Committee on Diversity (March 2009)

Chair: Joyce Irene Middleton, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC

CCCC's commitment to diversity and the teaching of writing is easily demonstrated by decades of scholarly work-professional conferences, institute meetings, publications, syllabi, and teaching philosophies. This significant body of work by many CCCC members and representative institutions should be formally collected, organized, and analyzed by a new CCCC Committee on Diversity. This committee is charged to promote and support ongoing dialogues about diversity and difference in all aspects of teaching, graduate study, professional hiring and development, and research on rhetoric, writing, and communication. This committee has a particular but not exclusive charge to address the concerns and problems of racial diversity in the rhetoric and composition community, given the small numbers of people of color in our organization and on college faculties nationwide.

The committee would begin by deciding on a plan of action to carry out its charge. Initial activities could include providing information for the CCCC Committees webpage, with links to a broad range of web-based sources, e.g., current bibliographies and book reviews, and creating online forums on issues of diversity and difference in our discipline. After this initial work has begun, the committee might explore the feasibility of publishing a small newsletter featuring current scholarship on diversity, difference, and the teaching of writing (similar to the newsletter, Forum). Other possible activities for the Committee on Diversity include the following:

To poll the membership regarding the effectiveness of CCCC in meeting the needs of our many different constituents, as defined by race, ethnicity, gender, disabilities, and sexual orientation
To explore opportunities for interdisciplinary research on diversity-related issues
To promote the hiring and retention of faculty of color and the recruiting of graduate students of color in composition and rhetoric
To conduct surveys of the membership that better identify the organization's level of diversity, including members' rank and institutional affiliation
To explore studies that examine the rhetoric of whiteness in our discipline
To help develop a web site with curricular materials and bibliographies on diversity in the 1st year curriculum and beyond
    *Practical resources about teaching writing in diversity-rich
     environments
    *Links to books about diversity and writing
    *Links to diversity-rich syllabi
    *A mentor-type column that addresses issues of diversity
    *Short excerpts from members about how diversity shapes their
     teaching and their identities as teacher-scholars (testimonials)
To combine efforts with other NCTE/CCCC committees where possible to improve efficiency*