Call for Proposals Cutoff: May 31st 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Conference Date: April 14 – 17th, 2027 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Our Panel Theme–Design WAW Writing Futures

Overview: 

What does it mean to “navigate material precarity, limited autonomy, and shifting mandates” in a world such as ours? We can easily see the effects of technology overload, run-away political polarization, and prejudice in the seats of power. These are often conditions that can discourage people from looking toward the future at all. It can be difficult to imagine a future that is full of hope at times like these, but we can only enter the better futures if we first imagine them (Lazema 2026). Amid the swell of consistently being asked to do more, faster, and with less, and the rising tide of outsourcing our cognitive labor to frictionless systems of effortless ease, it might be easy to lose the thread of what it is to be human. It might be easy to walk, eyes in our phones and head down, into a future we feel we had no hand in making. But we are humans and to be human is to struggle. In fact, it is our defining characteristic that we lean into struggle, produce friction, gain traction, and forge ahead—even on the broken ground of the slippery slope. 

We invite you to submit proposals with a WAW flavor in response to this year’s CCCC theme: Design Writing Futures. The theme Designing Writing Futures asks us to look around and remember where we came from. It asks us to look around and see where we are now and what we have to work with. It demands that we lift up our eyes to envision a future we would want to be part of. Where will your WAW take you?

 Some possible connections inside the expanded idea of “Design Writing Futures” might include:

• What does a Writing Studies-focused pedagogy have to offer in the designing of writing futures?
• What do you see as a contribution to a slow (Arola 2015) WAW?
• What can be transferred from Writing Studies-focused classrooms to the workplace by design? 
• What can Writing Studies-focused contribute to the grave necessity of centering humanity in an increasingly isolating, siloed, and polarized future that seems inevitable?
• What part does designing community play in moving Writing Studies and Writing (writ large) forward into the future?
• What discourse can Social Justice have with designing writing futures through a Writing Studies focus?
• What can Writing Studies-focused pedagogies teach us about our responsibility to partners as we design writing assignments for use outside of our traditional writing classrooms? 
• What possible and preferable futures can WAW design for and toward as we attempt to inscribe/describe complex order onto the face of chaos?
• What does the academic discourse of WAW communities have to say about writing that can contribute to the futures we would like to see?
• What counts in the probable future as effective pedagogical design in WAW?
• What practices, pedagogies, or policies might transfer from WAW that move us toward more humane, equitable futures for writing programs, classrooms, workplaces, and communities? 
• What can the concepts durability, endurance, and resilience invoke in conversation with our current WAW practices?
• What does it mean for WAW if shifting media writes the shape of our future?

Presentation Format:
Traditional Panel with four presenters:

Duration: Each presentation will last 10-13 minutes.

Content: Presentations should focus on the context of Writing about Writing approaches, discussing theoretical and practical implications, methods, and strategies as it applies to our past, present, and future.

Submission Instructions:

Submit your proposal before May 31^st, 2026 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time by email. Please the email to Joseph Robertshaw (jwr0015@uah.edu) with an attached abstract (100-200 words) that includes the following elements:

1. Presenter Information: (on the cover page only)
   • Your name(s)
   • Affiliation(s)
   • Contact information
   • A working title for your presentation

2. Content Details:
   • Working title for your presentation that matches the one on your cover sheet.
   • A statement that:
     1. frames the way you are conceiving of the concepts “future, design, and writing” 
     2. Discusses briefly the theme and how it impacts pedagogical approaches, student learning, faculty roles, or institutional practices
     3. An explanation of how Writing about Writing helps to discuss or provide connections in this concept as you frame it
   • The 100-250 word abstract of your projected paper

3. Innovative Perspective:
   • What contribution(s) do you see your presentation making to the discourse of the design of writing futures.

Evaluation Criteria:

• Alignment with Theme: Proposals should align with the focus of how your own Writing About Writing pedagogies and practices help you join or sustain the conversation with this WAW community.
• Innovativeness: Original insights into the kinds of futures that WAW makes possible in educational settings.
• Practical Impact: The potential of the proposed approach to significantly influence teaching practices and learning outcomes.

PLEASE: format your submission for blind peer review limiting all personally identifying information to the cover sheet only.

Additional Resources

• Contacts: Joseph Robertshaw (jwr0015@uah.edu), Ryan Roderick (roderickr@husson.edu) Rebecca Babcock (babcock_r@utpb.edu), Maria Assif (maria.assif@utoronto.ca), or Samuel Stinson (msamuel.stinson@minotstateu.edu)
• CCCC2027 Conference Information 

References:

Arola, K. L. (2015, March). Slow composition: An Indigenous approach to things (and multimodal composition) [Presentation]. Conference on College Composition and Communication, Tampa, FL, United States. https://wrdblog.org/recap-professor-kristin-l-arolas-talk-on-composition-and-american-indian-rhetorics/ 

Lezama, P. (2026, March 6). Imagination Under Constraint: The Futures we Are Permitted To Imagine. Retrieved from Academe Blog: https://academeblog.org/2026/03/06/imagination-under-constraint-the-futures-we-are-permitted-to-imagine/