The University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) is thrilled to welcome the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing (NCPTW) to Omaha October 27-30th, 2022. Since its inception in 1908, the University of Nebraska Omaha has been firmly anchored in the community, forging partnerships with business, education, government, arts, and civic organizations. The conference theme “Writing Center Mavericks” serves as both a play on the UNO mascot and as fitting symbol for writing centers writ large. Consider the definition of maverick. Mavericks are unorthodox or independent thinkers. Mavericks exemplify strength, resilience, curiosity, and entrepreneurism in everyday deeds and collective endeavors. Mavericks challenge status quos, have strong convictions, operate on intuitions, and believe in their visions for the world. At the same time, the term maverick is associated with slavery and the displacement of Mexican and Native American citizens. The conference theme and call for papers invites explorations of this history as writing centers reexamine core beliefs, pedagogies, challenges, and opportunities. The conference will take place on the UNO campus, within walking distance to hotels and restaurants. In addition, attendees can explore the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium, haunted houses, trivia nights, craft beer tours, and the Bellevue Berry Farm. Please join us for NCPTW 2022 in Omaha, NE October 27-30th. #ncptwomaha
The Keynote Speaker for the 2022 conference in Omaha (Oct 27-30) is Dr. Rebecca Hallman Martini. Dr. Hallman Martini is assistant professor of English and writing center director at the University of Georgia. She is the founding editor of The Peer Review, and her research has been published in Praxis, Computers and Composition, Across the Disciplines, and WPA. Dr. Hallman Martini’s Disrupting the Center: A Partnership Approach to Writing Across the University is now available from Utah State University Press https://upcolorado.com/utah-state-university-press/item/4127-disrupting-the-center In this important and timely contribution to writing center scholarship, Hallman Martini argues:
that writing centers in particular can respond to crises of higher education and the disruptive innovations that challenge university practices through their own innovative approaches to writing instruction. We can (and must) find ways to work both within and against a current political climate driven by college administrators who are strongly influenced by a business-model mentality, corporate interests, and post-Fordist values, including privatization, efficiency, cost-cutting, and mass production (7)
Dr. Hallman Martini’s keynote address will focus on peer tutor contributions to cross-disciplinary partnership approaches to writing instruction.
Register and make your travel plans now, so that you can fully engage Dr. Hallman Martini’s maverick explorations of writing center pedagogy. https://www.thencptw.org/omaha2022/