Greetings!
Please join WPA-GO (Writing Program Administrators-Graduate Organization) for a virtual panel discussion with Dr. Kelly Bezio, Dr. Holly Hassel, and Dr. Teresa Klein on academic freedom. The virtual event, “College English in 2026: Disruption and Innovation” is hosted by WPA-GO’s Diversity Committee.
This is a great opportunity to discuss and learn about some of the changes in English and higher education due to legislative and cultural changes in the US. The theme is “disruption and innovation”, with an expectation that this discussion will share tips for resilience, adaptation, and staying informed about policies.
Most of the event will be a Q&A. The event registration form includes space for suggesting questions or topics. Our hope is to let participants lead the discussion, share their experiences, and problem-solve in a safe and empathetic space.
Please see the details for the event below:
Date: Tuesday, July 21st, 2026
Time: 4:00 pm PT/ 5:00 pm MT/ 6:00 pm CT/ 7:00 pm ET
Registration: Please register for this event by Friday, July 17. A link to the registration form can be found here:https://forms.gle/3EvJ4puQe1DqiUYD8
Later registrations are welcomed too, but please give us enough time to share the Zoom link. The Zoom link will be distributed within one (1) day of the event
Speaker Bios:
Kelly L. Bezio is Professor of English at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. She serves as Vice President of AAUP @ TAMU-CC and as Member At-Large for the Texas Conference of AAUP. She also serves on the Scholarly Engagement and Access Committee for the Society of Early Americanists. Her research areas include American Literature, Critical Race Theory, and Health Humanities. Her monograph In Contagion’s Wake: Black Writers and the Development of Modern Outbreak Narratives was published by University of Massachusetts Press (2026).
Holly Hassel is a teacher-scholar-researcher who specializes in writing studies–specifically writing program administration, the teaching of college writing, writing assessment, and writing pedagogy education. Her numerous leadership positions have included chairing the Two-Year College English Association’s Research committee, chairing the Conference on College Composition and Communication, and co-chairing the CCCC-MLA joint Task Force on AI and Writing from 2023-2025. Her commitment to blending research, service, teaching and administration is illustrated throughout her professional record, including her most recent coedited book, Writing Emergencies: Composing (Ourselves) in Times of Crisis, as well as her coauthored book, Reaching All Writers: A Pedagogical Guide to the Evolving College Writing Classroom (UP of Colorado/Utah State, 2024), which serves as a primer to preparing college writing teachers, and her coauthored 2023 book, A Faculty Guide to Shared Governance and Service.
Dr. Teresa Klein has her PhD in Educational and Counseling Psychology. She is a fourth-generation college graduate. She has worked as an educator at Del Mar College for 20 years. Her activism is a “genetic condition” starting with her grandparents who were active in both the grange movement as well as the Democratic Farm Labor party in Minnesota. Dr. Klein is currently the President of the Texas American Association of University Professors – American Federation of Teachers (TX AAUP-AFT) which represents those who are involved in higher education including graduate students and faculty. The AAUP-AFT currently has members on 100 campuses throughout the state and is part of a larger national organization that has been around for more than 100 years. The mission of the organization is to promote the concepts of shared governance and academic freedom, as protected by tenure. Dr. Klein is speaking for herself as a private citizen.
The Zoom link will be distributed within one (1) day prior to the event. We look forward to seeing you there! Please share this opportunity with other peers who might be interested.
Sincerely,
Rachael Hathcoat, on behalf of WPA-GO’s Leadership Council
Rachael Hathcoat
RTC Program Assistant
Humanities Department
Master’s Student
Rhetoric, Theory, & Culture
Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Drive
Houghton, MI 49931