The Reluctant Supervisor: Recognizing and Rethinking Power in Writing Center Supervisory Practices

The discipline of writing center studies has long emphasized collaboration in every context, including leadership. But what does this emphasis mean for supervision, which is inherently hierarchical? The Reluctant Supervisor attends to how power-institutional, racial, and otherwise-operates in work, relationships, staff policies, and administrative decisions.Giving sustained attention to writing center administrators as supervisors (in addition to their roles as leaders, directors, mentors, and teachers), contributors write from the specificities of their local contexts, institutional positions, and embodied histories in ways that deepen the understanding of writing center supervisory practice.The Reluctant Supervisor wrestles with the tensions, contradictions, and challenges necessary to name, own, and recognize supervision as a fundamental part of writing center work. It provides valuable perspectives for aspiring, new, and experienced writing center professionals and others in higher education looking to develop a more reflective supervisory practice-especially those who want to center equity and justice in their workplaces.