About Us

About the Watson Conference

The Thomas R. Watson Conference in Rhetoric and Composition is a biennial event hosted by the University of Louisville Department of English and funded by the Thomas R. Watson Endowment. Since its founding in 1996, the conference has established itself as an important venue for collaborative scholarship in the field.

A Conference Built on Collaboration

Watson is not a traditional paper-presentation conference. Each working group is organized around a central theme, with participants working together. Sometimes these workshops produce tangible scholarly outcomes. These have included edited book collections, special journal issues, digital archives, websites and multimodal projects. Other workshops help participants build community while also enhancing individual projects.

The Watson Endowment

The conference is made possible by the generosity of Dr. Thomas R. Watson, who in 1995 donated $1.2 million to the University of Louisville English Department. His gift endowed both the biennial conference and a Visiting Distinguished Professorship series, creating a lasting foundation for scholarly exchange and innovation in Rhetoric and Composition.

A Legacy of Scholarly Impact

Over fourteen conferences spanning three decades, Watson has produced publications with presses including Utah State University Press, Southern Illinois University Press, Hampton Press and journals including the Journal of Advanced Composition and Writers: Craft & Context. The conference archive documents this rich history of collaborative production.

Location

The Watson Conference typically takes place on the University of Louisville's Belknap Campus in Louisville, Kentucky. Due to construction on campus, the 2026 Watson conference will take place downtown. The city offers a vibrant cultural scene, a thriving food and bourbon culture and accessible travel connections — making it an ideal destination for conference attendees from across the country and around the world.