Louise Wetherbee Phelps

Louise Wetherbee Phelps is a Professor affiliated with Old Dominion University, recognized for her contributions to Writing Program Administration (WPA), visual rhetoric, and higher education leadership. She founded the Syracuse University Writing Program (1986–1993), emphasizing inquiry-based curriculum design and collaborative organizational structures. Her work bridges academic administration and scholarly practice through innovative uses of mapping and visual rhetoric to reframe institutional dynamics.

Research Focus: Phelps’ scholarship centers on reimagining academic leadership, curriculum development, and the role of visual thinking in administrative contexts. She advocates for holistic approaches to writing programs, integrating theory, practice, and publication across diverse stakeholders. Her conceptual frameworks include spiral curricula, matrix models of faculty work, and design-based administration strategies.

Key Contributions:

• Developed strategic planning frameworks for writing programs as dynamic, inquiry-driven communities.
• Pioneered visual rhetoric in WPA practice, using diagrams and boundary objects to mediate administrative and scholarly discourse.
• Championed equitable faculty work models through MLA Commission on Professional Service initiatives.
• Explored leadership as a non-hierarchical, distributed practice in feminist academic contexts.

Publications & Presentations: Over three decades, Phelps has authored influential works on WPA praxis, feminist pedagogy, and institutional critique. Her 2002 chapter *Turtles All the Way Down* redefined leadership through metaphors of fractal patterns and design thinking. Key addresses include her 2003 keynote on *Administration as a Design Art* and 1996 MLA Commission reports on faculty work reconfiguration.

Teaching & Mentorship: While no advisees are explicitly listed, her work has profoundly influenced generations of WPAs through pedagogical frameworks and institutional critique methodologies.