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The concept of institutional mission is central to contemporary academe, and a worthy topic of study for writing program administrators, writing center directors, and writing faculty. For many colleges, mission serves as a marker of identity and accomplishment. It denotes distinctive institutional history and important traditions of learning and service. Institutional mission also evokes a legacy of scholarship and pedagogy that contemporary administrators and faculty can use to recruit students and steward their programs forward.

Yet such legacy practices can be at odds with the making of new knowledge and contemporary marketplace drivers, such as student recruitment and retention, institutional re-branding, and social change. For WPAs and writing center directors, it can be challenging to reconcile historical practices with contemporary ones like engaged learning, undergraduate research, academic advancement programs, assessment, and student diversity.

A Critical Look at Institutional Mission: A Guide for Writing Program Administrators examines the costs and value of doing such work. Contributors discuss the complications of teaching and administrating within specific institutional cultures. They document the project of working within and against vaunted traditions and compelling exigencies. Reflecting on the restrictions and opportunities they face, these scholars help us understand that our work is rarely ours alone. They underscore the fact that that we work in community with others, for others, and within institutional contexts and imperatives. Contributors include Nicholas Behm, Anita R. Cortez, Dominic DelliCarpini, Anita M. DeRouen, Andrea Rosso Efthymiou, Lauren Fitzgerald, Kristine Hansen, Jason Hoppe, Joseph Janangelo, Andrew Jeter, Joyce Kinkead, Jeffrey Klausman, Rita Malenczyk, Steve Price, Lauren Rosenberg, and Farrell J. Webb.