This article describes a first-year writing course focused on language diversity and asserts the importance of this focus as a foundation for college writing success and linguistic inclusivity.

The 2010 Alan C. Purves Award Committee is pleased to announce this year’s award recipient, Elizabeth Dutro. Her article, “What ‘Hard Times’ Means: Mandated Curricula, Class-Privileged Assumptions, and the Lives of Poor Children” (RTE Vol. 44, No. 3, February 2010), is an exemplary source of thorough research and much-needed pedagogical strategy encouraging the creation of curricula grounded in students’ lived realities.