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Feb. 13, 2004

Composition Conference Held at ULM

The University of Louisiana at Monroe hosted The Louisiana Association for College Composition's (LACC) annual conference this past week, February 13-14. The conference's purpose is to provide both professors and graduate students with an open forum to discuss writing and teaching, and how to apply ideas and techniques in the classroom.

This year, Dr. Art Young, Campbell Chair in Technical Communication and professor of English at Clemson University, served as the plenary speaker for the conference. Young spoke on the importance of communication among students studying literature. "Writing conversationally with one another outside of the classroom allows students to learn how to think like scholars, while still learning the basics of criticism and comprehension," Young said. In his speech, he presented methods of teaching that offer students the opportunity to share ideas outside of the classroom. He has published several books on the subject, and, in 1989, founded Clemson's Communication-Across-the-Curriculum program.

The conference also offered a full schedule for those interested, including presentations by several ULM professors, as well as professors from Louisiana Tech, Northwestern State, and other universities throughout Louisiana. The presentations focused on teaching methods and the rising importance that technology plays in education. Also offered were readings of original fiction from ULM graduate students. "This offers a new perspective on writing and how to appreciate good writing," said Casey Evans, graduate student in English. "It's a great atmosphere for sharing new ideas."

Jessica Flowers, vice president and program chair for LACC, along with ULM Professor Robert Earl Barham, played a large part in bringing both the conference and Young to ULM. "Their hard work really made this possible," said Dr. Jeff Galle, head of the Department of English at ULM. "This has really been a great success."

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