Teaching English in the Two-Year College and College EnglishSymposium“Equity and Material Conditions in Access-Intensive College English Programs”I feel like what we do and who we are is overlooked.

—Jason C. Evans, 2023 TYCA Conference Chair's Address

The perception that the work occurring in two-year colleges and reports of it in TETYC are relevant only to those spaces means that the new knowledge the journal offers can be overlooked, even when it clearly contributes to a larger disciplinary conversation. 

—Holly Hassel, Mark Reynolds, Jeff Sommers and Howard Tinberg, “Editorial Perspectives on Teaching English in the Two-Year College,” p. 332 

In an effort to shine a light on the work of English studies faculty teaching at access-intensive two- and four-year institutions, the editors of Teaching English in the Two-Year College (TETYC) and College English (CE) will co-edit and publish a series of symposia over the next three years. These symposia are designed to address significant challenges facing students, faculty, research, and academic programs in the field. To reach the widest possible audience, each symposium will be published concurrently in both journals. 

Faculty working at two-year colleges and open- or access-intensive institutions comprise the majority of college English instructors and work with the most diverse student populations in higher education. We believe these faculty, courses, and programs should be central to our disciplinary conversations about access, equity, and justice in college English studies. We hope these symposia will provide our readers with opportunities to learn from the experiences, perspectives, and research of English faculty at two-year and other access-intensive institutions as we work together to help all students achieve greater civic engagement, social mobility, and personal enrichment. 

The first symposium in this series will address the inequitable educational experiences our students encounter in higher education English classrooms and programs. We intend to publish five short articles (around 2,000 words each) demonstrating what English studies faculty at two-year colleges and access-intensive institutions are doing to address the material inequities our students encounter in higher education English classrooms and programs. Contributors to this first symposium should consider how college English faculty may help to address and mitigate the effects of a number of issues, including

• inequities in teaching and learning, 
• material inequities in campus resources and student support services, 
• cultural and socioeconomic differences, 
• disparities in college preparation, 
• labor issues, and 
• other issues related to equity and access that may be addressed through institutional policy, mentoring, inclusive English studies curricula, fair and equitable assessment practices, or pedagogical approaches that invite individual student perspectives, employ universal design strategies, foster a sense of student belonging, etc.. 

We encourage scholars working in a variety of English studies subdisciplines—composition, literature, creative writing, professional writing, digital media, etc.—to propose articles of 1,500-2,000 words for this symposium. 

Please submit a 500-word proposal (exclusive of references) explaining your proposed article’s topic and approach, as well as the relevance of your topic to the theme for this symposium. Please email proposals to both CollegeEnglishEditors@gmail.com and tetyc.editor@gmail.com. 

We ask that all potential contributors read and commit to following the guidelines offered by both the Anti-Racist Scholarly Reviewing Practices: A Heuristic for Editors, Reviewers, and Authors and the Conference on College Composition and Communication’s Position Statement on Citation Justice in Rhetoric, Composition, and Writing Studies.

Timeline for Publication:

• July 15, 2024: Proposals due
• August 30: Authors informed of editors’ decisions
• September 30: First drafts due to editors
• October 15: Symposium editors’ feedback and instructions to authors
• November 15: Revisions due back to symposium editors for approval and possible follow-up
• January 1: Abstract, bios, permissions, and completed citation checks due to the CE and TETYC editorial teams.
• Symposium published in CE in March 2025 and in TETYC in May 2025.

We welcome your questions about this symposium! Please email us at CollegeEnglishEditors@gmail.com and tetyc.editor@gmail.com.

Works Cited

Evans, Jason C. “Teaching English in the Two-Year College Conference Chair’s Address.” Teaching English in the Two Year College,  vol. 51, no. 1, 2023, pp. 12–16.

Hassel, Holly, Mark Reynolds, Jeff Sommers, and Howard Tinberg. “Editorial Perspectives on Teaching English in the Two-Year College,” Scholarly Editing: History, Performance, special issue of College English, vol. 81, no. 4, 2019, pp. 314–38.