Re: Professionalism -Reply

["Writing Consulting: Faculty Resources" <writingc@falcon.cc.ukans.edu>]

On Mon, 7 Jul 1997, Sara Kimball wrote:

> er, Kelly and Jeanne.  Maybe this is arguing from self-interest, but
> although I'd agree that WC administration and writing program
> administration are genuinely professional fields and merit thoughtful
> preparation, I'd like to think they're fields that should remain open to
> people who more or less fall into them, whether through a press gang or
> sort of like Alice falling down the rabbit hole (more my experience).
> Academic administrators are, in many cases, faculty members who may not
> have started out to be admins.  I suppose we can all think of bad admins
> who got into administration because they couldn't do scholarship and/or
> teaching, but some of the best admins I know (and I've been lucky enough
> to know some fine ones here) have been people who were also good teachers
> and/or scholars.  Perhaps it's because they retain a sense of the
> priorities, or perhaps it's because they can use what they've learned in
> their disciplines or in the classroom in running things.
> 
> Sara Kimball
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, 7 Jul 1997, Kelly Lowe wrote:
> 
> > I would like to Echo some of Jeanne's thoughts.  I've always thought
> > of "professional," at least in a crude way, as something that you had
> > to go to school for.  For instance, although there are very few
> > programs that offer a degree specifically in program administration,
> > I was able to carve one out during my doctoral program with little
> > difficulty.  And while there are folks with specialized degree
> > programs in areas that I could probably claim some minimal amount of
> > mastery (Technical writing and ESL come to mind), I wouldn't claim to
> > be a professional in their fields.
> > 
> > One way to look at the professionalization question is to look at the
> > academic preparation of new members of the field, and the requirements
> > that various institutions are asking newly hired writing center
> > directors to have.  In WPA circles, there is a clear demarcation of
> > first and second generation administrators -- those from literature
> > who were press-ganged into running a program (and kinda liked it),
> > vs. those who specifically trained not only for rhet/comp, but for
> > administration (a relativly recent phenomina, I think).
> > 
> > Anyway, those are some tired thoughts on a tired Monday.
> > 
> > Cheers;
> > 
> > Kelly Lowe
> > Director of Writing Programs
> > Mount Union College
> > Alliance, OH 44601
> > 330/823.3153
> > lowekf@muc.edu
> > "In a world ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile." --Hunter
> > Thompson
> > 
> > 
> 
> 

Seems like we have a discourse community issue here.  To what extent does
"local culture" determine the need for and acceptance of professionalism? 
To what extent should it?  And isn't it possible to be denied professional
status within one community--the workplace, say--while maintaining it
among peers--through "professional" activities and scholarship, let's say?
 
Pat McQueeney
Writing Consulting:  Faculty Resources
KU's Writing Across the Curriculum Service
(913) 864-4232
http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~writingc/index.html