Monday, July 9, 2012

Rebecca Taylor Fremo, "Redefining Our Rhetorical Situations," in Dew and Horning, _Untenured Faculty as WPAs_, 2007

Summary: Based on her experiences as a WPA at a smaller, private college, Fremo identifies several ways graduates of larger schools may have to readjust to being a WPA at a small school. Much of the article is specific to her situation, yet has resonances with other works. She discusses, for example, how she must shift her identity rhetorically between contexts and audiences, and appropriates some rhetorical practices from marginalized groups to help her understand what she is doing and how to do it effectively. She draws from African American theory and feminist theory to develop a praxis of soft power--she writes that "WPAs at small schools must learn to develop authority and use that authority to wield influence in a far more collegial way" than their counterparts at larger schools (200). She conceives of herself as a "witness" to the writing program, a "knowledgeable and politically savvy storyteller" who models ways of thinking about writing to senior colleagues and those outside her discipline" (202). She also "pull[s] back from certain acts of truth telling on campus [...] to remake [herself] in the image of [her] colleagues" (203), highlighting commonalities between them and making gentle arguments based on these commonalities. She talks about the pressure to be more of a generalist at a small school and the absence of colleagues such as one might have at a larger school.

Response: As a former WPA at a small school (albeit not a private college such as the one Fremo teaches at), I found many of Fremo's observations to be right on the mark. I remember the WPA at my MA school--a very talented women whom I greatly respected--advising me to use my first year on the job to gather information, and not to change ANYTHING. Soon after being hired, I sat down with the Dean of Instruction to talk about what my goals were. I repeated my advice; he looked baffled, and said, "But Mark, you were *hired* to change things!" This was my first clue that the situation might be different here from what I was used to (both my undergrad and my MA were at Research I schools). And, like Fremo, I found that I was one of the key people colleagues outside of the discipline came to for advice on how to handle writing, and that I was expected to be on committees and make changes I found pretty scary as a brand-new, untenured faculty member. Fremo suggests that schools should prepare graduate students a bit better on the realities of working at smaller schools, and I agree.

Uses: WPA-ing at a small school; rhetoric and the WPA.

No comments:

Post a Comment