Keep Writing Weird: A Call for Eco-Administration and Engaged Writing Programs

Influenced by ecological theories of writing, the author proposes a new model for writing curriculum design and community-based projects. The article provides a project of the Writing Initiative for Service and Engagement at the University of Colorado Boulder as an example of programmatic engagement with a community issue using an ecological methodology

Re-Framing the Argument: Critical Service- Learning and Community-Centered Food Literacy

As a WPA and a service-learning director and practitioner, the author suggests connections between food studies, rhetoric and composition studies, and critical service-learning theory that involve mobilizing students to join in or help lead community efforts surrounding the local, organic food movement, food justice, and food literacy. The study is framed by questions of how composition instructors can create courses around issues related to the global food crisis to embed students in community-centered food literacy initiatives, and, more generally, how practitioners and WPAs can effectively promote and explain community-engaged pedagogies to higher-level administrators who question the value of the practice

Food insecurity on a college campus: prevalence, determinants, and solutions

Students are at risk of food insecurity. We aimed to determine: the prevalence of food insecurity among students; the variables associated with student food insecurity; and appropriate solutions. We collected data from 339 students at a large state university in the western United States between December 2016 and February 2017. We used an anonymous online survey that incorporated the USDA US Six-Item Short Food Security Survey. First, 54% of respondents had been food insecure within the last year. Second, students in receipt of financial aid were significantly more likely to be food insecure. Third, respondents proposed solutions to student food insecurity that included on-campus food assistance programs, education initiatives, and off-campus food assistance programs. Our paper contributes to a growing body of knowledge about the extent and causes of, and solutions to, food insecurity among college students.</p