About

History: The Writing Innovation or WI Symposium began through a campus collaboration that included Marquette's First-Year English Program, the Social Innovation Initiative, and the University Libraries. From the start, this regional event has brought together writing educators from across the country who wish to share concrete, innovative ideas about writing education, including classroom pedagogy, curriculum development, assessment, co- and extra-curricular programming, and related research.

Leadership: At the close of the inaugural symposium, participants formed a cross-institutional steering committee, which has collaboratively undertaken subsequent programming efforts. The
current Steering Committee is anchored by Jenn Fishman (Marquette U), Jennifer Kontny (Mount
Mary U), Patrick Thomas (Dayton U), and Darci Thoune (UW-La Crosse) with Kelsey Otero
(Marquette U). Additional members include Jenna Green (Marquette U), Tara Baillargeon (MarquetteU), Lilly Campbell (Marquette U), Virginia Crank (UW-La Crosse), Jackielee Derks (Marquette U), Maxwell Gray (Marquette U), Sara Heaser (UW-La Crosse), Lara Karpenko (Carroll U), Kat O’Meara (St. Norbert C), and Shevaun Watson (UW-Milwaukee).

Sponsorship: Write It Out, the 2023 Writing Innovation Symposium, is hosted by Marquette’s Social Innovation Initiative and University Libraries. It is sponsored by Mount Mary University and
Bedford/St Martin’s.

Location: We are pleased to invite both first-time and returning participants to Milwaukee. Although the vagaries of local February weather discourage formal site visits, we encourage symposium participants to get to know the city and the state through the Marquette University Libraries, the Digital Scholarship Lab, and some of our innovation hubs.