Conference on College Composition and Communication

The Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC, often referred to as "Four Cs" or "Cs") is a national professional association of college and university writing instructors in the United States. The CCCC formed in 1949 as a conference of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).^[1][2] CCCC is the largest organization dedicated to writing research, theory, and teaching worldwide.

Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC)

Formation	April 1949
Focus	Teaching, composition, rhetoric, writing
Location	Illinois, United States
Key people	Jennifer Sano-Franchini, 2025 Chair; Kofi J. Adisa, 2025 Program Chair
Website	https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/conv

Publications

The CCCC currently publishes the following journals: College Composition and Communication, College Composition and Communication Online, the Studies in Writing and Rhetoric Series, and FORUM: Issues About Part-Time and Contingent Faculty. Previously, the CCCC also published Bibliography of Composition and Rhetoric, from 1984 to 1999.^[3]

College Composition and Communication (CCC) is a quarterly journal that seeks to promote scholarship, research, and the teaching of writing at the collegiate level. Back issues can be accessed through the CCCC website.^[4] The CCCC also publishes the College Composition and Communication Online (CCC Online) journal, which focuses on Web-based text and digital research,^[5] and their website offers the CCC Online Archive, a tool that can be used to search the CCC.^[6]

The CCCC co-publishes the Studies in Writing and Rhetoric (SWR) book series with WAC Clearinghouse, which focuses on researching the history of teaching and studying writing and rhetoric, as well as highlighting the diversity of the members involved in these communities.^[7]

FORUM: Issues About Part-Time and Contingent Faculty is published twice a year and can be found in CCC and Teaching English in the Two-Year College (TETYC).^[8] Publishing about the realities and perspectives of professionals involved in the field of college composition is the journal's focus.

From 1984 to 1999, the CCCC published Bibliography of Composition and Rhetoric. An archive to its content is linked to by the CCCC website and hosted on ibiblio.^[9]

Conferences

Annual convention

CCCC holds an annual convention, which usually has over 3000 members in attendance.^[10] The location of the convention and convention chair changes from year to year. The convention is primarily made up of scholarly panels, featured speakers, committee meetings, special interest group meetings, and workshops. An additional part of the convention is the Research Network Forum (RNF) -- a round-table venue where novice and experienced researchers gather to present works-in-progress, discuss methodologies, and share possible future projects—which has been called the "unofficial mentoring arm of CCCC."^[11] While Research Network Forum invites all researchers in Composition/Rhetoric/Writing Studies to submit a proposal, the Qualitative Research Network (QRN) focuses only qualitative research.^[12] In addition, the opening meeting of the convention usually features the CCCC Chair's Address, during which the convention chair addresses the entire assembly of participants, often articulating a vision of the field of rhetoric and composition.^[13]

Awards

The convention is also the time when CCCC presents several yearly awards, including the Exemplar Award (which recognizes an individual who has served as an exemplar for the organization), Outstanding Book Award, Outstanding Teaching Award, Richard Braddock Award (for the most outstanding article in CCC), the Stonewall Service Award (which recognizes those who have consistently worked to improve the experiences of sexual and gender minorities within the organization and the profession), the James Berlin Memorial Outstanding Dissertation Award, Chair's Memorial Scholarship (for graduate students presenting at the convention), Writing Program Certificate of Excellence, in addition to several others, including a variety of awards supporting travel to the conference.^[14]

Prior conventions

Date[15][16]	Location	Theme	Program Chair
April 8-12	Baltimore, MD	"‘Computer Love’: Extended Play, B-sides, Remix, Collaboration, and Creativity”	Kofi J. Adisa
April 3-6, 2024	Spokane, WA	"Writing Abundance: Celebrating 75 Years of Conversations about Rhetoric, Composition, Technical Communication, and Literacy"	Jennifer Sano-Franchini
February 15–18, 2023	Chicago, IL	”Doing Hope in Desperate Times”	Frankie Condon
March 9–12, 2022	Scheduled for Chicago, IL but moved online due to Coronavirus	"The Promises and Perils of Higher Education: Our Discipline’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Linguistic Justice"	Staci M. Perryman-Clark
April 7–10, 2021	Scheduled for Spokane, WA but moved online due to Coronavirus	"We Are All Writing Teachers*: Returning to a Common Place"	Holly Hassel
March 25–28, 2020 (Cancelled due to Coronavirus)	Milwaukee, WI	"Considering Our Commonplaces"	Julie Lindquist
March 13–16, 2019	Pittsburgh, PA	"Performance-Rhetoric, Performance-Composition"	Vershawn Ashanti Young
March 14–17, 2018	Kansas City, MO	"Languaging, Laboring, and Transforming"	Asao B. Inoue
March 15–18, 2017	Portland, OR	"Cultivating Capacity, Creating Change"	Carolyn Calhoon-Dillahunt
April 6–9, 2016	Houston, TX	"Writing Strategies for Action"	Linda Adler-Kassner
March 18–21, 2015	Tampa, FL	"Risk and Reward"	Joyce Locke Carter
March 19–22, 2014	Indianapolis, IN	"Open | Source(s), Access, Futures”	Adam Banks
March 13–16, 2013	Las Vegas, NV	"The Public Work of Composition"	Howard Tinberg
March 21–24, 2012	St. Louis, MO	"Writing Gateways"	Chris Anson
April 6–9, 2011	Atlanta, GA	"All Our Relations: Contested Spaces, Contested Knowledge"	Malea Powell
March 17–20, 2010	Louisville, KY	"The Remix: Revisit, Rethink, Revise, Renew"	Gwendolyn D. Pough
March 11–14, 2009	San Francisco, CA	"Making Waves"	Marilyn Valentino
April 2–5, 2008	New Orleans, LA	"Writing Realities, Changing Realities"	Charles Bazerman
March 21–24, 2007	New York, NY	"Representing Identities"	Cheryl Glenn
March 22–25, 2006	Chicago, IL	"Composition in the Center Spaces: Building Community, Culture, Coalitions"	Akua Duku Anokye
March 16–19, 2005	San Francisco, CA	“Opening the Golden Gates: Access, Affirmative Action, and Student Success”	Judith Wootten
March 24–27, 2004	San Antonio, TX	“Making Composition Matter: Students, Citizens, Institutions, Advocacy”	Douglas D. Hesse
March 19–22, 2003	New York, NY	"Rewriting 'Theme for English B': Transforming Possibilities"	Kathleen Blake Yancey
March 20–23, 2002	Chicago, IL	“Connecting the Text and the Street”	Shirley Wilson Logan
March 14–17, 2001	Denver, CO	“Composing Community”	John Lovas
April 12–15, 2000	Minneapolis, MN	“Educating the Imagination: Reimagining Education”	Wendy Bishop
March 24–27, 1999	Atlanta, GA	“Visible Students, Visible Teachers”	Keith Gilyard
April 1–4, 1998	Chicago, IL	“Ideas, Historias y Cuentos: Breaking with Precedent”	Victor Villanueva
March 12–15, 1997	Phoenix, AZ	“Just Teaching, Just Writing: Reflection and Responsibility”	Cynthia Selfe
March 27–30, 1996	Milwaukee, WI	“Transcending Boundaries”	Nell Ann Pickett
March 22–25, 1995	Washington, D.C.	“Literacies, Technologies, Responsibilities”	Lester Faigley
March 16–19, 1994	Nashville, TN	“Common Concerns, Uncommon realities: Teaching, Research, and Scholarship in a Complex World”	Jacqueline Jones Royster
April 1–3, 1993	San Diego, CA	“Twentieth Century Problems, Twenty-First Century Solutions: Issues, Answers, Actions”	Lillian Bridwell-Bowles
March 19–21, 1992	Cincinnati, OH	“Contexts, Communities, and Constraints: Sites of Composing and Communicating”	Anne Ruggles Gere
March 21–23, 1991	Boston, MA	“Times of Trial, Reorientation, Reconstruction: A Fin de Siecle Review/Prophecy”	William W. Cook
March 22–24, 1990	Chicago, IL	“Strengthening Community Through Diversity”	Donald McQuade
March 16–18, 1989	Seattle, WA	“Empowering Students and Ourselves in an Interdependent World”	Jane E. Peterson
March 17–19, 1988	St. Louis, MO	“Language, Self, and Society”	Andrea A. Lunsford
March 19–21, 1987	Atlanta, GA	"The Uses of Literacy: A Writer’s Work In and Out of the Academy”	David Bartholomae
March 13–15, 1986	New Orleans, LA	“Using the Power of Language to Make the Impossible Possible”	Miriam T. Chaplin
March 21–23, 1985	Minneapolis, MN	“Making Connections”	Lee Odell
March 29–31, 1984	New York, NY	“Making Writing the Cornerstone of an Education for Freedom”	Maxine Hairston
March 17–19, 1983	Detroit, MI	“The Writer’s World(s): Achieving Insight and Impact”	Rosentene B. Purnell
March 18–20, 1982	San Francisco, CA	“Serving Our Students, Our Public, and Our Profession”	Donald C. Stewart
March 26–28, 1981	Dallas, TX	“Our Profession: Achieving Perspectives for the 1980s”	James Lee Hill
March 13–15, 1980	Washington, D.C.	“Writing: The Person and the Process”	Lynn Quitman Troyka
April 5–7, 1979	Minneapolis, MN	“Writing: A Cross-Disciplinary Enterprise”	Frank D’Angelo
March 30 – April 1, 1978	Denver, CO	“Excellence in What We Do: Our Attitude Toward Teaching Composition”	William F. Irmscher
March 31 – April 2, 1977	Kansas City, KS	“Two Hundred Plus One: Communicating in the Third American Century”	Vivian I. Davis
March 25–27, 1976	Philadelphia, PA	“What’s Really Basic? A Bicentennial Review of the Basic Issues of English”	Richard Lloyd-Jones
March 13–15, 1975	St. Louis, MO	“Untapped Resources”	Marianna W. Davis
April 4–6, 1974	Anaheim, CA	“Hidden Agendas: What Are We Doing When We Do What We Do?”	Lionel R. Sharp
April 5–7, 1973	New Orleans, LA	“Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities”	Richard L. Larson
March 23–25, 1972	Boston, MA	“Reconsidering Roles: What Are We About?”	James D. Barry
March 25–27, 1971	Cincinnati, OH	“Coming Together—SOS from the Darkling Plain”
March 19–21, 1970	Seattle, WA
April 17–19, 1969	Miami, FL
April 4–6, 1968	Minneapolis, MN
April 6–8, 1967	Louisville, KY
March 24–26, 1966	Denver, CO
April 8–10, 1965	St. Louis, MO
March 25–28, 1964	New York, NY	“Freshman English: Return to Composition”
March 21–24, 1963	Los Angeles, CA	“The Content of the English Course”
April 5–7, 1962	Chicago, IL	"What Is English?"
April 6–8, 1961	Washington, D.C.
March 31 – April 2, 1960	Cincinnati, OH
April 2–4, 1959	San Francisco, CA	"Tenth Annual Meeting"[17]
March 27–29, 1958	Philadelphia, PA
March 21–23, 1957	Chicago, IL
March 22–24, 1956	New York, NY
March 24–26, 1955	Chicago, IL
March 4–6, 1954	St. Louis, MO
March 13–14, 1953	Chicago, IL
March 28–29, 1952	Cleveland, OH
March 30–31, 1951	Chicago, IL
March 24–25, 1950	Chicago, IL
1949

Future conventions

2025 conference

To be held April 9–12, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. The Conference theme shall be "Computer Love: Extended Play, B-sides, Remix, Collaboration, and Creativity," and the Program Chair is Kofi J. Adisa.^[18]

Mission

The CCCC aims to promote inclusivity and diverse perspectives within the field of writing studies.

The organization has the four following aims:

1. sponsoring meetings and publishing scholarly materials for the exchange of knowledge about composition, composition pedagogy, and rhetoric
2. supporting a wide range of research on composition, communication, and rhetoric by individuals of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds^[1]
3. working to enhance the conditions for learning and teaching college composition and to promote professional development
4. acting as an advocate for the advancement of a holistic understanding of language and literacy education^[19]

Position statements

CCCC has published a number of position statements on writing, teaching of writing, and related issues.^[20] Emerging from committees within CCCC, the position statements seek to promote the CCCC goals and encourage best practices in writing pedagogy, language practices, research, literacy, professional development, and working conditions.^[21] Recent statements include:

• CCCC Statement on Recent Violent Crimes against Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders (March 2021)^[22]
• CCCC Statement on Violence at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 (January 2021)^[23]
• CCCC Black Technical and Professional Communication Position Statement with Resource Guide (September 2020)^[24]
• This Ain’t Another Statement! This is a DEMAND for Black Linguistic Justice! (July 2020)^[25]
• Position Statement on CCCC Standards for Ethical Conduct Regarding Sexual Violence, Sexual Harassment, and Workplace Bullying (November 2016, revised March 2020)^[26]

Committees

The permanent CCCC executive committee oversees a number of temporarily constituted special interest committees. These committees are constituted for a 3-year period, after which the executive committee can reconstitute the committee for another term.

Initiatives

The organization sponsors the CCCC Research Initiative, which provides funds to researchers working on datasets collected by the organization and its affiliates. Begun in 2004, the grant has provided means for various research projects, including the "Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy—What We Know, What We Need to Know" project that ran from 2004 to 2007. In addition to providing grant support to individual and collective projects and promoting inter-institutional collaboration, the project is designed to "create a sustained research initiative to advance scholarship in composition and rhetoric".^[27]

CCCC, along with its parent organization, the National Council of Teachers of English, sponsors a number of initiatives on writing, including the National Day on Writing held annually on October 20,^[28] as well as the CCCC Wikipedia Initiative, which focuses on expanding Wikipedia's coverage of topics related to writing research and pedagogy, verifying that article content is based on reliable secondary sources, and revising and editing writing studies to improve their overall quality.^[29]

See also

• Composition studies