In A Minefield of Dreams: Triumphs and Travails of Independent Writing Programs, Justin Everett and Cristina Hanganu-Bresch highlight both cautionary tales and stories of resounding success that can inspire and provide paths toward addressing the challenges faced by faculty who lead independent writing programs (IWPs). More than a decade after O'Neill, Crow, and Burton's survey of IWPs—and with attention to some of the same programs addressed in that collection—the contributors to this collection assess the state of IWPs at a variety of American and Canadian institutions. The four sections in the book address key issues faced by IWPs: the quest for independence; disciplinarity, labor, and professionalization; curricular reforms, program design, and faculty training and empowerment; and rhetorics of transformation and justice.

Justin Everett is Director of Writing Programs at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, where he was instrumental in the formation of the university's independent writing program. With Robert Lamm, he is author of Dynamic Argument(Houghton Mifflin 2007 and Cengage 2012) and, with Jeffrey Shanks The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales: The Evolution of Modern Fantasy and Horror (Rowman and Littlefield, 2015). His research interests include writing program administration and popular culture.

Cristina Hanganu-Bresch is Assistant Professor in Writing and Rhetoric and Assistant Director of Writing Programs at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, where she helped establish a Writing Minor and Writing Across the Curriculum initiatives. She has a strong pedagogical interest in scientific writing and medical rhetoric and has published articles and chapters on psychopharmaceutical advertising, asylum genres, and patient memoirs. Her work (with Carol Berkenkotter) has appeared in Written Communication and Literature and Medicine.