On Thursday, February 19, 2026, Write@UGA at the University of Georgia will proudly host this year’s guest speaker event series. The events will take place in person (with other accommodations by request), featuring speakers Dr. Roy Schwartzman and Dr. Kirsti Cole.
Morning Keynote Lecture—Building Sustainable Writing-Enriched Curriculum Programs: Institutional Ethnography as Strategic Tool
Thursday, February 19, 11:30–1:00pm
Sanford Hall Room 313
Drawing on the NC State Campus Writing and Speaking Program’s recent recognition from the Association for Writing Across the Curriculum and the WAC Clearinghouse as 2024 Exemplary Enduring Program, this keynote presents a transferable three-component methodology for understanding institutional contexts and identifying strategic opportunities invisible through traditional assessment.
Afternoon Workshop—Practical Tools to Cultivate Writing for Your Context
Thursday, February 19, 3–4pm
Miller Learning Center, Room 268
Adapting the three-component framework developed at NC State, participants map their own programmatic landscapes to maximize opportunities for enhancing, implementing, and assessing writing in academic disciplines. Participants leave with an initial program analysis plan and data sources to investigate.
Featured Speakers
Dr. Roy Schwartzman is a Professor in the Department of Communication and Co-Director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program at North Carolina State University. He previously directed the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Communication Across the Curriculum program spanning oral, written, and digital communication. Roy earned his Ph.D. in Communication Studies with a concentration in Rhetorical Studies from the University of Iowa, where his dissertation Racial Science, Nazism, and the Genesis of Genocide received the National Communication Association Outstanding Dissertation Award. He completed his M.A. in Communication Studies at the University of Georgia, where he was also an undergraduate in the Honors Program (now the Morehead Honors College), graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with Highest Honors in Philosophy. His research areas include prejudice and propaganda; public argumentation; power dynamics in education; and the communication of science, technology, and medicine. He has published widely and won many research awards in these areas. As a creative writer, Roy’s poetry has garnered several literary awards.
Dr. Kirsti Cole is a professor of English, editor, and writing program leader whose work is dedicated to transforming how communication is taught, researched, and valued in higher education. With more than two decades of experience in rhetoric and composition, feminist theory, and writing program administration, she brings a collaborative, cross-disciplinary approach to strengthening institutional literacy and communication practices. She serves as Professor of English and Co-Director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program (CWSP) at North Carolina State University, where she partners with faculty across disciplines to design writing- and communication-enriched curricula, support inclusive pedagogies, and advance campus-wide initiatives focused on ethical, equitable writing and speaking instruction. Her faculty development work centers on writing across the curriculum (WAC), writing in the disciplines (WID), and sustainable program design.
Dr. Cole’s scholarship reflects a deep commitment to equity, critical pedagogy, and interdisciplinary inquiry. She is co-author of A Faculty Guidebook for Effective Shared Governance and Service in Higher Education (2023) and co-editor of Transformations: Change Work Across Writing Programs, Pedagogies, and Practices (2021), in addition to five other edited collections on feminist leadership, academic labor, and writing program innovation. Her research spans institutional ethnography, the ethics of AI integration in writing, and feminist rhetorics of motherhood. She is a co-author of the AWAC Statement on Artificial Intelligence Writing Tools (2025) and a frequent presenter at national and international conferences on digital rhetoric, feminist theory, and writing program development.
Write@UGA 2026 is generously sponsored by the Department of English, Baines Lecture Fund; Office of Instruction; Georgia Writer’s Hall of Fame; Terry College of Business, Presentation Collaboratory; Willis Center for Writing; and the Department of Philosophy.