Literacy Studies Working Group
Spring Quarter 2005 Update

[Please distribute widely]


As you may be aware, we are developing a Literacy Studies Working
Group with the aim of promoting a sense of collaboration among
different disciplinary clusters and their constituents, from the
social and natural sciences to the arts and humanities, medicine,
and law. The Literacy Studies Working Group intends to foster a
critical, cross-campus conversation and investigation into the
nature of literacy, bringing historical, contextual, comparative,
and critical perspectives and modes of understanding together to
stimulate new institutional and intellectual relationships.


We have a rich and exciting agenda for spring quarter, including


VISUAL LITERACY ACROSS THE DISCIPLINES
Thursday April 7, 2005   3:30-5:00
George Wells Knight House, 104 East 15th Avenue
Please let us know if you plan to attend at 688-0265 or
lantz.38@osu.edu



Mark your calendar for

MIKE ROSE
Graduate School of Education, UCLA
Tues., May 17, tentatively 3:30-5:00

Mike Rose is the award-winning author of Possible Lives: The
Promise of Public Education in America (Houghton Mifflin, 1995) and
Lives on the Boundary: The Struggles and Achievements of America’s
Underprepared (Free Press, 1989).

Rose will talk about issues arising from his new book, The Mind
at Work: The Intelligence of American Workers (Viking, 2004)

LITERACY STUDIES Interest & Discussion Groups.

Last quarter we consolidated the list of interests from the survey of
participants in meetings and programs into six interest and discussion groups.

The groups will define their purposes and activities with the support and assistance of the LSWG.

1. History of the Book
Convener: Cynthia Brokaw   brokaw.22@osu.edu

2. Evolution of Literacy
History of literacy; reading, writing, old and new technologies;
postliteracy.
Convener: to be announced. While we wait for a response
from those who indicated willingness to provide initial leadership, we invite
volunteers interested in these topics who might assist in getting
the group
off and running.

3. Domains of Literacy
Institutional literacies and communicative contexts; visual,
aural, social, civic, scientific, and religious.
Convener: E.A. Caldwell caldwell.122@osu.edu

4. Economics of Literacy
Cultural and political contexts; moral and social implications;
human and civil rights.
Convener: to be announced. While we wait for a response
from those
who indicated willingness to provide initial leadership, we invite
volunteers interested in these topics who might assist in getting
the group
off and running.

5. Literacy and Learning
Pedagogy and curriculum; teaching and learning contexts; theories,
expectations, policies, and practices.
Convener: Anne Fields    fields.179@osu.edu
The organizational meeting for the Literacy and Learning discussion group will be Monday, April 4, from 3-4 pm in the conference room in 280 Sullivant Hall in the Education, Human Ecology, Psychology, and Social Work Library. (You'll need to knock on the door to the 280 office suite, but someone will be there to let you in.) Come prepared with ideas and calendars. If you're interested but can't attend, contact Anne Fields.

6. Literacy Processes and Research Methodologies
Connecting research and literacy; neurophysiology; cultural
contexts; research design and methodologies
Convener: to be announced. While we wait for a response from
those who
indicated willingness to provide initial leadership, we invite
volunteers
interested in these topics who might assist in getting the group
off and
running.

If you signified interests, but have not heard from anyone, it may be because the group needs a convener.  We are working to remedy that and would welcome volunteers or recommendations.  Contact Mollie Blackburn blackburn.99@osu.edu or Susan Hanson hanson.94@osu.edu. In the meantime, please feel free to contact the convener of any group that interests you, regardless of whether you indicated that interest or completed the survey.




The Literacy Studies Working Group PLANS for 2005-06 call for initiating

• regular seminars, for example, for graduate student and faculty research;
• programs focusing on key issues and questions in literacy studies and
  practices including multiple literacies and their interrelations, connections between modes of reading and writing, literacies and academic disciplines, "new" literacies and "old" literacies, literacy and everyday life, public policy issues; and
• visits from Ohio-based literacy scholars.
  
  
  

OTHER TOPICS OF SPECIAL IMPORTANCE include:

• The Future of Literacy Studies @ OSU and the Literacy Studies Working Group, including possible organizational forms, university and other support, large and small group activities and public programs, prospects for undergraduate minors and/or graduate interdisciplinary specialization in Literacy Studies
• Literacy Studies information and communications channels and networks,
  electronic and other--for activities, exchanges, course information and syllabuses, news and information
  
  

LITERACY STUDIES @ OSU
The Literacy Studies Working Group is compiling a list of all
literacy-related courses offered at OSU.  If you have taught,
taken, or plan to teach any courses at OSU that address literacy (broadly
conceived),
please reply to hanson.94@osu.edu with the course name, course
number, a brief description, and if possible the syllabus.

We are also compiling a list of literacy-related research projects
and
publications.  If you have conducted or are conducting research
related to
literacy (again, broadly conceived), or if you have published in
the area,
please reply with the title and a brief description of the
research and/or
publication information.

We look forward to seeing you soon.


Subscribers may post messages to literacystudies@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu

Because our current subscribers include faculty, administrators,
and students, as well as colleagues from other institutions, our
hope is that this forum will be used primarily for brief
announcements and informational messages. In other words, since
the messages will not be screened for content (this is not a
managed list), we need to depend on each other for collegial participation.

To add subscribers (or request removal), please contact Susan Hanson at hanson.94@osu.edu.




Literacy Studies Working Group executive committee

Harvey J. Graff, English & History  graff.40@osu.edu
Steve Acker, TELR & Communications/Journalism  acker.1@osu.edu
Terry Barrett, College of Art  barrett.8@osu.edu
Mollie Blackburn, Education  blackburn.99@osu.edu
Marcia Farr, Education & English   farr.18@osu.edu
Anne Fields, Library fields.179@osu.edu
Henry Fields, Dentistry & professional schools liaison  fields.31@osu.edu

Susan Fisher, Biology fisher.14@osu.edu
Kay Bea Jones, Architecture   jones.76@osu.edu
Alan Kalish, Teaching & Learning Center   kalish.3@osu.edu
Beverly Moss, English & CSTW   moss.1@osu.edu
Stephen Pentak, Art pentak.1@osu.edu
Amy Shuman, English & Folklore shuman.1@osu.edu
Lewis Ulman, English & Colleges of Humanities  ulman.1@osu.edu
Mindy Wright, Director, Writing Workshop   wright.7@osu.edu

Friends  

Edward Adelson  adelson.3@osu.edu
Randy Smith smith.70@osu.edu
Chris Zacher zacher.1@osu.edu

Susan Hanson, PhD Candidate, Folklore hanson.94@osu.edu


We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Institute for
Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, the College of
Humanities, and the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences.