The Regional Writing Centre (RWC) is hosting a one-day symposium to celebrate its 10th year of operation. The symposium contests the notion that writing well in an academic context necessarily prepares graduates for the writing they will do in workplace contexts. Too often, it is observed that graduates do not assess the new writing situation, but remain reliant on the values, purposes, conventions and forms, etc., of academic writing. Graduates’ sense of authorship and audience can often be completely off the mark of what the corporate context requires. Our symposium wishes to bring academic and industry audiences together to hear and participate in discussions about the differences in their contexts and the impact of that difference and to come away with an understanding of what it is possible for academics to do to best prepare graduates for non-academic contexts, particularly, workplace contexts.
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Tony Donohoe, head of education and social policy, Ibec, Opening and Welcoming Address |
Tony Donohoe is head of education, social and innovation policy in Ibec. Following a career in business journalism, Tony has worked with Ibec for almost 30 years in a number of roles including publications editor and head of research and information services. He took up his current position in 2006. Tony is a graduate of the University of London (BA Hons) and the University of Exeter (MA in Leadership Studies). He is a member of the Higher Education Authority, the Apprenticeship Council, Business Europe Social Affairs Committee and the board of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP). He is also chair of the Expert Group on Future Skills. He has served on the National Economic and Social Council, and on the boards of the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland and the Equality Authority. Ibec is the national voice of Irish business and employers, and is the umbrella body for Ireland’s leading business sector groups and associations. It also provides a wide range of services to over 7,000 member businesses, representing over 70% of total private sector employment in Ireland. |
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Barry McLoughlin, Senior Training Consultant, The Communication Clinic, ‘Writing for Business-not Academia. An analysis of what employers tell us they don’t like about Graduate Writing’ |
Barry joined the Communications Clinic having worked for several years as a Solicitor in private practice. On a daily basis, he delivers courses in Writing Skills, Media Skills, Crisis Communications and Presentation Skills. He has trained staff at all levels in organisations to improve how they present themselves on paper. He has assisted organisations in developing a consistent house style for writing. He regularly meets with graduate recruiters and interviewers to assess what they are looking for in their graduate hires. He works with organisations expecting a crisis or where a crisis situation has been thrust on them. He has worked with Government Ministers, Senior Executives in the private and public sector, media spokespersons and other individuals and groups to improve their communication skills and understanding of the media. He is the main media and communications trainer for members of Ibec, Bank of Ireland and Statestreet. His other clients include the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Department of Arts Culture and the Gaeltacht, Icon PLC, The GAA, Munster Rugby, Fine Gael, Allied Irish Bank, Bayer, The National College of Ireland, UCD Smurfit, The Department of Food and Marine, and Chartered Accountants Ireland. |
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Anthony Paré, Professor and Head at Language and Literacy Education Department, University of British Columbia, A writer for all reasons: Transitions in and out of school |
Anthony Paré is a professor and head of the Department of Language and Literacy Education in the Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia. Before moving to UBC, he worked at McGill University, where he served as Chair of the Department of Integrated Studies in Education, Director of the Centre for the Study and Teaching of Writing, and Editor of the McGill Journal of Education. His research examines academic and workplace writing, situated learning, school-to-work transitions, the development of professional literacies, and doctoral education. He is presently studying the writing of the dissertation, with a particular focus on the supervisory dyad and its role in the rhetorical apprenticeship of doctoral students. |
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Edel Clancy, Director of Communications & Corporate Affairs Musgrave Group, (talk title and bio forthcoming) | |
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Kathleen Blake Yancey, Kellogg W. Hunt Professor of English, Florida State University, How Composers Write across Contexts: Teasing Out Conditions for Transfer |
Kathleen Blake Yancey is Kellogg Hunt Professor of English and Distinguished Research Professor at Florida State University. She has served in several leadership capacities, including as Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) and as President of the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA). Immediate Past Editor of College Composition and Communication, the flagship journal of Writing Studies in the US, she is the author or co-author of over 100 articles and book chapters and an author or editor of 14 scholarly books--most recently Writing Across Contexts: Transfer, Composition, and Sites of Writing (2014); A Rhetoric of Reflection (2016); and Assembling Composition (2017). Currently, she is a sponsor of the online Museum of Everyday Writing <http://museumofeverydaywriting.omeka.net/> and the lead PI for "The Writing Passport Project," a transfer-focused research project based at nine colleges and universities in the US. She is the recipient of several awards, including CCCC's Research Impact Award; two best book awards from the Council of Writing Program Administrators; Purdue University's Distinguished Woman Scholar Award, and Florida State's Graduate Teaching Award, which she has won twice. |
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The symposium will end with an audience/panel discussion. Sitting on the panel will be: Prof. Sarah Moore, AVPA, UL, Tony O’Donohoe, IBEC, Barry McLoughlin , The Communication Clinic; Edel Clancy, Director of Communications & Corporate Affairs Musgrave Group; Anthony Paré, Professor and Head at Language and Literacy Education Department, University of British Columbia; Kathleen Blake Yancey, Kellogg W. Hunt Professor of English, Florida State University.
For an inexpensive option for overnight accommodation, contact: Terri Culligan Reservations Co-Ordinator University of Limerick Conference and Sports Campus Limerick Ireland Tel: +353 61 234178 E-mail: Terri.Culligan@ul.ie www.conference.ul.ie |
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