A Literacy Spectrum: Football, UNM, and WAC, Dr. Marty Townsend
What do a rapping, rhyming football star from Missouri, the University of New Mexico’s flagship status, and UNM’s
Writing Across the Communities program have to do with one another? And how do they constitute a literacy
spectrum? In these informal remarks in honor of UNM’s annual Writing the World Symposium, English professor
Marty Townsend reflects on how her 1990 research visit to UNM, on behalf of The Ford Foundation, ultimately led
to her current literacy work with high profile athletes—as well as to remarkable convergences between her work
and UNM’s writing across the communities program. Spanning the timeline from Greek orators Isocrates and
Plato to modern America’s most enduring reform movement in higher education, Townsend’s talk considers such
topics as how rap music enabled the writing ability of a top NFL football player, why the 1990 inauguration
ceremony of UNM’s 15th president left an indelible impression on her, and what other universities might do to
emulate the outstanding work of UNM’s WAC program.