Dear AAWP Members,
The pressure of time and available energy leads us all to make decisions about what to prioritise and what to leave on the to-do-when-I-have-time list. When attention is focused on a series of complex and important tasks, however, it is easy to lose sight of others, and prioritising well means reassessing what has been relegated to background importance that might need to be brought back nearer to the top of that to-do list.
As an association, the AAWP and its Committee of Management is also under time and available energy pressure. Therefore, at the last annual committee of management meeting, the AAWP Executive made some important decisions. The first of these was that each committee member would take on a portfolio of responsibility and produce a statement defining the role, and a plan for that role into the future, whoever is fulfilling that role. Putting these statements together, the Executive is in the process of producing a three-year forward plan for the AAWP. I believe this will establish clear objectives and targets for the association and assist its Executive in achieving these in a feasible and logical way. The plan is still in process of being finalised, but the portfolios have been defined and staffed as follows:
The scope of these responsibilities will obviously lead many Executive members to have input into multiple portfolios, but we also need ideas and information from the entire membership about ways forward. Therefore, please contact the appropriate officer if you have any useful ideas or information that could help the AAWP develop and flourish.
The outcomes of many of these initiatives (lists of grants and prizes, for instance) will find obvious homes on the new AAWP website. The months since the last conference have seen considerable progress towards the development and implementation of this much-needed website, which will include an online payment system. Watch the newsletter and this message space for news of when these important membership improvements will be launched.
In other Executive news, last month, Andrew Peek, member from the University of Tasmania, resigned from this position. We welcome Marcelle Freiman from Macquarie University, a past member of the Executive, who has agreed to join us for the rest of the year in our work.
In February, Jen Webb and I, together with a number of other AAWP members, attended an RQF Panel 13 Creative and Performing Arts Workshop convened by CHASS in Brisbane. We came away with a significant amount of knowledge and as many questions - if any members want more information, please contact either Jen or myself. On reflection, what most clearly came out of this day for both of us was that Writing must come up with a clear definition/position statement of what research means in our discipline. Many other disciplinary and peak bodies have such statements prepared and available on their websites, and such a statement is essential for arguing our case in this, and future, articulations of the RQF. It can only also be of assistance in seeking grants and other funding, and in a myriad of other contexts.
Could everyone, therefore, please think about this and send me, by email, your thoughts on research in our discipline? I will compile these and circulate the result among the membership and also raise this as a matter for discussion at the next conference.
Speaking of which, everyone is, I hope, planning for our next annual conference in Canberra. Abstracts for the refereed stream are due by 15 June, and for the general stream by 3 August.
I also have good news for all forward planners. The 2008 AAWP conference will be hosted by UTS, Sydney. More details to follow as they are confirmed.
Finally, I will be representing the AAWP at the USA's Council of Writing Programs Administrators (WPA) annual conference in Arizona in July 2007. This trip is very generously sponsored by the WPA, who has provided a travelling grant and are paying all conference fees associated with my attendance. Further assistance is being offered by the AAWP, with the balance paid by myself. This is a real opportunity for our two organisations to make an important connection, and I will report on this trip in the Newsletter, next TEXT and at our next conference.
Sincere best wishes,
Dr Donna Lee Brien
University of New England
dbrien@une.edu.au