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<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 16pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>Hey, y'all! Good news!</b></span></p>
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<p class="elementToProof" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 16pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>The deadline to submit a proposal for ATTW 2024 has been extended to March 25, 2024!</b></span></p>
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<p class="elementToProof" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>Building Community and Coalitions through Liberatory Pedagogies in Technical Communication</b></span></p>
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<p class="elementToProof"><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The ATTW 2024 conference will take place virtually on June 10-12, 2024.</span></p>
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<p class="elementToProof"><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">As an organization committed to social justice, at a time when Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and anti-racist efforts are under attack
via book bans, anti-critical race theory bills, and through the defunding of public education, ATTW recognizes the impact of
<b>liberatory pedagogical practices</b> that centralize <b>community and coalitions</b>. These concepts, if they are to be realized, require work from all of our community members. In particular, liberatory pedagogical practice asks community members to rethink,
re-envision, and reimagine our roles as educators and scholars. This means interrogating our curricula and reflexively considering how our shared values show up in our programs, as well as acknowledging and addressing the relationality of our work. bell hooks
(1994) pushes us to transgress and resist neoliberal, capitalist ideals of education and instead make liberation a collective educational goal. Further, building strong communities and coalitions requires community members to understand the sociopolitical
nature of our work and seek ways to redress injustices and inequities through advocacy, accountability, and action. All of these factors are important in technical communication classrooms, where we can shape the future of the field through community and coalition
with our students, collaborators, and programs. As hooks (1994) reminds us, the classroom is always, already a communal space (p. 8).</span></p>
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<p class="elementToProof"><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">With these ideals in mind, for this year’s conference, we invite technical communication teachers, scholars, students, researchers, and practitioners
to deeply engage with hooks’ (1994) conceptualizations of transgressive teaching, engaged pedagogy, and education as a liberatory practice, as outlined in Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. We draw together these concepts and interrogate
our justice-oriented approaches to pedagogies and our commitments to community and collective action. hooks (1994) asserts that community is an act of resistance, and collective resistance has led to community building in technical communication studies. Moreover,
Walton, Moore, and Jones (2019) evidence that technical communicators have the agency and skill to innovate forms of community building and coalitions that can lead toward positive change.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Our organization and conference embraced innovation in 2020 and remains online to acknowledge ongoing pandemics, increase accessibility across our field, and reduce
environmental, public health, and financial impacts of location-based academic meetings. However, we aim to continue innovating ways to connect and build the community and coalitions essential to the future of our field. Centralizing accessibility for the
most vulnerable members of our communities and acknowledging the importance of strong coalitions for those at the margins, we seek ways to connect with our students and develop strategies for grasping injustice “at the root” (Davis, 2016). As such, we return
to the root and origin purpose of our association–community and teaching–and we ask:</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">How can we create and sustain community in our technical and professional communication undergraduate and graduate programs and curricula?</span></li><li style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">How can we better support our undergraduate and graduate students–especially those who are marginalized and multiply marginalized–as they enter into our programs, classes,
and academic organizations?</span></li><li style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">In what ways can we center liberatory education as we reimagine our curricula and provide opportunities for students in undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs?</span></li><li style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">What are models of mentorship that centralize care, accountability, and liberation–and what do those look like in practice?</span></li><li style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">How do we identify, define, and develop educational opportunities that are liberatory and/or transgressive in nature? How can we transform pedagogy approaches in technical
and professional communication?</span></li><li style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">What have we learned about DEI and anti-racist initiatives in our field, and how can we protect and support these initiatives in relation to our research, service, and
pedagogy?</span></li><li style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">How do we remain connected both to our students, our communities, and to the needs of technical communication industries?</span></li><li style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">How do we develop technical and professional communication pedagogies and mentoring practices that connect our communities through effective design, user experiences,
writing, and collaboration?</span></li><li style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">What do community and connection mean in contemporary technical and professional communication contexts?</span></li><li style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">How can we build coalitions with and among our students?</span></li></ul>
<p><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">For the 2024 ATTW Virtual Conference, we welcome innovative assignments, frameworks, and concepts that illustrate how technical communication pedagogies can be liberatory
in nature and foster community and coalitions in contemporary contexts. To encourage dialogue and mentoring for and alongside graduate student presenters, we invite proposals for 6-8-minute “lightning talks” that focus on a technical and professional communication
assignment, concept, or framework.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Your brief proposal (approximately 350 words) should:</span></p>
<ul>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">1) state the assignment, concept, or framework that you will introduce;</span></li><li style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">2) explain why that assignment, concept, or framework is relevant to the technical communication community; and</span></li><li style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">3) list 3-4 takeaways that the audience may learn from your presentation.</span></li></ul>
<p class="elementToProof"><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">We strongly encourage collaborative proposals, and will give priority to proposals that include students, contingent faculty, and community or
industry partners.</span></p>
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<p class="elementToProof"><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>Please submit your proposals via email to attwcon@gmail.com by
</b></span><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);"><b>March 25, 2024</b></span><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>.
Acceptances will be sent out by the end of April.</b></span></p>
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<p class="elementToProof"><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Please direct your inquiries to conference co-chairs Josie Walwema, Natasha Jones, and Laura Gonzales (attwcon@gmail.com).</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>References</b></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Davis, A. Y. (2016). Freedom is a constant struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the foundations of a movement. Haymarket Books.</span></p>
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<p class="elementToProof"><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">hooks, b. (1994) Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. Routledge.</span></p>
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<p class="elementToProof"><span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Walton, R., Moore, K. R. & Jones, N. N. (2019). Technical communication after the social justice turn: Building coalitions for action. Routledge.</span></p>
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_______________________________</div>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;" align="left">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Natasha N. Jones, PhD</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Associate Professor, African American & African Studies</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; color: black;">Michigan State University</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; color: black;">President, Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW)</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; color: black; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Pronouns: she/her/hers (<a href="https://lgbt.ucsf.edu/pronounsmatter" title="https://lgbt.ucsf.edu/pronounsmatter" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" data-loopstyle="link">more
information about why pronouns matter</a>)</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; color: black;">Mailing Address:</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; color: black;">Dept of African American & African Studies</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; color: black;">Michigan State University</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; color: black;">N. Kedzie Hall N214</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; color: black;">454 Farm Lane</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif; color: black;">East Lansing, MI 48824</span></p>
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><i>Availability Note</i></b><i><br>
As an academic, I recognize that sometimes it's hard to prevent work from encroaching into other areas of our lives. However, in an effort to protect my personal space, physical wellness, and intellectual energy, I am not always immediately able or available
to respond to emails. As a rule, I am typically away from my email after 6pm Monday through Friday and on weekends. Please note that emails sent outside of these times may not immediately be addressed.
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><i>Land and Labor Acknowledgements</i></b><i><br>
Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg-Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. The university resides on Land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><i>I recognize the foundations of this country as shaped by the enslavement, genocide, and displacement of stolen Black folks, families, and entire communities and our contemporary experiences are inextricable
from the violent impact of colonialism and the TransAtlantic Slave Trade. </i></span></div>
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