Beth Buyserie and Jeremy Ricketts Present at CCCC

English Department faculty Beth Buyserie and Jeremy Ricketts had the opportunity to present at the 2026 Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC). Meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, the conference annually gathers educators from across the nation to discuss research and develop new practices in post-secondary education. 

This year, Jeremy presented on the “Don’t Call It Professional Development: Extending Conversations in Dual Enrollment Composition” panel. As the Director for Concurrent Enrollment for English at USU, he offered his perspective on the value of CE programs. “I had two immediate things on my mind: how can we raise the bar in an already excellent program, and how can I best share our work with others?” He explains, “A conference like this is a great place to both spotlight and learn about initiatives in Concurrent Enrollment.”

“I hope that people left thinking, ‘We should do this,’” he elaborates. 

Meanwhile, Beth shared on the panel “(Still) Writing Together: Theories and Practices of Collaboration in the Context of Higher Ed Precarity.” Collaborative writing has always been an important part of her academic writing. “Writing alone has always been hard for me, and so writing collaboratively, whether with students or other teachers, sustains me as a writer. I learn more about writing — and about myself — when I write with others,” she describes. 

Through the panel, she showed participants that this writing is an essential part of academia. “While collaborative writing might take more time than writing independently, the benefits it provides are powerful and nourishing,” she advises.

Outside of presenting, both Beth and Jeremy found value in the experience. For Jeremy, it was a chance to connect with other professionals in the community. These conferences, he says, “collapse distance. You've got professors, graduate students, instructors from community colleges, high schools, R1s — wildly different contexts — all wrestling with the same core question: how do we help students write better and think harder? That shared purpose is pretty powerful.”

Beth also found personal connections at the conference by reuniting with past students and teachers. She described seeing her former professor John McDonald from the University of Portland. She recounted how, “John recognized me instantly, despite the fact that I was standing on a rainy Cleveland street corner huddled within my raincoat. He made such a difference in my life as a writing teacher, and I took that opportunity to thank him in person.”

Ultimately, both Beth and Jeremy agreed one of the best parts of the conference was the space it offered to learn and grow as academics. Beth explains, “Attending the conference allows us all to innovate and grow as professionals and as a discipline of Writing Studies, and to continue teaching writing more effectively so that our students can succeed."

Jeremy adds, “CCCCs is one of my favorite times of the year. I have been attending the conference for a while now, and I always learn so much. Being in a room where people care so much about composition is always energizing and rewarding.”