Transfer in an Urban Writing Ecology: Reimagining Community College-University Relations in Composition Studies

This book combines student writing, personal reflection, and academic analysis to urge, document, and enact more transfer-conducive writing ecologies. It examines the last century of community college/university relations in composition studies, asserting that community college faculty have long been important but marginalized participants in disciplinary and professional spaces. That marginalization perpetuates class- and race-based inequities in educational outcomes. The book argues that countering such inequities requires reimagining our disciplinary relations, both nationally and locally. It presents findings from research into community college transfer student writing experiences at the University of Utah and narrates the first three years of program development with colleagues at SLCC, discussing the emergent, sometimes unexpected outcomes of our partnerships. The book offers our experiences as an extended case study of how reimagining local disciplinary relations can challenge pervasive academic hierarchies, counter structural inequities, and expand educational opportunities for students.