Leadership Structure at the Bay Area Writing Project Site, CA

Summary: This site leadership map shows how the Bay Area Writing Project describes their infrastructure—the work of the site and the people who lead the work. Read how they describe the thinking behind their organizational structure—including the design for site governance (advisory board, teacher-consultant council, etc.) and the site's relationship with its host institution.

While BAWP's organizational structure doesn't lend itself to the linear chain of command of a traditional organizational chart of boxes and lines, the map we've used (see below) captures some of the basics at our site.

Cluster I: The positions, roles, and functions found in Cluster I make it possible for our site to sustain and expand the range of programs that complete the site map. For example, the BAWP Council insures critique, overview, and guidance of BAWP's work; our website and new online journal, Digital Paper, insure healthy communication with TCs and provide full access to BAWP by TCs and teachers throughout the Bay Area and beyond; our excellent staff provides program support to all BAWP programs and maintains fiscal and programmatic management, and, last but not least, our Invitational Summer Institute is the deep well we go to each year to sustain BAWP's quality.

The infrastructure laid out in Cluster I of the site map tends not to change, although it expands when we have more funding, mainly by being able to add more Associate Directors. Carol Tateishi and Adela Arriaga work very closely in directing BAWP with Associate Director of Technology Patrick Delaney and the BAWP Leadership Council. We should also mention the important role of the Graduate School of Education, where P. David Pearson, Dean of the School, serves as BAWP's Principal Investigator, meets regularly with Director Tateishi, and provides excellent counsel and direct support. BAWP is in the Division of Language, Literacy and Culture, chaired by Professor Glynda Hull, who, along with the division's faculty, understands the crucial role BAWP plays in the Graduate School and is well aware of the larger context of our work.

Clusters II and III: Even though there are blurred borders between these two clusters, all of the programs are connected closely in one way or another to Cluster I and, often, to each other. In general, these programs and their leaders work fairly independently after close work with the director, co-director or other BAWP TC leader to get the program started. Once they are underway, there is close communication between program leaders and BAWP's central staff. BAWP also uses a variety of forms of evaluation and reporting for each program. Clusters II and III expand and change each year as new programs are added and others are in various states of development, while other programs are multiyear.

Download "Bay Area Writing Project Site Map"