You are cordially invited to the Past, Present, and Future Writing Center Directors SIG Business Meeting on Friday, October 30, from 1:50-3:05 PM EST, held virtually through Whova/Teams during the 2026 IWCA Conference. We want to connect with you around the evolving realities of writing center leadership.
The meeting will begin with a brief report from the SIG Advisory Board’s ongoing empirical study of writing center administrator (WCA) job advertisements, highlighting preliminary findings about shifting expectations for administrative roles. Building on Perdue et al.’s seminal study, we explain how data from the last two decades suggests that WCAs are being transformed from faculty thought leaders who bring vision and academic rigor to writing centers into mid-level managers who perform an increasing variety of administrative tasks within academic support contexts. As a result, WCAs will need to confront the reality of moving in and out of these roles and whether such shifting is aligned with their professional and scholarly agendas.
Participants will discuss how these trends align with their own experiences, particularly amid institutional restructuring and service consolidation. Through facilitated conversation, attendees will
- Identify shared concerns and challenges,
- Exchange intergenerational and intersectional strategies for navigating shifting WCA roles,
- Strengthen professional networks,
- Explore opportunities for collective research, advocacy, and mutual support.
We invite writing center administrators at all stages of their careers as well as those aspiring to these positions to participate in our SIG. We believe that there is much that we can learn from each other, regardless of age or job title.
Please share this invitation with your networks or those who might be interested in conversation on the experiences of WCAs and the current state of affairs in our field.
Please contact us with questions or to join our SIG mailing list at IWCAdirectorsSIG
We look forward to connecting with you!
SIG Advisory Board
Sarah Fredericks
Shane Callahan
Albert DeCiccio
Sarah Fredericks, Ph.D.
Associate Director
University Writing, Office of the Provost
3441B RBD Library
231 Mell Street, Auburn, AL, 36849
sef0004
linkedin.com/in/sarah-fredericks
auburn.edu/writing
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Pronunciation: Sair-uh Fred-ricks