Dear colleagues,
As we work to reimagine CCCC after its de-chartering, and in alignment with the CCCC’s Townhall on Friday, October 9th, we invite Western States colleagues to join us for online ideation symposia on Friday, November 6. We define the Western States region broadly and all are welcome!
In order to reach the most folks and representations, we strongly encourage forwarding this invitation to your SIGs, local colleagues, and any other relevant networks. Apologies for crossposting.
The two sessions will have the same agenda and structure:
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9 a.m.–12 p.m. PST
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2–5 p.m. PST
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Both meetings will be held on Zoom via this link
Please hold these times in your calendar and attend whichever session works best. For colleagues who can’t attend, we’ll offer an asynchronous participation option.
The Ideation Sessions will build on our August 24 conversation, where about 65 regional colleagues discussed what they want from our professional community and network (Read a synthesis of the August 24 conversations here). Sessions also build on a subsequent regional survey sent in September that received 54 responses.
What to expect
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Interactive, small-group brainstorming and discussions about topics identified in the survey, such as:
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Scholarly research, including networking, mentorship, collaboration, and publishing
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Radical inclusion, advocacy, and inclusive pedagogy
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Sub-regional and affinity group organizing
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Transparent note-taking and reflection to help identify patterns, areas of overlap, agreement, and disagreement
The purpose of the sessions
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To make space for ideas to develop. We aren’t starting with a predetermined outcome or asking the group to determine the future of composition studies. Instead, we’ll use methods of sensemaking, change theory, and design thinking to build community and imagine possibilities together.
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To listen across professional positionalities and learn what matters to colleagues across the region.
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To explore what kinds of initiatives, connections, events, or other forms of support might emerge from discussion.
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To align with other regional sensemaking and ideation symposium approaches. For more information on sensemaking, please see this document, and be sure to bookmark CCCC-L.
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To contribute to the range of initiatives underway in the post-Cs era. These Nov. 6 sessions, like other sensemaking gatherings across regions, are not intended to replace or compete with other exciting efforts underway. The organizing we do in these sessions is one means of building community and imagining structures, opportunities, events, and approaches to bring people together, organize toward where we might go, and consider what we might become.
If you marked “yes” in response to the call for facilitators, we’ll be in touch soon with materials and to schedule short facilitation training sessions before November 6. Facilitators will support one session—morning or afternoon—on Nov. 6 based on their availability.
Looking ahead, we hope to hold a second round of symposium meetings in early 2027 and connect with regional colleagues attending Free4Cs and/or CCCC in April 2027.
We’re grateful to everyone helping make space for these conversations, and we look forward to imagining our future(s) together.
If you have questions or would like to be involved in the organizing process, please email the Western States Cs Organizing Group <western.states.csorganizing>
Sincerely,
Western States Organizing Team
Jennifer Burke Reifman (San Diego State University)
Ana Castellon (UC Davis)
Angela Clark-Oates (Sacramento State University)
Kimberly Drake (Scripps College)
Angela M Laflen (Sacramento State University)
Casey Manogue (UC Davis)
Olivia McMurray (UC Davis)
Joy Ok (UC Davis)
Sasha Osorio (UC Davis)
Rena Perez (San Jose State University)
Kristi Prins (Cal Poly Pomona)
Lisa Tremain (Cal Poly Humboldt)
Kathryn Tucker (University of Redlands)