Dear Writing Colleagues, Near and Far (with apologies for cross-listing),

Greetings from QUWAC, the writing across the curriculum program at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut, U.S.A., and the Research and Writing Institute, which manages QUWAC's biennial conference on critical thinking and writing. We are contacting you today about an opportunity for you and your colleagues to share your research and experience at our November conference, convening for the 6th time this November 18th and 19th. An updated CFP is attached; the deadline for proposals is Friday, July 29th.

As some of you may already know, ours is a multidisciplinary conference focusing on ways that writing can be used to effectively support student learning and development in their courses, extra-curricular activities, and service learning. In years following a conference, we publish work from the event in Double Helix: A Journal of Critical Thinking and Writing: http://qudoublehelixjournal.org/index.php/dh/index. Double Helix is peer-reviewed and open-access, and represents an excellent publishing opportunity for WAC and WID scholars. The journal is featured on the WAC Clearinghouse family of journals: http://wac.colostate.edu/.​

The following list  indicates some of the disciplines that have presented at our conference:

  *   biology

  *   education

  *   engineering

  *   English​

  *   health sciences

  *   medicine

  *   computer science

  *   geology

  *   neuroscience

nursing

mathematics

sociology

writing/composition and rhetoric​

international business

marketing

philosophy



​Similarly, Double Helix publishes work rooted in many disciplinary traditions and perspectives. Our common denominator is the privileging of writing, both formal and informal, in the development of thinking, communication skills, and the mastery of course concepts.​​​











​For the first time, we are offering special part-time and graduate student rates, which are indicated in the attached CFP. We would be grateful if you would pass this along to colleagues and grad students at your institutions.

​

Please don't hesitate to contact us with your questions, concerns, and​ comments. Information about our past conferences can be found online: https://www.qu.edu/institutes-and-centers/writing-across-the-curriculum/biennial-conference/<https://websitecheck.quinnipiac.edu/canit/urlproxy.php?_q=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucXUuZWR1L2luc3RpdHV0ZXMtYW5kLWNlbnRlcnMvd3JpdGluZy1hY3Jvc3MtdGhlLWN1cnJpY3VsdW0vYmllbm5pYWwtY29uZmVyZW5jZS8%3D&_r=cXVpbm5pcGlhYy1lZHU%3D&_s=cGFwYXNxdWFyZXR0YQ%3D%3D>​



Sincerely yours,



Jeffrey Foy, Ph.D.

QUWAC Director

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Quinnipiac University

[log in to unmask]

203-582-7916



Paul Pasquaretta, Ph.D.

Research and Writing Institute Director

Double Helix Managing Editor

Quinnipiac University

[log in to unmask]

203-582-8509

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-centers/writing-across-the-curriculum

The complete call is featured below and in the attachment:

QUWAC and the Quinnipiac University Learning Commons are pleased to announce a call for presentations:



Creative Connectivity: Thinking, Writing and the

Translation of Information to Understanding



6th Biennial International Critical Thinking and Writing Conference



Friday, November 18th, and Saturday, November 19, 2016

Quinnipiac University, Mt. Carmel Campus



Featuring the Keynote Address



The Meaningful Writing Project: A Site of Creative Connectivity



Michele Eodice, University of Oklahoma

Neal Lerner, Northeastern University

Anne Ellen Geller, St. John's University​



The speakers will be available for consultation on Saturday, November 19th.



Proposals are due Friday, July 29, 2016.



Our Theme: Connectivity in its diverse and expanding forms – technological, institutional, glob- al, social, neurobiological, linguistic, and textual - has a profound effect on the way we process, comprehend and apply what we learn. The exponential growth and complexity of knowledge, along with our virtually unlimited access to it, have en- hanced the need to make meaningful connections between what we know and what we seek to understand. In an educational environment that is increasingly dependent on the ability to forge connections, how are meaningful connections made? By whom and for whom are they made? How is the need for creative connectivity evidenced in the classroom? What role does connectivity play in the achievement of learning outcomes?



Our conference theme, Creative Connectivity, is intended to explore the many ways that writing, as a critical and reflective practice, can be used to support the creation of deep and meaningful connections within and across the range of experiences that contribute to learning: first-year writing, disciplinary seminars, general education requirements, major and minor programs of study, professional internships, and co-curricular activities. We welcome presentations that explore pedagogical approaches to integrating writing in ways that





  *   articulate and witness commonalities and differences across a range of learning experiences

  *   facilitate the application of language to thought, and thought to language

  *   deepen understanding by observing synergies and distinctions among related course concepts

  *   foster inquiry and reflection in ways that broaden knowledge and the opportunity to establish linkages across disciplinary divides

  *   integrate co-curricular and curricular experiences

  *   create new opportunities for faculty-to-faculty, student-to-faculty, and student to-student dialogue

  *   identify and foster connections between student experiences, assignments, and outcomes

  *   recognize and appreciate disciplinary distinctions; collaborate across disciplines, and create new modes of inquiry

  *   connect thinking across a range of academic cultures and social media

  *   bridge academic and professional identities



Proposals can be submitted via email to the Research and Writing Institute director: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>. We welcome individual and group proposals. Panel sessions will be 90 minutes to allow for discussion. Individual presentations will be limited to roughly 20 minutes each.



Please include the following in your proposal:





  *   ​Title of panel or presentation

  *   Information about each presenter, including name, title, institutional affiliation, phone number and email.

  *   500-750 word abstract/session description