Adam Banks, associate professor in the UK Division of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Media, will serve as chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), a professional organization of teachers of writing as well as scholars in rhetoric, composition and literacy studies.

 

The CCCC promotes the teaching and study of college composition and communication. It publishes scholarly materials for the exchange of knowledge about composition, composition pedagogy and rhetoric, and supports a variety of research on composition, communication and rhetoric. The CCCC also serves to enhance the conditions for learning and teaching college composition, and promotes professional development by advocating for language and literacy education both nationally and internationally.

 

The position of chair is a four-year chair rotation. Banks is now assistant chair, responsible for planning the 2014 CCCC Conference; he will become associate chair in December 2013, chair in December 2014 and immediate past chair in December 2015.

 

Banks joined UK’s Division of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Media in 2010, after spending a semester as the Langston Hughes Visiting Professor of English at the University of Kansas. His second book, "Digital Griots: African American Rhetoric in a Multimedia Age," was published in the influential Studies in Writing and Rhetoric series with Southern Illinois University Press last spring.

 

He said he thought his connection with the strong group of faculty within the division at UK, who are all actively working on reshaping writing instruction in innovative ways, was a factor in his election as chair.

 

"My first reaction to being elected chair was one of mild surprise, given that I ran somewhat reluctantly," Banks said. "On a more substantive level, I was gratified that my colleagues saw fit to elect me to leadership, and I see the election as a chance to challenge us all to think differently — and boldly — about the future of writing instruction."

 

Banks said he was very thankful for the support he has found within the division.

 

"My colleagues around the country tell me repeatedly that they see exciting, important work happening at UK," Banks said. "I'm very glad to be a part of the vision that Roxanne Mountford has done so much to shape and colleagues like Beth Connors-Manke, Brian McNely, Steve Alvarez, Jenny and Jeff Rice and others are working to shape and build."

 

For more information about Adam Banks, his publications and projects, click here.