Voting will open for current CGC members on March 10th, 2025 and end on March 24th, 2025 at 11:55 pm EST. Individuals with a current CGC membership as of March 9, 2025, will be eligible to vote and on March 10th will receive a unique email invitation with a link to the ballot. The following positions are on the ballot: Members at Large (three positions) and Chair/Co-chairs (one position). Terms are 2 years long and begin on July 1, 2025.
The names, bios, and statements of candidates for the board positions are as follows:
Position: Chair/Co-Chairs (1 opening)
1. Kristina Quynn & Linda Marcri (Co-Chairs)
Kristina Quynn is the founding director of CSU Writes at Colorado State University. As CGC chair (2023-2025), she has enhanced both internal and external board collaborations by establishing the Communications Committee and engaging with such key organizations as CGS and GCC.
Linda Macri directs the graduate writing center at the University of Maryland. As CGC co-chair (2019-2021), she helped finalize the U Michigan Press series. She was local host for the 2023 SI and organizes the CGC chats.
Kristina & Linda’s statement:
“We are committed to the mission of CGC to provide support and development opportunities for those of us who work in graduate student communications—a diverse and dispersed field of scholars, facilitators, and administrators. As co-chairs, we would prioritize several specific goals, including bringing increased attention to the specialized field of graduate communication research and programming; expanding CGC membership; supporting current members with increased opportunities for sharing resources (including through the soon-to-be revamped CGC website) and connecting; and collaborating with associations doing work in similar spheres such as the Council of Graduate Schools and the Graduate Career Consortium. We would bring our previous board experiences (Kristina as chair from 2023-present; Linda as co-chair/immediate past chair from 2019-2022) to assure board sustainability and to expand the resources and research around graduate communication in CGC’s next phases of growth.”
Position: Member-at-Large (3 openings)
1. Ashton Foley-Schramm is the associate director of the Writing Center at the University of Oklahoma. During graduate school, she realized that syndrome, perfectionism, and feelings of isolation are pervasive for many people completing graduate work, especially for those writing dissertations. Ashton is currently working to create a graduate writing certificate program that will not only bring writers together but also highlight the advanced and varied writing skills of graduate students to potential employers.
Ashton’s Statement: “As a board member, I would support CGC’s professionalization opportunities and shared resources. I am interested in the group’s efforts to update the Graduate Communication Bibliographies section of the website, for example. I also have experience with virtual conference planning (and will have experience with in-person conference planning for 2026) through my work as a board member of the South Central Writing Centers Association. I would be interested in representing the CGC on other boards as well. My professional interest is on graduate support provided by writing centers and I would bring this perspective to the many different fields represented by the board.”
2. Nathan Lindbergh has been a CGC member since 2016, presenting at every Summer Institute, and serving as a member-at-large for the last year and a half. Professionally, he is a senior lecturer for the English Language Support Office (ELSO) at Cornell University, teaching communication skills to international graduate and professional students as well as directing ELSE’s Writing & Presenting Tutoring Service.
Nathan’s Statement: “For the past year and a half, I’ve served as a member-at-large and Chair of the Member Support and Development Committee (MSDC). As Chair, I worked with our committee to start our website’s “Connect” menu item, which lists CGC professional communities and details how to join them. Under “Connect”, I started the DIY Mixer page, which I now manage with MSDC member Zoe Speidel. I also continue to work with the other MSDC members to review and award research and travel grants. The CGC community has benefited me enormously by offering advice, resources, and a welcoming community. If re-elected, I hope to continue as the MSDC Chair. I’d like to enhance the CGC community even more by offering additional connection opportunities. I’d like to start a page that connects people conducting research and to find ways to attract new members and invite them into our community.”
3. Zoe Speidel Douglas is a longtime college composition instructor who currently works as the writing specialist at Oregon Health & Science University. As the sole writing specialist, her work supports the academic and professional writing of hundreds of health sciences graduate students across the institution. She loves dogs and mystery novels.
Zoe’s Statement: “I am honored to be nominated for a member-at-large position on the CGC Board. Serving on the CGC’s Member Support and Development Committee has helped me understand the activities and needs of CGC members; the goal of my work on the “Connect” section of the CGC website was to bring members together around areas of interest and need, such as CGC Chats. As a member-at-large, I would like to continue this work by finding ways to provide development opportunities and mentoring for professional, non-PhD-holding members, such as myself. Getting more training in research methods and study design can help us increase the visibility and perceived value of the incredible work we do. To the CGC Board, I bring several years’ experience in institutional service leadership roles, and I look forward to using this experience to further the mission of the CGC.”
Comments are closed.