Department Guide, Bylaws, and Committees

Department Guide 

Our department guide — WRAC Department Guide 2024-2025 (PDF) — is a helpful handbook of department processes, procedures, and policies, and also contains departmental and institutional resources.

Department Bylaws 

The most current version of the WRAC Bylaws can be found here: WRAC Bylaws APPROVED 12-14-24 (PDF). 

Per the bylaws, standing committees of the department include:

  • Bylaws and Elections
  • Appointments and Equal Opportunity (AEO)
  • Academic Hearing Board
  • Equity and Justice
  • Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure (RPT)
  • Program committees:
    • First-Year Writing Advisory Committee (FYWAC)
    • Undergraduate Programs Committee
    • Rhetoric and Writing Graduate Advisory Committee (RWGAC)

Department Advisory Council

Advisory Council

The WRAC Advisory Council (AC) exists to represent the questions and concerns of department faculty.

Members of the 2024-2025 WRAC Advisory Council include:

  • Elected: Arnold, Blythe, Burns, Doan, Fraiberg, Halbritter, Lindquist, Medei, Straayer
  • Grad reps: Oldham Griffith (PhD)
  • Ex officio: Fedewa O’Connor, Potts, VanKooten

WRAC AC meetings are open to the department (unless personnel matters are being discussed).

We invite you to seek out the members listed above if you have any questions or concerns you want to call the AC’s attention to. 

Providing Feedback/Questions
In response to our commitment to transparency and inclusivity, WRAC department meetings are open to all members of our department community. We are also committed to providing space for all department community members to anonymously share questions, concerns, issues, ideas, and feedback. 

Because we recognize that some members may feel less comfortable openly sharing questions or concerns at open hours with the chair and/or admin team or during department meetings and because we recognize that online meetings don’t always provide the best space to do so, we encourage anyone who has questions, concerns, and comments to share them via an anonymous web form.

Please share, with as much detail as you can and feel comfortable sharing, the question, concern, issues, ideas, or feedback you’d like to share and that you’d like addressed either by Dànielle, the WRAC admin team, and/or the Advisory Council  at https://msu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2m03hFAdrYFFejY