Introduction

Dear Reader/Writer/English User,

Welcome to the MnWE Journal! The Minnesota Writing & English (MnWE) Conference started because of a meeting that was too darn short. I have not characterized many other meetings that way. The RSP/ITeach Conference of the 2000’s drew community and state college faculty from throughout Minnesota but mostly from the Minneapolis/St. Paul Metro to Minneapolis Community and Technical College. RSP stood for “Realizing Student Potential” and ITeach sounded quite current (but with no possible debt to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak). The too short meeting was the 45 minutes we English types were allotted for a discipline meeting to discuss the state of English in the state of Minnesota. Richard Jewell said we need more time to talk, so let’s have a conference, and I said “I’ll help,” and here we are 18 years and 16 MnWE Conferences later (MnWE launched in 2009 and took a year off for a pandemic) thanks to the energy and commitment of so many conference participants and members of the organizing committee.

I’m proud we have kept MnWE affordable and friendly. Our hardy regional conference is more about conversation than three presenters in succession putting their heads down and reading papers and then everyone trying to look smart by remembering a point from a half hour ago—though we hope we encourage and prepare people to engage in those more traditional, more formal academic conferences.

We’ve tried our best to expand the talking circle since that discipline meeting in one large classroom at MCTC. We provide a venue for exchange between faculty in different sorts of academic settings: high schools; community colleges, technical colleges, and community and technical colleges; for-profit schools; public and private universities. We invite writers and community members not affiliated with an academic institution to join the discussion. Undergraduates, grad students, part- and full-time faculty (as consequential yet artificial as that distinction can be in the labor we do for learning), and professors in their various ranks may connect through MnWE even if those professional barriers between Writing and English people are less likely to be crossed in other circumstances.

ESOL teachers, Reading instructors, and Librarians have brought their perspectives to the conference. This year at the University of Wisconsin—River Falls (our first venture outside Minnesota), a Counselor, a Professor of Psychological Sciences, and a Sociology graduate student spoke on our plenary panels. 40% of 2025 conference participants were from Wisconsin, and Illinois, Iowa and the Dakotas have also been well-represented over the years. English teachers visiting the University of Regina from Shanghai International Studies University attended our conference, and I count that as a twofer of China and Canada! This year, scholars visiting the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities from Kazakhstan presented in a breakout session.

This MnWE Journal continues and makes an enduring contribution to the lively conversations we enjoy at the conference. Like all things MnWE, it relies on the efforts of conference participants and the people who donate their time to helping MnWE grow into the future. I’m so glad I volunteered. You could, too! We hope you find the MnWE Journal stimulating and consider submitting to new editions and attending or continuing to attend the conference. See you in 2026 at Winona State University.