The Function of Theory in Composition Studies

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments There are many to thank, but I begin with my colleagues in the University Writing Program and the Department of English at the University of Utah. Their support and encouragement have helped me see this project to completion: First among them is Susan Miller, whose work serves as a foundation and point of departure for this project’s argument, whose enduring theoretical and historical interest in the act of writing has profoundly influenced my approach to composition studies, and whose mentoring during my time in Utah has made me a better writer and teacher. Thanks also to Howard Horwitz, who read this work in its various stages of development, always with a generous combination of enthusiasm and constructive criticism. And thanks to the program directors and department chairs who have provided time and contexts in which I was able to write: John Ackerman, Michael Rudick, Tom Huckin, Maureen Mathison, Stephen Tatum, Charles Berger, and Stuart Culver. Beyond Utah, more thanks are due: To Gary Olson, who taught me half of what I know, who helped get this project off the ground, and who has always supported it, despite disagreeing with “almost every single word.” To Victor Villanueva. What this project owes to him may not be evident, but the debt is real and deep, just the same. He knows what I mean. To my colleagues and friends in the Latino Caucus of NCTE, whose very presence serves always to remind me of the contexts in which I write and the goals to which I’m committed. ix To Sid Dobrin, Julie Drew, and Joe Hardin, who cheerfully endure the rambling and often intemperate e-mails in which I try to work through pesky theoretical problems and who, with equal cheer, let me know when I am writing nonsense. And finally, to Priscilla Ross and SUNY Press, for helping to improve and agreeing to publish, this book. x The Function of Theory in Composition Studies ...