Welcome to Praxis: Interview with Kiara Walker

Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay 

Hi Kiara! Welcome to your first Axis post. You’ll be spending the next two years with us here at Praxis, but let’s start by looking backwards. Where are you from, and how did you end up here at the University of Texas at Austin?

I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville is “The Big City” in Kentucky, but it’s a medium-sized city in comparison to Austin. Growing up, I never thought much about leaving Louisville (or Kentucky). I went to a middle school and high school that was about a five minute walk from one of the public universities—The University of Louisville—in the state. I assumed I would attend this college, but I ended up leaving Louisville to go to Transylvania University. It’s a small liberal arts college in Lexington, Kentucky.

At Transylvania, I majored in Writing, Rhetoric, and Communication, and I’d say this program led me to where I’m at right now. I connected with rhetoric and the great professors in the department, and because of this, I knew I wanted to continue to work with rhetoric in some way. I decided to apply to graduate programs in rhetoric, and I was accepted to the Rhetoric and Writing PhD program here at UT. I was stoked to get accepted, and I’ve been here—in the program and in Austin—for three years.

And how about the University Writing Center? What is it that drew you to writing center theory and pedagogy? Have you spent a lot of time in Writing Centers before now?

I was introduced to Writing Centers during my undergraduate experience. I had visited the writing center at Transylvania a few times, and I would say these experiences are what initially drew me to writing center work and theory. 

During my first-year, I had a writing center appointment for a research paper. I brought in wo possible ideas for the paper, and we spent the consultation talking about the way these ideas could pan out for a semester. This experience was completely different from any writing experience I had prior. It was great to think and write with someone else as well as to have someone listen to my ideas and help me see the potential. At the time, I had no clue that writing center theory or pedagogy played any role in the consultation. 

During my junior and senior year, I began working at the same writing center. As part of the consultant training course, I was introduced to writing center theory and pedagogy. A lot of the information and ideas in this theory and pedagogy simply resonated with my own writing experience and what I had seen others experience with writing—the way that language and literacy can be used to both empower and harm. Working at writing centers, I’m always directly in contact with this idea. But beyond that, I’m also able to, hopefully, listen to others’ ideas and offer the same respect and genuine interest that was given to my own writing ideas in writing centers.

Are there any especially memorable moments from your time working in Writing Centers that our readers might find interesting?

I can’t think of one single moment. In general, I always enjoy writing center experiences where both consultee and consultant are a bit mystified about how to get a certain idea across. If there’s a “breakthrough” in these consultations, it seems rewarding for both the consultee and consultant. 

You’ve only been on the job here at Praxis for a couple of weeks, but what are you looking forward to the most? What do you hope to get out of this editorship?

I’m looking forward to experiencing the writing center from a different perspective. I’m excited to read about writing center work and to see the contributions to this scholarship. I’m also looking forward to gaining some familiarity with how an academic journal runs.