Phelps, "Composing Administration as a Writer"

Summary: Phelps discusses what it might mean to use writing as "a primary metaphor or source of administrative strategies."  She explores this idea in some detail. As a professional writer, a WPA might be predisposed to writing to learn and plan; to favor writing for those in the program to accomplish work; to "turn to writing experiences and writing theory for the metaphoric resources [necessary] to conceptualize and talk about administration"; to reflect through writing. Phelps gives and analyzes an extended example from her own time as WPA, pointing out how it reveals her "predisposition to think and act like a writer and to project the metaphors of writing and its theories onto administration." Phelps then lists "modes...for composing administration as a writer": making one's own writing the primary vehicle for administration, hosting a writing-intensive work environment, using writing as a metaphor to conceptualize administration, and writing about (and encouraging others to write about) administration.

Response: I find the idea of how metaphors influence how we see and operate as a powerful one. Related to Burke's terministic screens, this understanding of metaphor means that how we perceive administration (and a writing program, and a college, etc.) is filtered through how we conceive of it. Certainly our actions as an administrator are influenced by the same process. This article spoke to me on its face (I, too, conceive of myself as a writer, and it was interesting to explore how that might influence how I see my writing program and my role as WPA), but also on a more theoretical, generalized level. It suggests not only ways to act, but ways to perceive potential conflict in a program and college. (If I'm thinking of myself as a writer, what does that mean for my interactions with my colleagues and superiors who think of themselves as social scientists, or historians?)

Uses: To make you think! But also as a way to conceive of the WPA.