Risa P. Gorelick, Ph.D. Co-Chair, Research Network Forum @ risagorelick @ rnfcccc

“OPEN | [SOURCE] CAN

OF WORMS: THE WYOMING RESOLUTION’S

FAILURE TO IMPACT THE

RESEARCH NETWORK

FORUM”Risa P. Gorelick, Ph.D.

Co-Chair, Research Network Forum@risagorelick @rnfcccc

RNF’S ORIGINS Community of inquiry originally founded

in 1986 by Charles Bazerman, Cheryl Geisler, Susan Jarratt, and other composition/rhetoric scholars.

Original intention was to bring current research to the forefront of CCCC:

Stop talking about First-Year Composition and start “legitimizing” the Composition/Rhetoric field by “DOING RESEARCH.”

RNF met for the first time in 1987.

RNF’S MISSION STATEMENT The Research Network Forum (RNF) is

dedicated to mentoring new and established researchers in rhetoric and composition studies. As such, the RNF is presently building on its past traditions of community while embracing new technologies that will allow a continuous conversation to emerge in the service of research excellence.

Current technologies: webpage, #rnfcccc, Facebook Group

Past technologies: Blog, wiki (?), and Vitanza’s “Virtual Tables”

RNF’S WEBPAGE www.researchnetworkforum.org

 RNF ATTENDEES• 1987: Big Name Scholars • Mid-90s: Mix of Big Name

Scholars & Graduate Students

• Post-2000: Introduces Graduate Students to C/R Field

• 2013: Over 90% of Works-in-Progress Presenters Graduate Students

RNF ATTENDEES In 1994, there were approximately 30-40 total

participants (Works-in-Progress Presenters and Discussion Leaders).

In 2013, RNF welcomed 305 participants from 171 institutions, which included 250 Works-in-Progress Presenters and 91 Discussion Leaders.

In 2014, 276 participants from 129 institutions. Over 90 Discussion Leaders.

Discussion Leaders have terminal degrees; some may also present WIPs while being DLs.

WIP Presenters can be grad students, junior faculty, independent scholars, new to the field, and luminaries.

HOW MUCH LABOR RESEARCH IS BROUGHT TO RNF?Originally asked to write book chapter for panelists’ collection:

Statement in Recension: Principles and Standards for the Postsecondary Teaching of Writing for the 21st Century.  Eds. Michael Pemberton, Dayna Goldstein, and Randall McClure.  Parlor Press.

Edited book collection examines 25th anniversary of the Wyoming Resolution on labor conditions of those who teach composition/rhetoric courses in English Departments and Writing Programs.

THE WYOMING CONFERENCE RESOLUTION WHEREAS, the salaries and working conditions of

post-secondary teachers with primary responsibility for the teaching of writing are fundamentally unfair as judged by any reasonable professional standards (e.g., unfair in excessive teaching loads, unreasonably large class sizes, salary inequities, lack of benefits and professional status, and barriers to professional advancement).

AND WHEREAS, as a consequence of these unreasonable working conditions, highly dedicated teachers are often frustrated in their desire to provide students the time and attention which students both deserve and need.

THE WYOMING CONFERENCE RESOLUTION THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Executive

Committee of College Composition and Communication be charged with the following:

1. To formulate, after appropriate consultations with post-secondary teachers of writing, professional standards and expectations for salary levels and working conditions of post-secondary teachers of writing.

2. To establish a procedure for hearing grievances brought by post-secondary teachers of writing--either singly or collectively-- against apparent institutional non-compliance with these standards and expectations.

THE WYOMING CONFERENCE RESOLUTION3. To establish a procedure for acting

upon a finding of non-compliance; specifically, to issue a letter of censure to an individual institution's administration, Board of Regents or Trustees, State legislators (where pertinent), and to publicize the finding to the public-at-large, the educational community in general, and to our membership.

ORIGINAL THOUGHT ON LABOR@RNF Most WIPP are Graduate Students

writing dissertations/theses. Most dissertations get turned into “job

talks” post Ph.D. Most dissertation directors would

caution (or not approve) writing on labor market as no one would expect newly minted Ph.D. to give job talk on the state of labor relations while interviewing for a job. (e.g. too risky)

Proposed RNF Works-in-Progress [WIP] Presentations Dealing with Labor Issues(SUTTON, UNPUBLISHED RNF RESEARCH)

Year Total Research Network Forum Work-in-Progress Abstracts

Number of RNF WIP Abstracts that Deal with Labor Issues

% of RNF WIP Abstracts that Deal with Labor Issues

1998 55 1 1.821999 21 0 02001 74 0 02002 46 1 2.172003 42 1 2.382004 57 2 3.502005 107 3 2.802008 42 2 4.762009 113 5 4.422010 120 5 4.17TOTALS 677 20 2.95

SUTTON’S DEFINITION OF “PUBLICATIONS” Full-fledged Conference Presentations

(post-RNF) Completed Dissertations Published Journal Articles, Book

Chapters, and/or Books (post-RNF) In-House Projects, such as Assessment

Reports on a program or materials designed for Professional Development

EXPLORING THE DATA Of the 677 total number of abstracts from the ten

years Sutton reviewed RNF proposals, only twenty possibly dealt with labor issues which made up 2.95% of the research presented at RNF.

Note: Not everyone who presents a Work-in-Progress (WIP) at RNF always writes an abstract, so there were MORE than 677 WIP Presenters during that 10 year period.

In the mid-90s, some journals published RNF abstracts so there was incentive to get abstract to RNF; then abstracts were “published” on RNF webpage.

Currently abstracts are not published (too many). Archives of RNF Programs available from 2004 – Present at http://risagorelick.wordpress.com/research-network-forum/

VERIFIED RNF PUBLISHED RESEARCH ON LABOR ISSUES Mark Sutton’s own research project on

“Training Programs for Part-Time Composition Faculty: An Exploratory Study,” which was presented at CCCC in 2012 (Stage 1) and 2014 (Stage 2).

SUTTON’S 2014 SESSIONSession Code:  J.17Title:  Conversations on Composition Stu

dies, CCCC, and the Research Network Forum on Composition/Rhetoric: Interrogating the Discipline

Area Cluster:  11-ResearchType of Proposal:  ConcurrentAdd to Planner:  Add Item to PlannerDescription: Participant(s):  •Speaker: Jessica Slentz Case

Western Reserve University - Revisiting the 'CCCC Guidelines for the Ethical Conduct of Research in Composition Studies': A call for renewed ethical guidelines in composition studies post Web 2.0•Speaker: Mark Sutton Kean University, Union, NJ - The Influence of the Research Network Forum on Composition/Rhetoric Scholarship—Stage 2

Location:  JW Marriott, JW Marriott, Room 107, First Floor

Time:  Friday 3/21 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM

VERIFIED RNF PUBLISHED RESEARCH ON LABOR ISSUES Toby Coley’s WIP, “Religious Restraint in

Graduate Student Professionalization,” which was published as a 2010 Rhetoric Review article (Sutton).

Rochelle Rodrigo’s and Chris Vassett’s RNF works-in-progress presentations, according to Sutton, which possibly dealt with labor-related topics, were completed as dissertations (Sutton).

Additionally, Gloria McMillian brought a five year “National Adjunct Writing Faculty Survey (2003 – 2008)” to RNF a number of times and presented on findings at a number of conferences post-RNF (Sutton).

THE PROBLEM: LABOR@RNF RNF is NOT the place where people

come to formally discuss research on labor issues.

Labor issues keep deteriorating. Where is the research on labor issues? Why is RNF not the place where folks

are discussing labor relations?

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS: LABOR@RNF RNF does not have the power to dictate

the current research trends. The RNF Executive Committee could

welcome data-driven labor research to RNF.

RNF has seen scholarship on GTA training; this is not controversial and should continue to be explored.

Graduate students should be cautioned of politics involving this research before embarking on it.

FINAL IDEA RNF Executive Committee could invite

Plenary Speakers to address Data-Driven Labor Issues to open the conversation and start looking at how to make a bigger impact and enact national changes.

WORKS CITEDColey, Toby. “Opening a Dialogue about Religious Restraint in Graduate Professionalization.” Rhetoric Review 29.4 (2010): 395-413.

Robertson, Linda R., Sharon Crowley, and Frank Lentricchia. "The Wyoming Conference Resolution Opposing Unfair Salaries and Working Conditions for Post-Secondary Teachers of Writing." College English Mar 1987 (49): 274-80.)

Sutton, Mark. “The Influence of the Research Network Forum on Composition/Rhetoric Scholarship.”  Sixty-Third Annual Conference on College Composition and Communication.  St. Louis: March 24, 2012.