Research Centers as Change Agents: Reshaping Work in Rhetoric and Writing.

In his 2009 Conference on College Composition and Communication Chairs address, Charles Bazerman called upon our discipline to "assert ourselves as a professional force in the education and policy worlds," move out from under the shadow of English departments, examine other disciplinary models, and face "the fear of stepping up to power" (576, 577). In doing so, he challenged rhetoric and writing scholars to bring our research to wider public audiences and identified "a greater need for publicly persuasive evidence to warrant our practices" (579). Bazerman's address echoes remarks from Andrea Lunsford at the 2008 CCCC convention and from Doug Hesse at the 2008 Hofstra Uni versity "'Who Owns Writing?' Revisited" conference. These three addresses all urged scholars to alter the ethos of the independent professional, connect our interests, and turn research to a public focus.