Joyce Rain Anderson, Seminar Participant

Joyce Rain Anderson (janderson@massasoit.mass.edu) is currently the Writing and World Language Center Coordinator at Massasoit Community College, where she teaches English Composition, American and Ethnic Literatures, and ESL courses. Prior to her appointment, she taught these same courses at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, where she received her B.A. and M.A. in English. Her Master’s thesis, “Weaving Words: Using Storytelling in the Composition Classroom” won the Anne E. Berthoff Award. At the present, she is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of New Hampshire and is completing her dissertation (expected May 2005), which explores a rhetoric of survivance in the early vernacular literacy of Massachusetts Indians. A mixed-blood Anglo/Wampanoag, she has been presenting at CCCC since 1996, when she received the Scholars for the Dream Award. As a founding member of the Caucus for American Indian Scholars and Scholarship, she chaired the caucus for three years and is now the treasurer. She has also taken an active interest in CCCC convention concerns and newcomer activities, particularly for those awarded dream scholarships. In 2002 for the tenth anniversary of the Scholars for the Dream, she was a featured speaker, and will be a featured speaker in March 2005: “American Indians: From Schoolroom to Homeroom. As well, she chaired the Scholars for the Dream Selection Committee to choose CCCC Scholars from under-represented groups. At Massasoit Community College in Brockton, Massachusetts, she serves on the Diversity Committee, the New England Center for the Improvement of Teaching (NECIT), advises the Massasoit Writing Club, and guest lectures and plans programs on Native American awareness, education, and activism. She advocates for curriculum change and social justice. In addition, she serves on the board of trustees for the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center and actively participates as a member of the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness.

Reflections: Spring 2005

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