Writing, Programs, and Administration at Arizona State University: The First Hundred Years (Ryan Skinnell) -- 2011

INTRODUCTION

a historical case study of writing instruction (1)

...this dissertation considers changes in the place of writing instruction in the institution's curriculum in relation to four major movements in American higher education during the period under consideration:

• the normal school movement, 
• the standardization and accreditation movement, 
• the "university-status movement," 
• the research and tenure movement (1)

This study looks at writing instruction at a single institution over an extended period of time and attempts to place the conversation taking place in a broad historical context. (2)

...this study argues that the place of writing instruction in ASU's curriculum has, at various times and for various reasons, been shaped as much by national movements in higher education--and administrators' responses to those movements--as other factors, such as rhetorical theory and English department politics. (2)

...I argue that the influences I describe as affecting writing instruction at ASU actually had important affects at post-secondary institutions across the country and markedly shaped many writing programs and classes that currently exist. (5)

I am interested in understanding the intellectual and administrative structures that sustained writing instruction at ASU over time and shaped how it was manifested. Additionally, I consider how the structures that shaped and sustained writing at ASU might be understood in relation to conditions and developments at other institutions, in the discipline of rhetoric and composition, and in American culture beyond the academy. (13)

I ask the following questions:

1. In what ways did local, regional, and national developments in higher education impact writing instruction at different times in Arizona State University's history? 
2. In what ways did the development of Arizona State University from normal school to teachers' college to regional college to nationally-ranked research university impact theories and practices of writing instruction and program administration at the school? 
3. And how has the place of writing, programs, and administration at Arizona State University shaped and been shaped by the field of rhetoric and composition? 

CHAPTER 2: LOCAL HISTORIES: METHODS AND MADNESS

I rely heavily on archival and oral historiographical methods...in an attempt to understand and describe some of the important ways in which writing instruction at ASU has been similar to and different from composition instruction at other schools in other places across the country. (19)

Specifically, I adopt a local history lens and an administrative focus to look at the relationship of institutional conditions at ASU, as shaped and affected by developments in higher education more generally. (19)

Composition historians recognize that diverse factors, including geography, size, institutional mission, student body, funding, and local politics have historically affected how writing was taught at a given school (21).

Great FRAMING Quote:

Running through virtually all local histories is a common assumption--one that informs this study--that a complex, nuanced history which includes and values multiple sites of composition history is a positive goal. (22)

...the more nuanced the history of composition is, the more valuable it becomes to modern composition scholars hoping to better understand the historical circumstances which have conditioned how composition historians, writing teachers, writing program administrators, and composition students function within the academy. (22)

Three kinds of histories (from Historical Studies of Writing Program Administration):

1. inquires into the ideological/pedagogical theories and practices of composition
2. more localized inquiries into the classroom practices of individual teachers
3. administrative histories "locates the writing program within the larger institutional context that so often explains their formation" (xix)

Because of the focus on larger institutional contexts, an administrative lens is well-suited to looking at the local history of a given institution, adding contextual breadth to geographic depth. It enables researchers to consider important contextual influences, such as local and national politics or intercollegiate antagonisms, which are often overlooked in other types of histories. (23)

The challenge of an administrative history, then, is to attempt to do justice to individuals, groups, local conditions, institutions, theoretical developments, national and international movements, and a host of other factors. (23-24)

An administrative lens enables shifts of focus in ways that pedagogically or theoretically focused lenses do not. Hence, an administrative lens entails studying writing programs, and administration in broader terms than prior histories have sometimes done. (24)

In the context of composition histories, an administrative focus offers a further advantage by enabling researchers to consider the institutional structures that shaped the conditions of writing instruction. (24)