MAWCA

The bio should be no more than 200 words total, including background and personal statement.

In the past, candidates have chosen to represent themselves multiple ways. For example, some candidates choose to focus on their job titles and duties, some focus on their degrees earned, and some discuss (in varying detail) their conference presentations and publications. Some are matter-of-fact about their vision for MAWCA, and others write more passionate appeals. Within the 200-word limit, there is a lot of room for personalizing your bio. However, please follow the formatting guidelines below so that we will have some consistency on the ballot.

Please begin with your name and write about your background in the third person. Also include a “Personal Statement” written in first-person describing your motivation for running for office. Below are two past bios, not necessarily as a model for you to follow, but as an illustration of the format:

SAMPLE A:

Nicole Munday directs the Writing Center and teaches composition at Salisbury University in Salisbury, MD. For the past several years, she has attended conferences and meetings for MAWCA, IWCA, and CCCC, as well as the IWCA Summer Institute for Writing Center Directors and Professionals. Her research focuses on writing center outreach, writing assessment, and ways that writing centers can contribute to a culture of writing on their respective campuses. Her work has been published in the edited collection A Tutor’s Guide and in the Writing Lab Newsletter.

Personal Statement
As an at-large member of the MAWCA Board, I would work to foster communication among members throughout the mid-Atlantic region, from K-12 and two-year college writing centers to those at colleges and universities. To encourage this dialog, I want to build on MAWCA’s past successes with mini-regional meetings and promote professional development and research and other collaborative opportunities for both writing center consultants and administrators.

SAMPLE B:

Jenny Goransson directs the Writing Center, teaches English, and coaches the Slam Poetry Club at West Springfield High School in Springfield, Virginia. She started the Center in 2010, only one of three high school centers in Fairfax County at the time, and since then has worked to assist other area schools to start their own writing centers (now the number of schools with centers has grown to more than fifteen!). She has attended conferences for the IWCA, NCTE, and NCPTW and has served on the planning committee for the Northern Virginia High School Writing Center Tutor Conference for the past three years. Her research and conference presentations have focused on the transformational powers of a high school writing center.

Personal Statement
As an at-large member of the MAWCA Board, I hope to add the K-12 perspective that is not yet present on the board. The creation of K-12 centers is a quickly growing trend nationwide because of their ability to transform the learning climate and social structure of a school, not to mention prepare students for college writing expectations. By serving on the MAWCA board, I hope to promote more communication between college and high school writing centers because we can each learn so much from one another.