Rebecca Gerdes-McClain

Administrative Statement
Dr. Jerry Stinnett, a former colleague of mine now working as a Writing Program
Administrator (WPA) at Duquesne University, described administrative work in writing
programs as being caught in the middle. When central administration has a problem touching any
of the myriad aspects of First Year Composition (FYC), they look down and see the WPA. When
writing teachers and students encounter problems, they look up and see the WPA. Toiling away
in the middle, collecting the complaints and problems of everyone, is the WPA. This portrait
might sound grim, but Jerry didnt mean it that way. Instead, he was presenting a logistical truth,
capturing the tension of constantly addressing and communicating two sets of needs: the needs of
administration and the needs of teachers and students. The caught-in-the-middle sensation can
be frustrating, but it can also be invigorating. Like a complex research question, administrative
work calls on my all resourcesthe intellectual ability to recognize and name problems as well
as opportunities, the scholarly skills of research and analysis to find and propose solutions, the
tool of writing to document and describe administrative processes in transparent and useful ways,
and interpersonal skills for navigating diverse personalities and tricky situations. Yes, it is
difficult work, but like much difficult work it is deeply rewarding.
In my time as the Senior Assistant to the Directors of First Year Composition at the
University of Oklahoma (OU) Ive helped to run a FYC program with over 75 teachers, serving
nearly 2,000 students. The office oversees a basic writing course, classes for exchange students,
two semesters of freshman composition, a writing for health sciences class, and technical
writing. As a part of our daily operations we staff sections, train teachers, create and distribute
policy, mediate student and teacher complaints, assessment placements, and all the other daily
tasks that facilitate the teaching done under the auspices of this office.
In addition to daily operations, under my tenure as Senior Assistant the FYC program at
OU began piloting a new two-semester sequence. This major overhaul of our curriculum was
supported by a $75,000 Course Innovation Grant through the Center for Teaching Excellence
(with an additional $75,000 for the second year provided we can show significant progress
toward our goals), which allowed us to hire pilot leaders to help develop the new curriculum and
to mentor incoming instructors to teach it, hire a project coordinator, and run assessment. After
piloting each section for two semesters, we will bring the new curriculum live, meaning it will
be taught across all our sections next Fall. In order to meet this deadline, we began looking at
assessment data early this Fall and refining and rewriting the curriculum for the Spring semester.
To prepare our returning instructors to teach the curriculum, next summer we are requiring a
three day training workshop. This translates into a lot of administrative work, much of it
coordinating between different actors: the FYC directors and staff, the pilot teachers and new
teachers, returning instructors, and the central administration who is both supporting and
monitoring our progress. It is not easy work. But the payoffa cutting edge curriculum that
prepares students to transfer the writing knowledge learned in their freshman composition course
across the universityrecasts every hurdle into a mile marker: look how far weve come!
But even as I chug along, celebrating each small victory, I know that the race never ends.
Thats part of the challenge, and the fun, of the administrative work. Even looking ahead and
seeing project after project, it is hard to imagine losing my enthusiasm for work that I believe in
and enjoy. It is a privilege to turn the work of Composition and Rhetoric scholarstheir careful
research on pedagogy, administration, labor, etc.into something tangible that touches both
students and teachers.