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2017 Plenaries &
Keynotes
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Past Keynotes &
Plenaries
Friday
Opening
Plenary, 9:00-10:00 AM
Connecting
Landscapes
through "Ecopreneurship"
and Narrative: A
Call for
Sustainable
Writing Program
Growth
Teresa Henning,
Professor,
English,
Southwest
Minnesota State
University
and Founding
Director of the
Professional
Writing and
Communication
Major
Amanda Bemer,
Associate
Professor,
English,
Southwest
Minnesota State
University
and Current
Director of the
Professional
Writing and
Communication
Major
Kevin Danielson,
Senior
Undergraduate
Southwest
Minnesota State
University
Major in
Professional
Writing and
Communication
Our MnWE Opening
Plenary speakers
make the
optimistic pitch
that even in
times of
austerity and
political
uncertainty,
administrating
an undergraduate
professional
writing major
can be rewarding
if one is
willing to be an
“ecopreneur” who
is “making a
living while
supporting the
health of others
through
selective use of
economic and
sustainable
practices” using
bartering,
rescuing,
reusing,
exchanging,
recycling,
sharing, and
repurposing (Ivanko
2008).
For more
information,
please see the
"Abstracts"
section of the
Program.
Saturday
Plenary,
9:00-10:00 AM
New Territory:
How Concurrent
Enrollment
Connects the
Landscapes of
Secondary and
Post-secondary
English
Adam Lowe, First
Executive
Director of the
National
Alliance of
Concurrent
Enrollment
Partnerships (NACEP),
by Skype
Pakou
Yang, System
Director of P-20
and College
Readiness,
Minnesota State
(formerly MnSCU)
Lisa
Lucas Hurst,
Assistant
Professor,
English,
Liaison SMSU
Concurrent
Enrollment
Program
Southwest
Minnesota State
University
Our Saturday
Plenary
panelists
discuss the
shifting
landscapes of
secondary and
post-secondary
education which
have resulted in
a new
“territory” of
concurrent
enrollment,
where college
courses are
offered in high
school
classrooms,
delivered by
high school
teachers in
collaboration
with college
partners. As
with any new
territory,
questions abound
about concurrent
enrollment.
Teachers of
English and
writing can
especially
benefit from
concurrent
enrollment
partnerships.
For more
information,
please see the
"Abstracts"
section of the
Program.
---
Friday Academic Keynote,
12:00-1:00 pm:
Muriel Thompson, University of Minnesota
"A Journey
through
Educational
Landscapes"
Growing up in a
small town in
South Dakota, I
never envisioned
a career in
education. Most
of my classmates
were content to
graduate from
high school, get
married, and
settle into life
in our farming
community. I
think I was one
of four girls in
our graduating
class who went
on to college.
So, how did this
young girl
become the
director of one
of the National
Writing Project
sites?
Through a series
of timely
events, I have
been fortunate
to journey
through several
educational
landscapes that
led me to this
amazing
position.
Sharing my
journey should
be an incentive
for all to be
open to the
unexpected.
---
Muriel recently
retired as the
Director of the
Minnesota
Writing Project,
which she helped
establish at the
University of
Minnesota in
1990. At the
university she
also
co-coordinated
the
College-in-the-Schools
Composition
Program for
several years.
For over thirty
years, she
taught language
arts at
Burnsville High
school, where
she was actively
involved with
the district’s
curriculum work
and staff
development
programs.
Throughout her
career she has
been actively
involved in
several
educational
organizations
and continues to
be extremely
interested in
encouraging
effective
literacy
instruction.
---
Saturday
Creative Keynote,
12:00-1:00 pm:
Dr. Kirstin
Cronn-Mills,
Award-winning
Novelist,
Nonfiction
Author, and
College
Professor
"Physical,
Mental,
Emotional
Landscapes:
Navigating the
World through
Stories"
Whether it's
through reading
them or writing
them, stories
help us shape
ourselves and
the world around
us. In this
active
conversation
(including
activities,
brief lectures,
and Q&A),
Kirstin Cronn-Mills
will discuss
both teaching
and writing
stories (whether
in prose or in
poetry) about
our physical,
mental, and
emotional
landscapes in
order to better
connect with
students. Given
the diversity of
our K-12 and
college/university
students in the
state of
Minnesota, their
stories may be
very different
from their
teachers'
stories. Story
inclusivity will
serve us all
much better than
story
singularity.
---
Dr. Kirstin
Cronn-Mills has
taught various
English courses
at the college
level for almost
25 years, and is
finishing her
eighteenth year
at South Central
College in North
Mankato. She is
the author of
three novels and
three nonfiction
books for young
adults, several
of which have
been Minnesota
Book Award
finalists.
Kirstin is also
the recipient of
the 2009
Minnesota State
College Student
Association
Excellence in
Teaching Award
and the 2014
Stonewall Award
from the
American Library
Association for
her second
novel,
Beautiful Music
for Ugly
Children.
She grew up in
Nebraska, six
blocks east of
the American
West, but has
lived in
Minnesota for a
quarter-century.
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