Dear colleagues,
We invite you to submit an abstract for a roundtable at CCCC 2027 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin tentatively titled: “From Probable to Preferable: The Future of First-Year Writing.” If interested, please send a 200-word abstract responding to the call below.
In the spirit of the 2027 CCCC theme “Design Writing Futures,” this roundtable will explore the tension between the institutional pressures affecting First-Year Writing and the pedagogical possibilities that persist within them. We will examine the “dominant trajectories” quietly shaping FYW’s “probable future,” such as institutional demands for career-readiness and the introduction of generative AI tools, which are sometimes in tension with gains we’ve made in other areas including linguistic diversity, equity, and community-grounded learning. As changes in higher education push us to adapt quickly and innovate, this roundtable asks what a “preferable future” can look like and how we can realize it. As Program Chair Donnie Johnson Sackey asserts, “small, everyday decisions … can shift probable futures toward preferable ones, whether in assignment design, program advocacy, or broader commitments to justice and democratic engagement.”
Below are some of the influential forces we’ve been observing, and we welcome contributions that examine these tensions, imagine alternatives to the futures these forces are producing, and reclaim FYW’s purpose as a site of just, critical pedagogy.
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How FYW’s status as a general education requirement shapes student engagement, pedagogical decisions, programmatic development, or other areas
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How the standardization of FYW courses through program outcomes and shared curricula supports and constrains students’ learning experience
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How institutional priorities shape WPAs’ programmatic decision-making and the capacity to sustain an inclusive and equitable FYW program with pedagogical autonomy
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How an institutional reliance on part-time and contingent faculty impacts FYW program coherence, professional development, and student learning
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How WID and writing-in-the-professions models define writing competency in ways that expand or limit FYW’s scope, pedagogical autonomy, or values such as linguistic diversity
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How dominant assessment frameworks shape FYW’s capacity to serve diverse students who bring linguistic, cultural, and rhetorical resources to the classroom
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How institutional expectations for data on student performance shape the scalability and sustainability of alternative assessment practices, responsive curricula, and instructor agency in the FYW classroom
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How generative AI reshapes what “writing” means in FYW and the implications this has for reading, critical thinking, information literacy, linguistic diversity, and more
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How FYW programs are responding to generative AI through policy, assessment redesign, or curricular mandates and the impact on writing instruction
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How institutional definitions of FYW’s purpose support or constrain its capacity for civic, community, and democratic engagement beyond the classroom
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How other forces shaping FYW’s "probable futures" (not addressed above) create possibilities or obstacles for moving toward "preferable" ones
Submissions should include:
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Your name and institutional affiliation
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A 200-word abstract
Submissions should be emailed to Tatum Petrich (petricht) and Jennie Snow (snowj) by May 11th, 2026.
Please note that this roundtable will be conducted in person and on site at the conference. Presenters will be expected to travel to Milwaukee in April 2027. Please submit only if you are able to commit to in-person attendance.
Thank you for your consideration!
Tatum Petrich & Jennie Snow
Montclair State University
Dr. Tatum Petrich (she/her)
Associate Teaching Professor / Director of First-Year Writing
Department of Writing Studies
Schmitt Hall 241A; Ext. 7944