Temptaous Mckoy

Dr. Temptaous Mckoy, from Spring Lake, North Carolina, is an Assistant Professor of English with a focus in Technical and Professional Communication, as well as the Coordinator of Graduate Studies, in the Department of Language, Literature, and Cultural Studies at Bowie State University. Her research focuses on redefining the field of technical and professional communication (TPC) and challenging it to be more inclusive of the (in)formal communicative and learning practices as found in Black communities, such as HBCUs. She is an HBCU alum (Elizabeth City State Univ.) and also a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. She obtained her BA in English from Elizabeth City State University ('13); her MA in Professional Communication and Leadership ('15) from Armstrong State University (Now GA Southern at Armstrong); and her PhD in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication from East Carolina University ('19). She is the author of a two-time award-winning dissertation: “Y’all Call It Technical and Professional Communication, We Call It #ForTheCulture” as well. Recently, she served as chair of the CCCC Black Technical and Professional Communication Task Force. Finally, she is the Associate Editor of the Peitho Journal, where she aims to prioritize new titles for review that are published by historically marginalized scholars to leverage Peitho’s platform to take tangible steps toward a more inclusive field of scholarship in the feminist history of rhetoric and composition. Specifically, she believes book reviews can amplify the contributions of historically marginalized scholars in important and impactful ways.

Title: Stayin’ Ready to Be Ready: Pivoting and Amplifying Your Work as a Graduate Student
Date: Wednesday, April 14, 2-4 pm EST
Description: While we have always known it is critical to one’s success that we carve a lane for our work, it has become even more needed to situate our research in its own lane now that we are operating in the virtual space--for what would be traditionally face-to-face conferences. At many of these conferences, connections are made and working relationships are built. Journal editors, department chairs, and general colleagues pull up to hear and meet up-and-coming graduate scholars. However, now that we are in the virtual space as a response to COVID-19, we got a gap on how to continue the amplification of graduate students in and out of virtual conference spaces. Even more so, with the recent response to the Conference on College Composition & Communication having to reduce the conference “by approximately 50 percent to accommodate the financial and logistical constraints of shifting from an in-person Convention to a virtual event,” we are at a space where we must reckon with just how can graduate students ensure their work is heard and amplified throughout their research communities without having to rely on “structural” conference spaces. While I understand the difficult choice CCCC 2021 Program Chair Holly Hassel and event staff have had to make, this still led to a great number of graduate students, especially many BIPOC students, left out from the opportunity to present their work on a larger scale. As I move to echo the call from Watson organizers to be more intentional in our conferencing practices and the work we present, I think we need to have a real talk conversation about how to not rely on the conference space to amplify the work of graduate students. This ain’t to say forget the conference, but we def need to be real in having conversations about stayin’ ready to be ready. Obviously, this is a play on the classic “Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready,” yet I’ve revised the statement to include "be ready" to lighten the labor that getting ready assumes. Furthermore, in being ready, the work is continuous and does not depend on a certain movement or call to action for response. You see, once you done got ready for something, that’s it. But the work must always continue if you are to be ready.

In my workshop, specifically geared to graduate students, I will discuss how graduate students can learn how to pivot and situate their work in their field of study on their own terms. We got all the good books on how to develop job materials and how to prepare for the job talk, but what we need to talk about is doing that work before you even hit the market--being ready. Graduate students will have time to reflect on their own personal goals as scholars and practitioners in addition to highlighting the various tools available to amplify not only their work, but the work of their peers. Rather than continuing to see the conference space as an either/or to graduate student research amplification, the conference space should instead be seen as an “and,” in addition to, when it comes to student research. This presentation will have a heightened focus on supporting the work of students from historically marginalized communities but will offer insight on just how we all can move forward in pivoting and amplifying the work of graduate students.