Discusses why writing centers are the best "home" for writing across the curriculum. Suggests that writing centers (1) provide a definable space for expertise, with identifiable goals and services; (2) encourage the dialogue between diverse rhetorical communities; and (3) offer a rhetorically neutral ground on which to carry out the program. (RS)

Destabilizes the current construction of writing program administration by both questioning the theoretical constructs inherent in the traditional language writing program administrators use to represent themselves and suggesting a more ethically sound conceptual frame. Suggests an expanded way for understanding the remarkable opportunity…

Details the facts of power for administrators or writing programs. Discusses positions of power within writing programs; enemies of writing programs; wielding power in relation to the writing staff, the English department, and the administration; and how to become of aware of the power relationships and to use this power for the good of the…

Describes briefly the proposal to change the writing program universitywide at Western Illinois University. Draws conclusions about the rhetorical situation of the writing program administrator in his or her attempts to substantively rename and predicate what educators do and thus to redefine the discipline. (MG)

Discusses the role of writing center directors and teachers in the university setting. Discusses how to explain these roles to department chairs and deans to counter persistent misconceptions and to present a fuller picture of the work done in writing centers than statistics alone can offer. (MG)

Proposes a model for writing program administrators to use to assess the effectiveness of composition programs. Argues the need to consider local conditions, evaluate the internal coherence of programs, and consider the external relevance of programs. Describes how using this model led the Writing Center at Northern Arizona University to make…

Argues that the writing program administrator's role of developing and maintaining a program that embodies and tests theoretical principles is a scholarly activity and should be recognized as such. Claims that the traditional disciplinary view restricting scholarship to written publication must be broadened. (RS)

Considers relations between the official pedagogy of the writing program that the author administers and his administrative practices, to come to terms with the hidden curriculum of his situation. Argues for a shift from thinking about administration as masterful organization and implementation to conceiving of it as relational and receptive, a…