VOICE & POWER:
Resilience, Resistance, & Restoration in Writing
| 2025 Hybrid Conference | Museum of Art History, Santa Cruz & Zoom |
|June 20 in-person & June 21 via Zoom |
| Proposal Submission window | Tuesday, April 1st, 2025- Sunday May 4th, 2025 |
| Final Day for In-Person Registration | Sunday, June 8th |
| Final day for All Registration | Thursday, June 19th |
Call for Papers
The Young Rhetoricians’ Conference (YRC) on college rhetoric and composition–part pedagogical conversation, part convivial retreat–welcomes presentations on teaching college rhetoric and composition. Recent developments in the sociopolitical sphere and in academia call for transformative pedagogical approaches. We are teaching at a time geopolitical turmoil, ecological crises, the disintegration of academic freedom, and the erosion of personal liberty. Our theme of “reconciliation, restoration, and resistance” envisages pathways we can develop for students in our reading and writing classrooms–both physical and digital–in which writing is an act of power. It offers the power to reconcile the vast inequities that plague our students and the world, the power to resist oppressive establishments, and the power to restore and champion our student’s diverse literacies and linguistic worlds.
We welcome individual papers or panels that directly or indirectly consider how writing instruction can address and celebrate students’ literacies and linguistic worlds.
Paper and panel topics might address themes such as:
- Narrative writing and storytelling as a tool of student empowerment and resilience
- Teaching strategies for times of crisis and personal upheaval
- Linguistic justice in the classroom
- Writing as activism
- How to challenge institutional norms and gatekeeping practices
- Rethinking assessment to embrace diverse rhetorical traditions
- Writing assignments that engage students in civic discourse
- How to use writing in the classroom to amplify marginalized voices
We welcome presentations outside traditional conference formats, including workshops and roundtables, and encourage participation. Participants with disabilities, neurodivergence, chronic illnesses, and other accessibility issues are welcome. Please see the CFP Google Form for information on Covid precautions and to request disability accommodations as we are committed to maintaining the Young Rhetoricians’ Conference as a space with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in mind.
Email us with questions at youngrhetconf@gmail.com
Criteria for Proposals
We invite individual 15-20-minute papers, 30-60-minute workshop presentations, and 60-minute group presentations or roundtable discussions.
- Your proposal should include a title, a description of the presentation (75 words or less), and a summary of the presentation’s relevance to practice (250 words or less).
- We encourage you to engage directly or indirectly with the conference theme.
- We invite full and part-time/contingent faculty as well as graduate students to propose presentations.
Please submit a proposal using this Google Form by Sunday, May 4th. Notifications will be sent via email by Sunday, May 25th
We also rely on volunteer moderators, at any stage of their academic careers, including graduate students, for both onsite and virtual panels. If you are willing to moderate, please fill out the Google Form and check that you are interested in moderating a panel.
Registration Details
| In-Person/Onsite Thursday | Remote-Only Friday |
| Provides access to all in-person talks and activities, including Rhetorician of the Year and Keynote Speaker, at the Museum of Art History on Friday and the full-day of Zoom presentations on Saturday. Complimentary coffee and snacks provided. Final day to register for in-person/onsite is Sunday, June 8th. | Provides access to select presentations streamed on Zoom on Friday, including Rhetorician of the Year and Keynote Speaker, and the full-day of Zoom presentations on Saturday. Final day to register for virtual is Thursday, June 19th. |
*Your institution may offer travel grants, professional development funds, or other opportunities to support your attendance. Please check the dates for your institution and save your registration receipts if you intend to request reimbursement.
*Earn units for participating in YRC! CSU Bakersfield “Open University” is offering post-baccalaureate units for YRC attendees.
About the Young Rhetoricians’ Conference
The Young Rhetoricians’ Conference (YRC) began in 1985 at San Jose State University. From its inception, YRC has been a place for those who teach rhetoric at the university level to share research about teaching rhetoric and techniques for teaching rhetoric. “Young” refers not to the age of the rhetoricians but refers instead to rhetors with a willingness, in the mind, to dance whenever possible. You can learn more about YRC at our website.
Join us for our 40th anniversary, at our celebratory free-to-access conference! This year’s hybrid conference will be held onsite in Santa Cruz, California, as well as remotely over Zoom. We invite you to share your in-progress scholarship on the teaching of rhetoric.
Questions and Contact Information
If you want to learn more about the conference or have questions about proposals, registration, or accessibility, please contact us at any of the following:
| Email: youngrhetconf@gmail.com | Website: youngrhetoriciansconference.com |
| X: @YRhetoriciansC | Instagram: @youngrhetoriciansconference |