CLC News
New Peer-Reviewed Journal on Literacy, ‘The Sandbox,’ Launched by U of A’s Brown Chair
The Community Literacies Collaboratory, the signature program of the university’s Brown Chair in English Literacy, today launches the publication of its new scholarly peer-reviewed digital journal, The Sandbox: Short Papers, Big Ideas on Literacies and Learning. The journal will be published three times a year — in winter, summer and fall — in both digital and print formats.
Contributions published in The Sandbox, as informed by research, scholarship and pedagogy as the very best of academic journals, also diverges to make scholarly perspectives accessible to audiences of both nonacademic and academic literacies stakeholders through short critical essays on timely issues in the world of literacy advocacy and studies, linguistic and disability justice, education and policy. The journal invites everyone from undergraduate and graduate students and faculty, to librarians, parents, activists, organizers and policymakers, to see the journal as a platform where they might make visible their passions, concerns, hopes and dreams about literacy and learning today.
Brown Chair’s Community Literacies Collaboratory Grants $102,259 to Literacy Programs, Research
The Community Literacies Collaboratory, the signature program of the Brown Chair in English Literacy, recently inaugurated its Brown-Chair-funded grant program with awarding $102,259.00 in grant support to Arkansan and national literacy organizations, educators, researchers and advocates, either to create or continue projects that will improve literacy learning and development toward helping all people practice literacies more fluently, richly, productively and joyfully.
Of the total, $83,646 was awarded to literacy organizations and programming, and $18,613 was awarded to support community literacies research projects, including dissertation research as well as research toward article and book-length publications.
The Brown Chair in English Literacy was established in March 2003 with funds given by The Brown Foundation of Houston, Texas, and matching funds from the Walton Family Gift. The Community Literacies Collaboratory was founded in May 2022 by Eric Darnell Pritchard, the Brown Chair in English Literacy and associate professor of English at the U of A.
Brown Chair in English Literacy Celebrates First Anniversary of Community Literacies Collaboratory
This past academic year has been an exciting one for the Brown Chair in English Literacy and its signature program, the Community Literacies Collaboratory, which celebrated its first birthday on May 6. The program was launched one year ago by Eric Darnell Pritchard as founding director. Pritchard holds the Brown Chair in English Literacy and is an associate professor of English.
As the Office of the Brown Chair and Community Literacies Collaboratory conclude this year, Pritchard, the CLC Advisory Board and staff look forward to the coming summer and academic year and all the many opportunities to continue leveraging its many resources to improve literacy in Arkansas and beyond.
National Poetry Month Virtual Events Set for April 14 & 15; Register Now.
April is National Poetry Month, and registration is now open for two virtual events for 2023 National Poetry Month sponsored by the Brown Chair in English Literacy’s signature program, a center called Community Literacies Collaboratory.
Susan Burton, Nationally Acclaimed Advocate for Returning Citizens, to Visit NWA
Susan Burton, nationally acclaimed founder of A New Way of Life Reentry Project, located in Los Angeles, will speak from 6-7:15 p.m. on Monday, April 17, at the Event Center of the Fayetteville Public Library.
Recent Launch of Community Literacies Collaboratory
The Brown Chair in English Literacy Initiative is happy to announce the launch of a new center, the Community Literacies Collaboratory, which took place on May 6. The international virtual event introduced members of the university and the public to different programs that the CLC has already begun offering and will continue to offer in the future.
The event also introduced attendees to the CLC’s website, which explains the organization’s mission: “The Community Literacies Collaboratory (CLC) facilitates and supports a variety of literacy partnerships — ranging from scholarly research and educational and policy initiatives to community programming centered on various aspects of empowerment and advocacy in Arkansas and nationally. The CLC does this work through a vision centered on an ethics of justice, imagination, community accountability and love.”
The Community Literacies Collaboratory defines literacy as a “practice beyond reading and writing, into realms of communication using shared cultural dialects and symbols. This is shown through the clothes we wear and the diversity of community dialects that we honor and embrace.” This definition allows the organization to support a broad spectrum of initiatives, consistent with inclusive, equitable and justice-oriented approaches to literacy learning, development and practices.
U of A’s Brown Chair in English Literacy Sponsors a Workshop with Alexis Pauline Gumbs
The U of A’s Brown Chair in English Literacy invites all community members to attend a virtual workshop with poet Alexis Pauline Gumbs at 5 p.m., Wednesday, April 20. The workshop is hosted by Fayetteville-based Open Mouth Literary Center and sponsored by the Brown Chair in English Literacy. This workshop is free and open to the public.
After a Busy Fall Semester, Brown Chair in English Literacy Initiative Looks Ahead to 2022
Beth Godbee welcoming participants to the first “Contemplative Writing Workshop” meeting on Oct. 5th.
As it concludes a busy fall semester, the Brown Chair in English Literacy Initiative is now looking ahead to an exciting start to 2022.
After co-sponsoring a popular workshop this past summer, “Planning Writing Projects,” led by Beth Godbee, the Brown Chair in English Literacy Initiative and the Fayetteville Public Library collaborated again in October to sponsor a virtual “Contemplative Writing Workshop,” also led by Godbee.
Godbee, who has written for Inside Higher Ed about her decision to leave a tenured position at Marquette University in 2018, now regularly publishes pieces on contemplative writing through her blog at Heart-Head-Hands.com.
Her research focuses upon “social, racial, and environmental justice; power, agency, and rights; and relational communication.”
KJ Rawson to Give Virtual Lecture on Race and Digital Transgender History
The Gender Studies Program at the U of A will host a virtual lecture by KJ Rawson, a renowned author and professor of transgender history at Northeastern University. Rawson’s lecture, titled “Archival Reckonings: Asserting Queer and Trans Power in Information Environments,” will occur at 6 p.m. CST on Tuesday, Sept. 28, via Zoom.
Rawson’s lecture will address racial disparities in existing trans-related historical collections, with a focus on how scholars are currently addressing the overrepresentation of white people and erasure of trans people of color in trans archives.
Rawson is the founder and director of the Digital Transgender Archive, an award-winning online repository of trans-related historical materials. His scholarship lies at the intersections of digital humanities and rhetoric, LGBTQ+, and feminist studies. Focusing on archives as key sites of cultural power, he studies the rhetorical work of queer and transgender archival collections in both brick-and-mortar and digital spaces.
Professor Eric Darnell Pritchard Joins English Department as New Brown Chair in English Literacy
The Department of English welcomes professor Eric Darnell Pritchard as a new member of its faculty and as the new Brown Chair in English Literacy for the University of Arkansas.
The position of Brown Chair was previously held by professor emeritus in English David Jolliffe.
Pritchard received their B.A. in English-Liberal Arts from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, an M.A. in Afro-American Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Ph.D. in English also from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Pritchard comes to the University of Arkansas from the Department of English at the University at Buffalo (SUNY).