The Peer Review, Volume 1, Issue 1, Spring 2017
We are delighted to share with you our inaugural, peer-reviewed issue of The Peer Review! Although later than anticipated, we are confident that you will find the articles in this issue insightful. In addition, we’d like to take this opportunity to share with you some TPR updates:
- New Web Editor, Travis DuBose, has worked hard with assistance from intern Maggie Montalto on creating a new platform for The Peer Review. We hope you will find our new site more accessible and user-friendly. If you have any concerns as you use the site or have suggestions for improvement, send us a message at editorstpr@gmail.com.
- New Managing Editor, Ashley Cerku joined our editorial team. We are thrilled to have Ashley on board, as her organizational skills have immensely improved TPR’s communication and outreach.
- New Special Issue series, with the opportunity for potential co-editors to submit CFPs. As we release Issue 1, we also have three special issues in the works, and another strong CFP set for upcoming release. We are now welcoming CFPs for potential Special Issues of The Peer Review at editorstpr@gmail.com. We’re especially interested in co-edited issues across institutional positions and spaces (i.e., writing center administrators and tutors at a range of universities) and issues that take advantage of the multimodal and multilingual mission of the journal.
In addition, we would like to welcome to our Editorial Review Board the following new members: Scott Whiddon, Timothy Allison, Jenny Burbank, Janice Jung, Carmen M. Meza, Kylie Miller, and Jennifer Kang.
Finally, we would like to acknowledge the work of Sherry Wynn Perdue, a co-editor of TPR whose three year term has come to a close. Her enthusiasm and commitment to TPR was essential in forming the publication.
Perhaps what’s most exciting about this first issue is the wide range of articles we’ve included.
We start with a thorough report about the status of diversity among writing center directors. Sarah Banschbach Valles, Rebecca Day Babcock, and Karen Keaton Jackson bring us challenging evidence of the rather homogenous demographics of writing center directors. Their findings should be carefully considered by students, graduate program admissions committees, search committees, and especially by those who engage in the mentorship of future writing center directors.
Moving from personnel to artifacts, Caitie Leibman and Kaleb Arterburn demonstrate how a writing center handbook shapes staff culture. They encourage readers to engage with difference–both internally and externally–by offering a reflection on their newly revised writing center handbook. This article will especially be of interest to writing center administrators who crave true praxis as Leibman and Arterburn weave theory and practice into their discussion about what worked and what they plan to revise in the future.
Nouf Alshreif continues the conversation about engaging difference by offering strategies drawn from feminist rhetoric and applied linguistics to address the ongoing question of how best to work with multilingual writers. Alshreif’s proposal to utilize invitational rhetoric and politeness strategies may at first feel intuitive; readers may wonder, “don’t I already do similar things in my sessions?” To this, we urge readers to listen closer. As a multilingual writer herself, Alshreif’s argument carries with it a subtext which questions that very assumption–are tutors actually employing these “obvious” strategies in their sessions with multilingual writers?
From multilingual writers, we shift gears to thinking about multiliteracies. In their rich, cross-disciplinary research, Cassandra Book and Michael G. Strawser provide a case study analysis of their writing center and public speaking course collaboration. Specifically, they consider how writing centers can work across mediums and genres, with careful attention to how these new writing situations impact perceptions of tutor roles. Book and Strawser offer valuable strategies for moving writing centers toward multiliteracy center identities.
Making a huge contribution to writing center scholarship and featured in our Emerging Scholars Spotlight are a team of dedicated writing center practitioners: Carla Goldsmith, Michael Barry, Alex Garcia, Natalie Glover, Sanah Handu, Raeanne Heuler, Isabella Mihok, Devon Milley, and Olivia Nix. These recent middle school graduates surveyed their writing center staff and discuss their own experiences. They argue that tutoring in a middle school writing center helps tutors develop academically as writers and build a stronger level of confidence, especially in their exchanges with peers in teachers.
In addition, we have a book review from early career writing center director, Elisabeth Buck, whose analysis of The Working Lives of New Writing Center Directors by Nikki Casell, Jackie Grutsch Mckinney, and Rebecca Jackson enriches the book’s value by writing from the position of a first-year writing center director.
We hope you enjoy Issue 1!
Kelsey Hixson-Bowles
Salt Lake City, Utah
Rebecca Hallman Martini
Salem, Massachusetts
Ashley Cerku
Rochester, Michigan