CCCC Member Groups

The Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) has a number of Member Groups that hold meetings, sponsor panels and workshops at the Annual Convention, publish newsletters, and carry on other activities within the framework of the organization. CCCC is pleased to recognize such groups, encourages their existence and growth, and provides time, space, and appropriate publicity to foster their effective operation.

Member Groups vary considerably in their size, connection with CCCC, and range of activities. Some are relatively permanent groups governed by leaders and members of CCCC; others are substantially identified with other organizations and choose to meet at the CCCC Convention as a convenience to their members; still others are relatively casual groupings of persons drawn together by interests in common but having little or no governing structure.

CCCC provides the following framework to enable its members to form groups that best meet their specific needs:

Special Interest Groups (SIGs): CCCC continues to support interest groups within existing policies that allow individuals/organizations to request space “as available” at the CCCC Convention to discuss issues related to the profession.

Standing Groups: Standing Groups are membership-driven groups focused around a common interest that supports directly CCCC’s mission and bedrock beliefs. Standing Groups may start as SIGs and apply for Standing Group status. Chairs or co-chairs are elected from the membership rather than appointed. They have organizational status as an ongoing group, provide necessary annual updates to the CCCC leadership and abide by their bylaws. NOTE: The following caucuses, which meet at the CCCC convention, are exempt from the application, reporting, and review parameters required for Standing Groups: Black Caucus, Latinx Caucus, American Indian Caucus, Asian/Asian American Caucus, Queer Caucus, Jewish Caucus, and Arab/Muslim Caucus.

There is no requirement for current SIGs to apply for “Standing Group” status if they do not wish to formalize their relationship to CCCC in this way. They will retain their designation as SIGs.

Current CCCC Standing Groups

1. American Indian Caucus
2. Appalachian Rhetorics and Literacies Standing Group
3. Arab/Muslim Caucus
4. Asian/Asian American Caucus
5. Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning (AEPL)
6. Black Caucus
7. Caucus on Intellectual Property and Composition/Communication Studies
8. Cognition and Writing Standing Group
9. Consortium of Doctoral Programs in Rhetoric and Composition
10. Council for Play and Games Studies
11. Council on Basic Writing
12. Creative Nonfiction Standing Group
13. Creative Writing Standing Group
14. Dual Enrollment Collective
15. Environmental Rhetoric and Advocacy Standing Group
16. Feminist Caucus
17. Global & Non-Western Rhetorics (GNWR) Standing Group
18. Graduate Student Standing Group
19. Independent Writing Departments and Programs Association (IWDPA)
20. International Researchers’ Consortium
21. International Writing Centers Association (IWCA)
22. Jewish Caucus
23. Labor Caucus
24. Latinx Caucus
25. Legal Writing and Rhetoric Standing Group
26. Linguistics, Language, and Writing Group
27. Master’s Degree Consortium of Writing Studies Specialists
28. Medical Rhetoric Standing Group
29. Non-Native English-Speaking Writing Instructors (NNESWIs) Standing Group
30. Online Writing Instruction Standing Group
31. Prison Writing & Pedagogy Collective
32. Queer Caucus
33. Rhetoric and Religious Traditions
34. Second Language Writing Standing Group
35. Senior, Late-Career, and Retired Professionals in Rhet-Comp/Writing Studies Standing Group
36. Sound Studies and Writing Collective
37. Standing Group for Disability Studies
38. Teaching for Transfer Standing Group
39. Transnational Composition Standing Group
40. Undergraduate Research Standing Group
41. Untenured and Alternative-Academic WPA Standing Group
42. Working-Class Culture and Pedagogy Standing Group
43. Writing About Writing Development Group
44. Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Standing Group
45. Writing and STEM Standing Group
46. Writing through the Lifespan Standing Group
47. Writing with Current, Former, and Future Members of the Military

Guidelines for Forming a Member Group

These guidelines are designed to encourage a diversity of member groups present at the CCCC Convention and to avoid creating new groups that duplicate existing efforts. To form a member organization, you must complete the following steps:

Forming Special Interest Groups

1. Check the current listing of organizations (in absence of a currently online listing, please refer to the most recent past CCCC Annual Convention program). If none exists on the topic of your interest, you may propose a new Special Interest Group. You may also wish to review “CCCC Guidelines for Leaders of Membership Groups.”
2. To propose a new Special Interest Group, you must submit a program proposal form for the next CCCC Convention by the published deadline. An official invitation to appear on the CCCC Convention Program is your confirmation that your Special Interest Group proposal was accepted.
3. If your proposal is accepted, please conduct your Special Interest Group in accordance with “CCCC Guidelines for Leaders of Membership Groups.”

Applying for Standing Group Status: Processes and Guidelines

Background

At its November, 2012 meeting, the CCCC Executive Committee approved recommendations

from the Task Force to Review Special Interest Group Guidelines for the creation of Standing

Groups, a new category of membership constituency. Standing Groups are formed from existing groups, typically but not exclusively SIGs,¹ that can demonstrate sustained organizational activity within CCCC for a period of at least five consecutive years, and want to solidify their relationship to the organization. Standing Groups are allotted one designated panel in addition to a business meeting at the Annual Convention, subject to the Program Chair’s approval. Standing Group business meetings are held during the regular slots that the Program Chair designates for those meetings. Standing Group panels are listed in the program and include the names of panelists. Taking part in a Standing Group–sponsored panel or workshop does not count as a speaking role.

It is important to realize that Standing Group status may change the nature of an existing member group:

• It significantly formalizes the group through the provision of a set of bylaws, a membership structure, and a process for the rotation of its leadership.
• It requires the submission of an annual report to the Executive Committee detailing the Standing Group’s activities.
• What are often informal, grass-roots meetings of the SIG or other group will become somewhat more formal business meetings with Standing Group status.

Before considering applying for Standing Group status, existing SIG or other group leaders or coordinators should consult widely across the group’s current membership to discuss whether these will be helpful changes in light of the group’s current purposes and goals.

The following guidelines are designed to help existing groups to develop a successful plan to request Standing Group status. Proposals are read and discussed by the CCCC Officers. Proposals may be rejected for several reasons, including too little documentation of sustained activity, significant overlap with existing groups, or not enough detail in the bylaws or membership structure; or they may be returned for further elaboration or revision. Existing Standing Groups may also be dissolved if there is insufficient evidence of activity documented in the annual reports, or if the group is no longer supporting the mission of the organization or following its bylaws and leadership rotations. In addition to the guidelines, we also provide a sample Standing Group proposal that was judged to be highly successful.

[¹At its meeting in March of 2013, the Executive Committee further clarified eligibility for Standing Group status, from SIGs only to any member group that can demonstrate at least five years of consecutive, organized activity (and meetings at CCCC conferences) involving an appropriate cohort of CCCC members.]

Guidelines for Standing Group Application

1. Criteria: to be eligible to apply for Standing Group status, an existing SIG or other member group must:

• have been organized and regularly meeting at the CCCC convention (and preferably corresponding, meeting, or otherwise engaged between conferences) for at least five consecutive years;
• be able to document activity among a reasonable number of members, which includes activities open to all CCCC members.
• fill a clear need for CCCC members and the organization and explain how it is  aligned with CCCC’s stated mission and bedrock beliefs

If a group has been recently formed and cannot meet the eligibility criteria, it can continue to organize itself (particularly as a SIG), document its activity, and, if desired, apply for Standing Group status when it has achieved sufficient longevity and activity to be eligible.

To this end, a SG application should include:

• a description of the organization
• an explanation of how it fills a clear need for CCCC members and the CCCC as an organization is aligned with CCCC’s stated mission and bedrock beliefs
• a set of bylaws indicating how officers are elected
• a list of members, who must also be members of CCCC (more detailed guidelines and criteria appear below).

In recognition for this level of responsibility to CCCC, each Standing Group will be allotted one designated panel in addition to a business meeting at the CCCC Annual Convention, subject to the Program Chair’s approval. Standing Group panels will be vetted in consultation with the Program Chair. Standing Group business meetings will be held during the regular slots made available for such meetings by the Program Chair.

2. Application requirements: Applications should be carefully conceptualized, detailed, and documented, and include all the required components:

• the name of the proposed Standing Group;
• a description of the current SIG or member group and its purpose(s), and a history of its activities over at least the previous five years (inclusive of five consecutive CCCC conferences);
• a set of explicit bylaws that can serve as a governing document;
• a set of policies related to the election of officers and their rotation; and
• a list of current members (all Standing Group members must be members of CCCC). Sample Successful Standing Group Application (PDF)

3. Application submission: Please submit all applications to cccc@ncte.org with the subject heading “CCCC Standing Group Application.” For a current timeline relative to the deadline for CCCC convention proposals, please visit /cccc/sigs. Currently, we are accepting applications at any time and these will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Standing Groups approved between now and April 2024 will be eligible for a sponsored panel for the 2025 Convention. The deadline to submit an application to be considered for the 2025 CCCC Convention is Wednesday, April 17, 2024 (you will be notified whether or not you have received Standing Group status in time to submit your program proposal).

Guidelines for Leaders of Member Groups

Guidelines for Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

1. If your SIG wishes to reserve a meeting time and room at the CCCC Convention, please notify the CCCC Program Chair about your particular needs at the Convention by completing the Convention Call for Proposals Form available online, identifying yourself as a Special Interest Group.
2. If given meeting space, please mention the Conference on College Composition and Communication in any promotional materials you send out announcing your meeting at the CCCC Convention.
3. SIGs are not allowed to use “CCCC” in the title of any award, policy statement, publication, or grant application sponsored by their membership. When printing any such material, please include a disclaimer, which might read something like this: “The opinions expressed are those of the writers [editors] and do not necessarily reflect the view of CCCC, its officers, or its Executive Committee.
4. If you wish official CCCC sanction of a report/paper/guidelines, etc., intended for publication, please send a copy of the manuscript to the CCCC Chair and to Headquarters at least six weeks before one of the Executive Committee’s scheduled meetings (mid-November and mid-March). Shortly after the meeting, we will notify the Chair of the Executive Committee’s decision.
5. Please consult the CCCC Officers before seeking grants outside CCCC for the work of your group. Grants often create legal obligations in which CCCC and NCTE have an understandable interest.
6. Seek approval-in-principle from the CCCC Officers for any surveys of the CCCC membership or the profession at large if the survey carries the name of CCCC. In responding, the Officers may advise on availability of funds to help in the survey, on technical improvements that might be made, and on access to Headquarters.
7. If your group is interested in publishing a book or monograph, please contact the NCTE Senior Developer or the SWR Editor for preliminary review of the project/idea.

Guidelines for Standing Groups

1. Standing Groups are guaranteed a business meeting slot in the program as well as one sponsored panel (subject to the Program Chair’s approval) at the Convention each year. The Standing Group is asked to submit both a proposal for a business meeting as well as a sponsored panel, if it wishes to hold these, through the regular proposal system (in the “Type of Session/Proposal” section on the proposal form, please check “Special Interest Group/Business Meeting” when submitting a business meeting proposal and “Standing Group Sponsored Panel” when submitting a sponsored panel proposal–in both cases, please indicate the name of the Standing Group somewhere in the submission). In addition, Standing Groups may request to host a sponsored workshop rather than a sponsored panel at the discretion of the Program Chair and as space permits. Standing Groups may request this exception with the understanding that proposers would need to both make the case and provide the proof of a likely audience at the sponsored workshop. Any Standing Group that requests and is granted a workshop must then document sufficient attendance to sustain that request in future years. Please mention the Conference on College Composition and Communication in any promotional materials you send out announcing your meeting at the CCCC Convention.
2. Members of Standing Groups must be members of CCCC. Standing Groups are expected to submit a copy of their bylaws and a brief annual report of their activities (with recommendations for future action) no later than 30 days after the conclusion of the CCCC Convention. The report should be addressed to the CCCC Officers and include a brief status report, including attendance and any other important information concerning (1) their business meeting, (2) other CCCC sponsored activities, such as a sponsored panel, and (3) recommendations/proposals for future action.
3. Recognizing the integral relationship between the contributions of Standing Groups and the mission of CCCC, each Standing Group is allotted one panel in addition to a regular business meeting at each Convention, subject to the Program Chair’s approval.
4. CCCC retains the right to review and approve the use of its name on any award, newsletter, publication, and grant application generated by Standing Groups. Standing Groups can apply to the CCCC Officers to use “CCCC” in their organizational materials. When a Standing Group creates materials that have not been reviewed by CCCC, those materials should include the disclaimer, “The opinions expressed are those of the writers [editors] and do not necessarily reflect the view of CCCC, its officers, or its Executive Committee.”
5. If you wish official CCCC sanction of a report/paper/guidelines, etc., intended for publication, please send a copy of the manuscript to the CCCC Chair and to Headquarters at least six weeks before one of the Executive Committee’s scheduled meetings (mid-November and mid-March). Shortly after the meeting, we will notify the Chair of the Executive Committee’s decision.
6. Please consult the CCCC Officers before seeking grants outside CCCC for the work of your group. Grants often create legal obligations in which CCCC and NCTE have an understandable interest.
7. Seek approval-in-principle from the Officers for any surveys of the CCCC membership or the profession at large if the survey carries the name of CCCC. In responding, the Officers may advise on availability of funds to help in the survey, on technical improvements that might be made, and on access to Headquarters.
8. If your group is interested in publishing a book or monograph, please contact the NCTE Senior Developer or the SWR Editor for preliminary review of the project/idea.