Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to invite proposals for the Untenured and Alternative-Academic Standing Group Sponsored Panel at CCCC 2026. Our group provides space at the 4Cs conference (a sponsored panel and annual business meeting) for those who have liminal status within and outside of institutions of higher education and who do writing program administrative work (in spite of? in light of?) that very liminality.
This year’s Call for Proposals centers on themes that help us identify the impact and possibilities of conferencing as a community and conversation “loop”. For untenured and alt-ac WPAs, we often face challenges of doing more with less, of solving problems creatively, and struggling to have a voice “in the room,” in contexts where our work is less visible. Conferencing together helps us have a voice: to share ideas, to solve problems, to seek out opportunities, to spark curiosity, to build community, and be inspired.
But this work does not stop at the conference. We take what we learn into our local contexts to strategize and experiment, so now we ask you to “loop back around.” In this call for proposals, we ask you to share your impactful experiences from previous conferencing and what those experiences have allowed you to do in your unique context.
We welcome proposals that explore the following questions:
- What is the previous conference experience (presentation, workshop, conversation) that catalyzed you to action? How did you flex the ideas to fit the needs and/or challenges of your context?
- What have you tried that didn’t work? And then what did you do? Sometimes our most significant growth comes from failure.
- What do you want/need from others to help you continue doing the work? To refine or further inform the work? To situate your work in broader contexts and help it to be acknowledged, seen, and utilized?
- How have you built relationships at another university, academic unit, or with another community that was fueled by your conferencing?
- In what ways has your role as an untenured or alt-ac WPA presented you with opportunities to mobilize your conference experience? And/or how did your untenured or alt-ac WPA status present challenges to implementing the action in your context?
Submission Details:
Please submit a 100-150 word description of your proposed presentation to anlyons by 11:59pm Central Time on Tuesday, May 27th. Please also include your name, title at your institution, and brief bio.
If you have any questions, please reach out. We hope you’ll consider contributing to our sponsored panel at CCCC 2026 and we look forward to reading your submissions!
Sincerely,
Ashley Lyons (Chair)
LewEllyn Hallett (Vice Chair)
Elizabeth Burrows (Secretary)
Kem Roper (Immediate Past Chair)
Ashley Lyons (she/her)
Associate Director, University Writing Program
University of Chicago
Gates-Blake 109
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