’s Prize, which came with a cash award of $1,500.

One of the highlights of the conference was the Friday luncheon keynote speaker Brent Spencer, author of Are We Not Men? and The Lost Son. Brent’s talk


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how he handled his students and his own responses to the unrest. As usual, the camaraderie and fellowship with each other was amazing.” Paul Resnick, Illinois Central College

Attendees are always appreciative of the opportunity to recharge, refresh their teaching, and connect with other faculty. This year, sessions featured many opportunities to do just that— from round-table discussions on developmental writing, to presentations that featured personal practices for staying plugged in, to hands-on presentations on increasing engagement in online and face-to-face classes. TYCA-Midwest will continue to come together in this way and support its membership. We are excited to meet again next fall in St. Paul, MN, where we’ll explore the theme of “Cultivating Curiosity.”

Suzanne Labadie may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Southeast Report from Susan Slavicz

The TYCA-SE conference is always held in the spring, so these are the highlights from our 2016 spring conference, “Intentional Teaching Turns the World,” held in Knoxville, TN, home of the 1982 World’s Fair, February 24–27.

Silas House, the NEH chair of Appalachian Litera-ture at Berea College and a member of the fiction faculty at Spalding University’s MFA Creative Writing program, presented a program describing how experiences in Ap-

palachia and his own teachers affected his writing. The author of five novels and Something’s Rising, a 2009 nonfiction piece, House entertained the audience while noting the effects of poverty and the public’s opinions of Appalachian culture. Arthur Golden, the author of Memoirs of a Geisha, was our Friday luncheon speaker. His description of the process of writing the novel highlighted the structural nature of that process. He encouraged English teachers to examine how details in literature serve a practical purpose in the narrative.

The presentations at the conference this year were especially good. In par-ticular, people were talking about linking the visual with the written and engaging students in deeper levels of the text. A presentation linking a discussion of Picasso’s Guernica to Elie Wiesel’s Night demonstrated a great method for getting students to think about using concrete, specific details in their writing. Another presenter shared her unit on Death of a Salesman, which she begins—I kid you not—with a discussion of refrigerators!

Representatives from Chattanooga Community College described a series of chautauquas. These are lectures by various instructors at the university on their “pet” subjects— not necessarily related to their classrooms. We do some of this as part of the authors’ series, and we did something similar last year at our writers’ mini-conference. I thought that the name chautauqua was interesting and the way they organize the programs was different. Instructors volunteer, and they lecture

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wove together the stories of a student at Creighton University in Omaha, NE, where he teaches, with his own story of attending a community college as a key step in his life, and the story of his friendship with writer Tillie Olse n. His remarks were a touching reminder of the role we play in helping many students join “the world of words”—and had many in the audience in tears.

Beyond the program itself, the DMACC conference provided opportunities to mix and mingle at the Thursday evening reception, the Dine-Around-Town Friday night dinner outings which have become a TYCA-Midwest tradition, and dancing at Blues on Grand. Participants were also encouraged to go to the Saturday morn-ing downtown Farmers’ Market with $5 vouchers for breakfast.

We are already anticipating next year’s conference in Columbus, Ohio at the Hyatt Regency October 13-15, 2011. The theme, “Your Life Is a Book, and Every Day Is a Page,” are the words on a statue of renowned folk artist Elijah Pierce on the Columbus State Community College campus. Cynthia L. Selfe, Distinguished Professor of English at Ohio State University and co-editor of Computers and Composition: An International Journal, will discuss the Digital Archives of Literacy Narratives project that provides a historical record of literacy practices and values of U.S. citizens. To submit a proposal, visit the TYCA-Midwest website at tycamw.org or email Program Chair Ingrid Emch at [email protected] by May 1, 2011.

Karla Brown may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Southeast Report from Beverly Derden Fatherree

The 46th annual TYCA-Southeast conference was held March 3-5, 2011, in lovely Decatur, Georgia, a suburb of At-lanta. Hosted by Georgia Perimeter College, the conference was held at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, which of-fered close proximity to historic Decatur, with its bookstores, art galleries, and boutiques.

Themed “English at the Crossroads: Redefi ning Our Role in Higher Education,” the conference began with the

usual meet and greet Wednesday, March 2, following a long day of Regional Execu-tive Committee business. The reception in the hospitality suite is an opportunity for those who arrive early to visit, to catch up on the events of the previous year, to share pictures of family, and to unwind from their trip from one of the ten states which represent TYCA-SE.

Thursday morning kicked off with three concurrent pre-conference work-shops, each emphasizing teaching skills. Kari Miller, an experienced online instruc-tor, focused on online teaching skills; Dr. Nicolette Rose, an internationally focused instructor, presented “Global Approaches to Composition and Literature”; and Beth Wallace, Jeff Meadors, and Dr. Rosalyn Jacobs led a workshop which discussed “Civic Engagement and Service-Learning Integration”. The value added to the


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on a particular interest. They have five of these scheduled this year, and the sixth one will be a presentation by their guest author—Ron Rash, the author of Serena.

As usual, our Southeast conference not only challenged us intellectually but also entertained us. The Southeast is known both for the richness of its conferences and for its parties. The local arrangements committee put on a great dinner party at the Sunsphere, a building constructed for the World’s Fair.

Susan Slavicz may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Northeast Report from Leigh Jonaitis

For the first time in 23 years, TYCA-Northeast held its annual conference in Connecticut. “Making Connections: Creative Collaboration for Critical Literacy” took place in Hartford on October 13-15, 2016. Attendees experienced a full three days of in-vigorating sessions. Keynote speakers included Susan Miller-Cochran and novelist Amy Bloom, as well as National TYCA Chair Eva Payne, who delivered

a powerful talk on the state of two-year colleges in our present moment and its impact on faculty and students. In addition to the usual breakout sessions, and for the first time at TYCA-NE, organizers also offered two poster sessions as a way to accommodate as many proposals as possible.

In addition to highlighting over 160 presenters, the local offerings for the conference were rich and varied. Musician and writer Patti Smith spoke at the nearby Mark Twain House and Museum on Thursday night, and a pedagogically focused walking tour of downtown Hartford was offered as a preconference option. Attendees could also select from the other events planned by the local arrange-ments committee: ghost tours that departed the Mark Twain house on Friday, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, and the Wadsworth Atheneum. Local productions of The Piano Lesson and Relativity starring Richard Dreyfus were also options for attendees.

With over 220 registrants, the conference was undoubtedly a success. Many thanks to conference organizers Liz Keefe (Program Chair), Daniela Ragusa (Local Arrangements Chair), and Susan Monroe (Registration Chair), all of whom will now continue to serve in elected or appointed positions on the Regional Executive Committee of TYCA-Northeast.

TYCA-Northeast’s next conference will be held in Delaware for the first time in its 51-year history. TYCA-NE 2017, aptly named “In the Middle of It All: Moving English from the Margins of Higher Education,” will take place October 26–28 in Wilmington, DE. Proposals will be due June 1.

Leigh Jonaitis may be reached at [email protected].

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TYCA-Northeast Report from Judy Angona

Crisp autumn breezes welcomed enthusiastic members of TYCA-Northeast to Washington, DC, on Novem-ber 4-6, 2010, for the group’s forty-fi fth annual confer-ence. Program Co-Chairs Jennifer Garner and Stacy Korbelak of Howard Community College, Maryland, credit the conference theme, “Capitol Improvements: The Two-Year College as an Agency of Change,” to their inspiration at “the spirit of change […] sweeping

our country.” At the comfortable and attractive DuPont Hotel, conveniently poised on Washington’s DuPont Circle, Local Arrangements Co-Chairs Jill Kronstadt and Tammy Peery of Montgomery College, Maryland, worked tirelessly to insure at-tendees an enjoyable stay. Registration Chair Christian Mahoney of Anne Arundel Community College, Maryland, reported more than 150 conference registrants.

The conference opened at 8:15 a.m. on Friday morning with a provocative breakfast panel—a new feature for this regional—at which a college president, an academic vice president, the chair of the Maryland Higher Education Commis-sion, and a representative of the U.S. Department of Education were among six panelists offering “from-the-trenches” perspectives on the “State of the Community College.” As conference attendees arrived, they selected their breakfast items and found seats at the many available round tables in the spacious ballroom without disrupting the speakers’ focus or interfering with audience members’ concentration. This well attended, informative session fostered a spirit of community and sparked interest in attending the concurrent sessions; the model is worthy of replication.

The heart of the conference consisted of fi fty-six diverse presentations, of-fered by 101 presenters representing colleges in ten NE states and one hardy traveler from Cal State, Fullerton. The talks were arranged into eight concurrent sessions throughout the day on Friday and on Saturday morning. Session topics were wonderfully comprehensive, ranging from creative explorations of current hot-button issues (e.g., high school to college transition, globalization, popular culture, information literacy, community outreach, refugee populations, adult learners, and career initiatives) to new perspectives on the always-relevant topics of developmental instruction, fi rst-year composition, distance learning, assessment, and educational technology.

Friday’s luncheon session featured speaker Malachy McCourt—writer, story-teller, humorist, actor, and radio talk show host. McCourt became a bestselling author at age 66, with A Monk Swimming, a memoir recounting his experiences as a young American immigrant in the 1960’s. The silver-tongued raconteur enthralled listeners with his informal blend of personal anecdotes, salty jokes, and refl ective readings. His talk concluded with a beautiful “by heart” rendering of Yeats and an invitation for the audience to join him in singing a spirited Irish ballad. On Satur-day, luncheon attendees enjoyed the gentle perceptions of Phyllis Theroux—former


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TYCA-Pacific Coast Report from Sravani Banerjee

TYCA Pacific Coast did not host a regional conference in fall 2016. The representative submitted the following report on Assessment and Placement Changes at California’s Community Colleges.

Major changes are taking place in the assessment and placement of students at the California community colleges. At Evergreen Valley College (EVC), our Assess-ment Task Force is charged with implementing major

changes in the way EVC assesses incoming students and places them in English, reading, ESL, and math courses. Use of cumulative high school GPA for placement began in October 2016. The new statewide Common Assessment exams will come online later during 2017. The Assessment Task Force is committed to bringing about research-based changes to the implementation of multiple assessment measures.

Evergreen Valley College has become a member of the Multiple Measures Assessment Project (MMAP), a California consortium of forty community colleges, and growing. Building on the pioneering work begun at Long Beach City College in 2011, the MMAP has developed a set of decision rules using students’ cumulative high school grade point average (HS GPA). These rules, or cut scores, will help place new students into English, reading, ESL, and math courses. They are called decision rules because the methodology is empirical, based on careful statistical analysis of the HS GPA of nearly 400,000 students taking community college classes.

Within two years, all California community colleges will be using the new Common Assessment exams. Along with the use of HS GPA, the new assessment exams will correct a documented underplacement of students that has gone on for many years using the soon-to-be-defunct Compass exam. The new exams have content validity. The competencies that the exam questions measure have been mapped by EVC faculty to EVC courses. HS GPA cut scores are based on a 70% passing rate for each course.

Many of our colleagues have doubts about the rigor of high schools and the utility of grades that students receive there. However, results from a retrospective analysis of EVC students show that the mean HS GPA of these students was 2.44, while the statewide mean was 2.38, a negligible difference. The standard deviation for EVC students was .76, while statewide it was .79. The data analysis confirms that there is no more (and no less) high school grade inflation among EVC students than there is at community colleges around the state. EVC is now in a position to use existing statewide validation studies of HS GPA as an assessment tool.

Belfield & Crosta’s 2012 study reported, “Alone, HS GPA was a better pre-dictor of college performance than all other measures put together.” For that reason, colleges and universities are making SAT scores optional and using HS GPA instead for admission purposes. When we stop to think about it, which would we think is better: a two-hour test or four years of school classes and grades? One additional advantage of HS GPA is that it measures so-called noncognitive variables as well.

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teacher; essayist on the MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour; columnist and op-ed writer for the Washington Post and the New York Times; and critically-acclaimed author of the creative nonfi ction collections The Book of Eulogies and The Journal Keeper.

On Friday afternoon, TYCA-National Chair Sandie McGill Barnhouse and TETYC Editor Jeff Sommers joined Acting NE Chair Laurie Lieberman and NE National Liaison Marsha Nourse to present a panel entitled, “TYCA National: The Voice of Two-Year College Teachers.” This well received audience-participation session explored the range of issues in which National TYCA is actively engaged as it seeks to empower two-year college faculty voices in the educational decision-making process.

At its Saturday afternoon meeting, the NE Regional Executive Committee welcomed six new members: Vice Chair Tammy Peery and Webtender Jill Kron-stadt, both of Montgomery College, Maryland; Future Sites Coordinator Jennifer Garner and Acting Secretary/Nominating Committee member Stacy Korbelak, both of Howard Community College, Maryland; Membership Chair Leigh Jonaitis of Bergen Community College, New Jersey; and Nominating Committee member Stephen Pierson, of Onondaga Community College, New York.

In 2011, TYCA-NE will host its forty-sixth annual conference, “Teaching in a Tidal Space: Navigating the Ebb and Flow of Student Learning,” on November 3-5 at the Eastland Park Hotel in Portland, Maine. Conference Co-Chairs Amy Havel, of Southern Maine Community College, and Lucinda Coombs, of Central Maine Community College, are coordinating the conference team from Central Maine, Kennebec Valley, Southern Maine, and York County Community Col-leges. TYCA-NE cordially invites members of all the TYCA regionals to join us in November for a few unforgettable days in beautiful, historic Portland—ocean sightings guaranteed!

Judy Angona may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Pacifi c Coast (ECCTYC) Report from Jody Millward

ECCTYC holds a biannual conference. We’re happy to announce that this year’s conference will be held at the Burlingame Doubletree Hotel, South San Francisco, October 20-22, 2011. The conference theme refl ects the inspiration of California Community College faculty and the range of courses/skills they address, as well as the signifi cance of student engagement: “Meeting in the Margin: Discourses on Reading and Writing.” Confer-ence organizers anticipate proposals that refl ect multiple

perspectives (UC/CSU faculty, graduate student, and undergrad and CC faculty and student panels). Our conference, website, and regional members’ outreach acknowledge results if ECCTYC’s recent survey of California two-year college


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According to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, high proportions of students start out at a remedial level of math and English, with one out of every three students in the California community colleges enrolling in a basic skills course. Only time and research will show how successful the new Multiple Measures Assessment Project will be in placing students at the appropriate levels of math and English.

Sravani Banerjee may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Pacific Northwest Report from Teresa Thonney

On October 21–22, 2016, TYCA-PNW joined with the Pacific Northwest Writing Centers Association for their sixth consecutive joint conference, held at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Conference chairs Dennis Ben-nett and Michelle Marie, from Oregon State University, along with members of the planning committee, hosted the conference, attended by more than 120 composition instructors, writing center directors, and tutors.

The keynote address was delivered by Tim Jensen, director of writing, School of Writing, Literature and Film at Oregon State University. The title of his address, “Beyond Good Intentions and toward the How of Habit,” alludes to Nancy Grimm’s call (in Good Intentions: Writing Center Work for Postmodern Times) for “relentless reflection” about our practices in classrooms and writing centers. Rather than making curriculum decisions based solely on tradition and assump-tions about what our students need, Jensen suggests we listen—with curiosity and empathy—to what students have to say.

At Oregon State University, they have been doing just that, by soliciting feedback from first-year writing students about where they think writing is most important: in college, in career, in personal relationships, or for mental health and wellness. The more than 7,000 students who have responded so far have ranked college first, career second, mental health and wellness third, and personal relation-ships fourth. Comments reveal that students understand the value of writing—not just for their jobs or in college but for mental health and stress relief. Overwhelm-ingly, students believe their writing will improve over the course of the term and recognize that what they need to do to improve their writing is to write more and start writing earlier. Jensen challenges us to learn what good intentions our students bring to our classes and to motivate students by meeting them where they are.

The conference featured a program of 22 sessions, many of which also chal-lenged our assumptions and good intentions. Many sessions focused on classroom issues, including recognizing the reasons for plagiarism, using technology in the classroom, responding to students who disclose drug or alcohol addiction, challeng-ing students to consider other worldviews, and engaging students with social justice.

Other sessions focused on writing centers, including training tutors to work with students from diverse language, cultural, and social class backgrounds; with

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faculty and the conference will refl ect concerns and successes based on these top-ics as well as issues not yet addressed in our regional representatives/membership correspondence. We all look forward to featured presentations of CA writers and scholars and are eager to assess how our innovations in more accurately targeting the challenges and successes of our constituency enliven our conference and pro-vide direction to TYCA-Pacifi c Coast.

Jody Millward may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Pacifi c Northwest Report from Alexis Nelson

The conference theme, “The Imagined _________,” af-forded presenters and participants many possibilities. The warmth of Whatcom Community College’s hospitality kept the Bellingham, WA, drizzle at bay. The October 8-9 conference got off to a quiet, then effervescent start with Nancy Sommers’ workshop. Participants were told to bring an evocative object—one packed with sensory memories. Then, to their surprise, they were given 50

minutes to write about the object. It takes a while to quiet 70 English teachers, but once that happened, so did the magic. People who thought 50 minutes sounded impossibly long were still writing at the end of the time. Sommers required that we share our work, moving away from the familiar faces we’d come with. As powerful as the silence and writing were, equally powerful was being compelled to share our work with strangers. And it’s only fair to require that teachers engage in the activities they routinely expect of students.

The following morning began with a plenary session by local improv artists DK and Morgan, who demonstrated the relationship between improvisation and classroom life. They showcased the ground rules: make your partner look good, and embrace failure—which have obvious application in the interactive classroom. Their exercises, designed to liberate us from our routines, paralleled the brainstorm-ing activities faculty ask of students at the start of their writing.

Of the more than 25 sessions throughout Saturday, these are some highlights:• Information Literacy was the focus of Ielleen Miller (EWU Librarian) and

Jeff Holmes (now of Columbia Basin CC), who worked as a team to improve advanced composition classes. Rather than rely on the canned presentation of library skills, they developed ways to help students achieve their own research goals through intense and continuous interaction with both the instructor and librarian.

• Tacoma Community College described its success in getting serious about describing “college readiness.” They worked with high school and uni-versity colleagues to discuss placement, assignments, grading, and reading expectations. Five years after initiating this effort, it has become a day-long workshop attended by 50 high school participants.

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students with learning challenges; and with English language learners. Still other sessions focused on larger campus concerns, including Common Core, program reform, and student activism.

Another highlight of the conference was the luncheon awards ceremony, where Jeffrey Klausman received the Lisa Ede Excellence in Teaching Award, given each year to recognize innovation and creativity in the teaching of English. Klaus-man was honored for his contributions to the field of two-year college teaching, in general, for his decades of service and leadership at Whatcom Community College, and for his work within TYCA and CCCC.

Teresa Thonney may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Southwest Report from Erin O’Neill Armendarez

TYCA-Southwest members convened October 27–29, 2016, in the Drury Plaza Hotel in San Antonio, TX. The conference theme was “Educating Lives: Sharing Our Culture and Heritage.” From the opening reception on Thursday evening to the eight available breakout sessions, participants had many opportunities to meet members from other campuses around the region and to discuss a wide range of teaching-related topics. In particular, several

sessions featured innovative ways to include student reflection on and experience with culture and heritage into classroom conversations, activities, and assignments.

The conference opened on Thursday evening with TYCA-SW’s traditional welcome reception followed by literary readings and performances from confer-ence participants. After the business meeting and Friday morning breakout sessions, registrants attended a luncheon where Cheryl Hogue Smith, TYCA Secretary and professor of English at Kingsborough Community College (CUNY), gave a brief update on trends and issues common to all regional affiliates. Immediately after, featured speaker Dr. Enrique Alemán Jr. from the University of Texas at San Antonio delivered a thought-provoking keynote presentation on a famous school discrimination court case, Hernandez et al. v. Driscoll CISD. Dr. Alemán’s own mother had been one of eight children to testify in the case, and in his keynote address Dr. Alemán blended family memoir with research to enlighten participants on the relationships between race and educational inequity. After the luncheon, Friday breakout sessions extended to early evening.

On Saturday morning, breakouts resumed at 9:00 a.m. Duane Roen, pro-fessor of writing at Arizona State University, delivered the featured luncheon pre-sentation on researching and preserving his own family’s history and on engaging students with assignments and activities related to personal, familial, and communal records and lore. After Professor Roen spoke, fortunate attendees received signed copies of the third edition of The McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life (Roen, Glau, and Maid).

TYCA to You 327

• Bradley Bleck of Spokane Falls presented on podcasting; he led the group in recording and creating podcasts using several Flip cameras and one Digital video camera, and uploaded them on YouTube.

• Thematic English 101 Courses were the focus of Andrea Reid, Betsy Lawrence, and Jeannie Isern of Spokane CC. In these 101 sections, the faculty create a theme, choose relevant texts and fi lms, and share assign-ments. Themes so far have included The American Dream, Coming of Age, Surviving Disasters, and Imagining the Future. The collaborative curriculum does require extra time, but the benefi ts to students, who fi nd the course more interesting, and to faculty, who enjoy the professional development and camaraderie, have made it worthwhile.

The 117 conference participants appreciated a plateful of options, generous publishers, and the prospect of more collegiality at the conference in Yakima in Fall 2011.

Alexis Nelson may be reached at [email protected].

TYCA-Southwest Report from David Lydic

October 21–23, 2010 was a good weekend for TYCA-SW. Laredo Community College sponsored the region’s 45th annual conference in Laredo, TX. Conference co-chairs Raj Chekuri and Nancy Herschap assembled a creative and effective collection of sessions in support of their conference theme “Connecting the Dots.” They were wonderful hosts.

The conference welcomed about 70 attendees. All six states in the southwest region were represented. The 24 sessions were presented by 30 teachers from 15 different colleges. Presenters were from all of the region’s six states.

The conference theme elicited a wide variety of sessions. Dori Wagner from Austin Community College talked of “Taking Symbols to the Movies,” Beth Humphreys of Seminole State College discussed “Metacognition: The Quintessen-tial Connection of the Dots,” Gordon K. Lee of Lee College addressed “Keeping Literature Relevant,” Diann V. Mason of Paris Junior College gave us quite an origi-nal presentation on “Connecting the Dots: The Poetry of Hip-Hop,” and Norma Cruz-Gonzales and Sophia Caldera Cataneda of San Antonio College discussed “Learning Communities: Tracking and Retaining Students.” Friday afternoon was a treat to a large audience listening to the creative offerings of Thom McFarland (Austin Community College) reading from his novel In the Valley of the Shadow of Death: A Comedy in Five Acts and Diana Smith (Southwest Texas Junior College) reading a selection of her poetry. Both were excellent.

As it always does, technology received attention. Jack Marshall of Houston Community College talked of “Writing DVD Scripts,” Erin Beaver of Colorado


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During the conference, around 30 presenters shared teaching strategies, as-signments, and activities on a broad range of topics, everything from the mundane comma to Native American pedagogy to translingual practices in writing classrooms. In addition, several publishers displayed new books and products and generously offered snacks, sample books, catalogs, and conference bags to conference goers.

All were encouraged to attend TYCA-SW’s 2017 conference, which is sched-uled to take place October 19–21, 2017, in Loveland, CO. Cochairs Erin Beaver (Colorado Mountain College) and Rebecca Sailor (Aims Community College) were introduced, and the theme of the conference, “Convergence,” was described in the handy save-the-date bookmarks they distributed along with postcards displaying scenic Colorado landscapes.

As the TYCA-SW 2016 fall conference adjourned, the autumn weather was ideal for wandering the colorful San Antonio riverwalk and for outdoor meetings with colleagues, where in-depth discussions on conference topics could be continued at a variety of local coffee shops, restaurants, and historical sites. Participants left with fresh ideas and hopes of reconvening in 2017 for further collegial exchange.

Erin O’Neill Armendarez may be reached at [email protected].

TETYC March 2011328

Pacifi c CoastCA

NortheastCT, DC, DE, MA,MD, ME, NH, NJ,NY, PA, RI, VT; NB, NF, NS, ON, QC

SoutheastAL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC,SC, TN, VA,WV

MidwestIA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI; MB

SouthwestAR, CO, LA,NM, OK, TX

WestAZ, HI, southern ID,NV, UT, WY

Pacifi c NorthwestAK, northern ID, MT, OR, WA; AB, BC, SK, YT

Mountain College explained “Electronic Peer Review,” and Erin O’Neill of New Mexico State University at Alamo Gordo discussed “YouTube, Who Knew?: Start-ing Conversations on Literature.” But since the conference was in Texas and on the border with Mexico, Texas literature, second-language infl uence, and border writing received appropriate attention. Keith Bowden of Laredo Community Col-lege discussed “Two Epiphanies and How Mexicans Taught Me the Importance of Learning,” Lisa Flores of Texas A & M International University addressed “Tying Culture to Writing,” Deborah Scaggs of A & M International dealt with “Writing in La Frontera,” and Michael Gos of Lee College continued the Texas fl avor with “Hondo Crouch’s World of Cedar Creek: A Fictional Luckenbach.”

National-TYCA Sandie Barnhouse of Rowan Cabarrus Community College in North Carolina attended as the representative from the national executive com-mittee. Sandie wasn’t content with simply bringing greetings, however. She also presented a session on “TYCA National: The Voice of Two-Year College English Teachers” with David Lydic of Austin Community College, the TYCA-SW re-gional representative. Sandie also succeeded in helping the Southwest-EC create a gallery for the National Writing Gallery sponsored by NCTE. We are grateful for that.

A major highlight of the conference was the luncheon address of state sena-tor Judith Zaffi rini, Texas’ fi rst Hispanic woman voted to the senate and holder of a record 100% voting record spanning 23 years; she has cast 43,387 consecutive votes in the Texas Senate. The TYCA conference attendees were awed by Senator Zaffi rini’s ability to recite poetry and prose passages from memory as she spoke of the need for literacy and the beauty and usefulness of literature. The senator has been a lifelong lover of language and sang the praises of reading every chance she got. She concluded her talk by giving everyone present a small Spanish-English dictionary. We were inspired by her energy and her ideas. In Senator Zaffi rini we have a true advocate.



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TYCAto You - NCTE · 330 TYCA to You TETYC Vol. 44, No. 3, March 2017 319 TYCA to You News from the Regionals of the Two-Year College English Association ... attendance at the TYCA