I am a doctoral candidate researching volunteer preparation in literacy organizations. My dissertation titled “Preparing Literacy Volunteers in a Service Learning and a Community Literacy Training Program:  Historicizing Literacy Campaigns, Volunteers, and Schools” is a comparative case study of two literacy organizations’ approaches to volunteer preparation.

I see several connections between literacy volunteer preparation and composition studies and writing program administration. In each of these areas, pedagogy and teacher training are essential, however, there are different emphases on these components of literacy instruction. The role of dialogue in pedagogy and teacher preparation is one intriguing variation I have noticed across different literacy organizations and in conversations in composition studies and writing program administration. I am interested in the continuities and differences across these domains. I therefore see my research, teaching, and service work and interrelated.