Chairing the C’s is like crossing an ocean that you think you recognize, seas that have been mapped recently and traversed successfully. But these are seas that also hide sea monsters, shifting sometimes-islands, horse latitudes, and other hazards. I know it can be done. I’ve seen others navigate this route, at least 6 of them personally as a member of the Executive Committee and/or Chair’s rotation, along with the many others who came before and who I watched from the audience as they advanced along our organization’s path.

But that’s not the same thing as being handed the rudder.

Beginning Dec 21st, 2015, I began blogging about this position, about the organization, and about my fumbling efforts to keep the ship afloat and moving in the direction we have charted in our strategic planning. Why December 21?  In a quirk that some institutional historian needs to unearth, our bylaws say that while all the other officers of NCTE take office on the last day of the NCTE national convention in November, the CCCC officers don’t take office for 30 days after that. Maybe it’s just to give the old chair 30 days to clean up their affairs before handing the rudder to the new captain?  Or maybe it comes from the early days, when NCTE wanted to establish its leadership before recognizing the new C’s officers?  We may never know.

Who am I?  I’m nobody. I’m just a rhetorician and associate professor who has been a member of the C’s since I was in graduate school.  I served on our Executive Committee for 3 years, then somebody on the nominating committee slipped my name into the ballot in 2013 and you, dear readers, handed me the rudder.  I am now your humble servant.

For your information, chairs serve for 4 years in the following rotation:

1. Assistant Chair. You learn how things work and start panicking about your conference theme.
2. Associate Chair. You run the conference.
3. Chair.  You write reports, chair meetings, and serve on the NCTE Executive committee.
4. Immediate Past Chair. You act as institutional memory for those chairs who are younger and stronger.

I’m committed to openness and transparency. Leave comments here, ask me anything, and I will answer.

Here’s my official CCCC profile at our NCTE Connected Community if you’re interested:    [link]

I’m currently on the faculty at Texas Tech University:  [link]

I’ll be joining the Rhetoric and Writing Department at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, as its new chair, this summer:  [link]

Here’s the YouTube playlist for the Tampa 2015 conference I organized: