Focus on English Composition

The Macmillan Learning imprint Bedford/St. Martin’s has announced this week that 10 graduate students have been selected to serve on the 2019 Bedford New Scholars advsory board, which guides the publisher on issues relative to English composition for educators.

In its announcement, Macmillan Learning says, “The Bedford New Scholars are a critical part of the broader education community that teaches composition courses to students, helping them develop the skills and abilities that will lay the foundation for every other course they take. A recent study by the Association of American Colleges and Universities found that many of the skills taught in composition–including written communication, decision making, and analytical reasoning–were cited by more than three-quarters of hiring managers and company executives as a top skill for college graduates.”

While trade industry specialists may not have spotted this program as yet, it has been up and running since 2008, and is focused on its original mission, functioning as “an additional way for Bedford/St. Martin’s to understand teaching challenges and new research and practice in the field from promising graduate students.”

Personnel chosen to be seated on the panel each year not only give advice and guidance to the editorial team at the publishing house but also create actual assignments in an attempt to engage students in writing. Such assignments are devised to focus on issues being encountered by composition teachers.

In a prepared statement issued on Tuesday (June 18), Edwin Hill, Macmillan Learning’s vice-president for humanities, is quoted, saying, “Bedford/St. Martin’s has long understood that composition is a critical part of the holistic development of students’ writing skills and workplace success.

“Our continued investment in this space and partnership with this community underscores the importance of this coursework to a student’s future and we look forward to learning from the Bedford Scholars.”

The 10 graduate students selected meet during the year at Macmillan’s offices as well as at conferences and in focus groups. And while they’re offering their experience and input on the needs of the publisher, they’re also getting insights into how publishing works–which can mean the program begins to function as many of our publishing fellowships do, helping to attract talent to the industry.

2019 Bedford New Scholars

• Shannon Butts, a PhD candidate in English with a concentration in rhetoric and writing studies at the University of Florida. Butts teaches courses on digital rhetoric, remix writing, augmented reality, multimodal composition, public writing, professional communication, technofeminism, and first-year writing.
• Joshua Chase, a PhD candidate in the rhetoric, theory, and culture program at Michigan Technological University. Chase serves as the composition program coordinator and teaches courses in composition, literature, and technical writing.
• Nina Feng, a PhD candidate in English with an emphasis in writing and rhetoric studies at the University of Utah. Feng teaches intermediate writing, writing in the social sciences, and “Write4U,” a course for transfer students.
• Misty Fuller, a PhD candidate in English with a concentration in rhetoric and composition at Louisiana State University. Fuller currently teaches first-year composition courses and was previously nominated for the Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award and served as a member of reader and assignment committees for first-year writing courses at the University of North Florida.
• Leah Beth Johnston, a PhD candidate in English with a concentration in rhetoric and composition at the University of Arkansas. Johnston’s research focuses on first-year composition administration and marginal rhetorics, and her dissertation is a book that explores the intersection of the two.
• Caitlin Martin, a PhD candidate studying composition and rhetoric at Miami University, where she also serves as a graduate assistant director of the Howe Center for Writing Excellence. Martin has taught courses in composition theory and business writing in addition to face-to-face and online first-year composition and advanced writing courses.
• Marissa McKinley, an assistant teaching professor of English at Quinnipiac University who earned her PhD in English with a concentration in composition and TESOL at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). McKinley will teach classes in first-year writing and research writing and will assist with the revision of the writing program.
• Salena Parker, a PhD candidate in rhetoric with a concentration in world literature at Texas Woman’s University. Parker teaches composition levels I and II and serves as an English professor at Collin College. She previously taught college readiness writing, an introduction to humanitie course, and ESL abroad.
• Karen Tellez-Trujillo, a PhD candidate in English with a concentration in Rhetoric and Professional Communication at New Mexico State University. Tellez-Trujillo teaches rhetoric and composition, business and professional communication, technical and scientific communication, and the rhetoric of the horror story–and also serves as a writing program coordinator and writing program mentor.
• Carrie Wilson, an MA candidate in English at Appalachian State University. Wilson has taught introduction to writing across the curriculum and expository writing.

Of additional interest to some in specialized areas of the composition field, Macmillan is also carrying a call for papers for the Third HBCU Symposium on Rhetoric and Composition, “Re-Imagining the African-American Canon for Teaching Composition at HBCUs,” set for Morehouse College in Atlanta, September 26 to 28. More information is here.

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