Karen Uehling, professor emeritus of English, has announced the opening of the Conference on Basic Writing CBW Archives and related history of the organization at the Writing Across the Curriculum Clearinghouse.
The archive was originally created in 2001 as part of a (now nonexistent) website. It was recreated and expanded by Uehling on this new, stable web platform. The work of CBW, still a thriving national organization in 2020, was an integral part of Boise State’s English department.
Charles Guilford, professor emeritus, founded the organization and brought it with him when he came to Boise State in 1981. Guilford was the original chair, followed by Uehling as second chair. Other faculty from the department who worked on the newsletter and kept CBW alive in the 1980s included professors Roy Fox, Susan Hudson, Jay King and Richard Leahy.
In addition, Uehling recently published “A Credited Support Course: Corequisite Writing Course at Boise State University” in Composition Studies. Her essay was part of the “Where We Are Now” section of a special theme issue on corequisite writing courses, guest edited by Boise State English faculty Dawn Shepherd, Samantha Sturman and Heidi Estrem.
Uehling offers a brief history of beginning writing instruction at Boise State since 1980. She describes how the course evolved from a noncredit three-hour refresher/review course into a credit-bearing corequisite course and reflects on what was gained or lost in that transition.