ABSTRACT
In 1997 College Composition and Communication published the results of a national survey of graduate students in rhetoric and composition, titled “Present Perfect and Future Imperfect” (S. Miller et al.); those results revealed deep concerns held by students about how well graduate training prepares them for their future careers in academia. Since then many graduate programs in rhetoric and composition have been seriously examining their own practices of professionalizing graduate students, practices that potentially involve empowerment and exploitation. One subject of such reflection is writing program administration internships. By writing program administration internships, we mean administrative positions other than grading, teaching, and research assistantships held by graduate students within a writing program. We mean positions that facilitate the running of the program itself: for example, helping to coordinate first-year placement exams or midcareer university-wide writing assessments; serving as assistants to the director of composition; running a writing center, not as tutors but as supervisors and coordinators; working in outreach initiatives with local colleges or high schools on behalf of the university; assisting with the development and/or running of TA-training programs; serving on committees within and beyond the writing program; facilitating innovative projects such as service-learning initiatives and pilot programs involving new technologies; and so on.
