Leah Schell-Barber, doctoral candidate in Cultural Foundation, chaired the conference committee for its . She also assisted in developing workshops for Ravenna School District faculty and the establishment of the Winter Writing Festival. Read what Leah has shared with Doctoral Forum below.
"This year, I was the chair for the Northeast Ohio Writing Centers Association (NEOWCA) conference committee. Generally, our conference provides professional development opportunities for writing center faculty, staff, tutors, and administrators in Northeast Ohio. This year, however, we coordinated with the Ravenna School District and Main Street Ravenna to further celebrate writing and collaboration.
Our partnership with the Ravenna School District included developing workshops for Ravenna faculty that focused on potential issues teachers may be facing and how a writing center can provide support; logistic concerns they may have involving the establishment of a writing center within the school district; and ways to sustain, assess, and grow a writing center. These workshops were led by Jeanne Smith from the 5X Writing Commons. Writing Center administrators from KSU – Stark (Jay Sloan), Youngstown State University (Angela Messenger), and Stark State College (me! Leah Schell-Barber) also assisted.
Our partnership with Main Street Ravenna involved the establishment of the Winter Writing Festival. This festival is a celebration of writing of all kinds and features writing workshops, presentations, knowledge building, and a whole lot of fun. Reed Memorial Library and several downtown businesses were asked to host a variety of workshops, bringing writers to area locations. (please note that Justin Barber was incorrectly credited for the events).
Overall, this event was a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to “only” having my dissertation to work on now :) "
NEOWCA 11th Annual Conference was held on February 23, 2019, at Ravenna High School, Ravenna, Ohio.