[Njcea] CFP for NEMLA 2010 (Montreal, Apr. 7 - 11)

[Maria L Plochocki]

Colleagues:
 
Please submit your own proposals and/ or encourage anyone who may be interested to do so by Sept. 30 for the following panels:
 

New Directions in Detective Fiction

Long marginalized as either not "literary" or conservatively pandering to bourgeois  or other established interests, the genre of detective fiction has continued to defy doomsayers through its continued evolution, being produced by writers from a variety of backgrounds and likewise being set in a variety of milieux and so problematizing different sets of rules, conventions, and moral and other judgments. But what has been the cost or other outcome of this evolution? Has the genre truly become more inclusive, or has this rather happened through the hegemonization and repackaging of previously excluded authors, like various new voices from Asia, Latin America, and Africa? 

Submissions considering any of the above or related questions are sought. Where, exactly, is detective fiction heading? Is it truly changing to become, contrary to long-accepted accusations, more inclusive and hence less conservative and limited? What do new detective authors, such as those from Asia, Latin America, and Africa, add to the genre?  How are they challenging and modifying whatever "formulae" there may have been all along? Papers in this panel may be case studies applying these questions to particular authors/ works and/ or more general overview of this issue.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************

 Roundtable: Technical/ Professional Writing for Undergraduates

With the increasing complexity of and necessity for writing instruction, both across the curriculum and within the disciplines, the familiar complaint of poor student writing skills and preparation continues to ring ever truer. The more writing is necessary, important, useful/ relevant, the poorer students seem to become at it. Nowhere does  this seem more applicable than at technical institutions, such as those offering primarily engineering, scientific, and related curricula and degrees; a close second are various "professional" programs, most notably business. Yet, again, it is in such disciplines that student writing skills seem not only the most lacking, but also the most resisted, both by students who often question the need for good writing skills and instruction and faculty teaching such courses who, while they may complain of such a lack of skill, also seem unable or unwilling to facilitate amelioration, esp. if it is to come at the expense of instructional time in "more important" subjects, like their own. 

This roundtable solicits proposals on successful, productive approaches to teaching technical and/ or professional writing as a major requirement, an elective, a useful-but-not-required course, or any combination thereof. What works? What is to be avoided? How to prepare and meet such a challenge? What about support from colleagues and administrators (or lack thereof)? Standards/ assessment? Rationale before students and not necessarily supportive faculty?

 

Submit proposals as MS Word attachments (250 - 500 words, with contact information) by Sept. 30 to mplochocki at ubalt.edu or by mail at the below address. Please note that NEMLA prohibits presenting as part of more than one panel, but this limit does not apply to roundtables.

Thanks,

 
Dr. Maria L. Plochocki
               (plo-hots-kee)
Lecturer
School of Communications Design
University of Baltimore
1420 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
Campus Address: 
10 W. Preston St. (LAP Building), Rm. 109
Tel.: (410) 837 - 5203