Category: Writing Center Staff

Thirteen multiracial people stand in a line in front of a campus building

A Collective Center for Communal Care

Disability and Writing Centers, Diversity and Inclusion, Peer Tutoring, Tutor Training, Undergraduate Students, UW-Madison Writing Center Alumni Voices, Writing Center Staff, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Rachel Herzl-Betz and britty cox, Nevada State University—Once, my (Rachel’s) direct supervisor in the Provost’s Office asked whether we had ever presented on our writing center leadership structure. At the time, I laughed it off. Why would we talk about how we keep the trains running on time?  As we (Rachel and britty) thought more, that idea connected to larger questions about writing center interdependence and the ways that we all get used to what we do. Like a grad student learning to teach […]

July 23, 2024
Archive of “The Lafayette Newspaper” found on a trip to Lafayette College’s special collections.

Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Analyzing the History of Lafayette’s College Writing Program

Events, Higher Education, Student Voices, Undergraduate Students, Writing Center Staff, Writing Centers

By McKenna Graf and Emma Hetrick, Lafayette College—Students and faculty of the Lafayette College Writing Program (CWP) have been embarking on a journey through their history. Leading with passion, we have been investigating how we operated in the past and how that might inform and improve our future. In Fall 2023, we started by gathering information on alumni, sorting through archival material about writing all over campus, and interviewing past employees of the program. With these seedlings of our project, we were able to present our research at the historic Hotel Bethlehem on Friday, January 12, 2024.

July 16, 2024

A Warm Welcome for Our New Teaching Faculty

From the Director, Madison Writing Assistance, Staff Introductions, UW-Madison Writing Center Alumni Voices, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Center Academic Staff, Writing Center Staff, Writing Centers

In August 2023, thanks to the support of English Department and the College of Letters & Science (among others), UW-Madison’s Writing Center and Writing Across the Curriculum programs welcomed two full-time teaching faculty, Abigail (Abby) Letak and Seth Umbaugh. 

January 30, 2024
A red neon light painting of a question mark on a dark hallway. The hallway is narrow and covered in graffiti.

“Is this going to be hard?”: Reflections on My First Year Teaching Composition as a Writing Center Coordinator

Higher Education, Writing Center Academic Staff, Writing Center Staff, Writing Center Theory, Writing Centers

By Tabitha Fisher,  Pennsylvania State University—It’s September 2022, and I’m standing at the front of my classroom, walking through the questions my students posted online in response to the new assignment. At Penn State, nearly all instructors new to the department teach English 15, the university’s first-year writing course in rhetoric and composition. This is my first semester teaching after two years as the Writing Center Coordinator. […]

December 12, 2023
A mechanic grinding down a metal beam with sparks flying.

Show Your Work(flow)

Peer Tutoring, Technology, Tutor Training, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Uncategorized, Writing Center pedagogy, Writing Center Staff, Writing Center Theory, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Joseph Franklin, New York City College of Technology—I am writing this at a bamboo table and simple folding chair combo. I am using Microsoft Word on a Mac laptop mounted on a Roost laptop stand and using a Logitech ERGO K860 keyboard that supports my wrists. I am playing instrumental music by Grandbrothers through Sennheiser PXC 550 noise canceling headphones and I have notifications turned off on all devices. These tools (and others) have been curated […]

October 4, 2022
Illustration of chimera by Jacopo Ligozzi (1547-1627). in Greek mythology, a chimera is a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.

“No, Thank You”—Your Friendly, Neighborhood Writing Center Chimera 

Higher Education, Writing Center Academic Staff, Writing Center Staff

By Molly Parsons, Keene State College—I am the assistant director of a writing center at a regional public college in the Northeast. My title, “assistant director,” is a recent upgrade (from “program assistant”) and an acknowledgment of my advanced degrees (I have a PhD in English and Education). The pay and terms of my position are otherwise unchanged—I am a part-time, adjunct staff member and earn the same salary and benefits (none) as I did before the title change. I occupy two distinct but conflated positions: I am both an academic (by job description) and an hourly, contingent employee (by pay and job security). I’m a veritable chimera […]

July 19, 2022
a white dog in a foggy forest filled with evergreens.

Writer Spotlight: Jennifer Fandel

Writing Center Staff

An interview with Jennifer Fandel—Jennifer (Jen) Fandel worked as the Writing Center’s administrator from Spring 2017 through Fall 2021. Her work involved the wearing of many hats, including communications and marketing, budgeting, program coordination, mentoring a fantastic undergraduate receptionist team, and Writing Center operations and logistics.  In January 2022, she joined UW-Madison’s Odyssey Beyond Bars program as a writing instructor and tutor coordinator. She has taught in prisons in Missouri and Wisconsin since 2016 through the St. Louis nonprofit Prison Performing Arts and the Wisconsin Prison Humanities Project, and has tutored with Odyssey Beyond Bars since its inception in 2019. She is a poet, gardener, and bicyclist (when the weather is warm).

February 22, 2022
White paper lanterns float upwards in a pitch black sky

Sharing Our Recent Research

Events, IWCA, Online Writing Centers Association, Writing Center Conference, Writing Center Research, Writing Center Staff, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Emily Hall—Graduate students and academic staff members from UW-Madison’s Writing Center, Writing Fellows program, and Writing Across the Curriculum regularly contribute to scholarly research in the fields of writing studies, writing center studies, writing and community literacy, computers and writing, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and more. Over the summer and through the fall, we have had a remarkable […]

November 9, 2021

Continuing the Discussion: Tutoring and Social Justice in Virtual Spaces

Covid, Peer Tutoring, Social Justice, Student Voices, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center Staff, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers, Writing Fellows

By Veronica Hayes and Faith Kim—One year ago, the annual Joint Staff meeting between the University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduate Writing Fellows program and the Writing Center marked the last time the Center’s full staff gathered in person before students were sent home and our work shifted online. At the annual meeting, Fellows typically give presentations on the research they conduct in their Writing Fellows tutor education seminar, English 403. Those presentations lead to collaborative and meaningful exchanges between Fellows and Writing Center instructors, who appreciate the opportunity to engage with original research on tutoring. […]

April 13, 2021

Introducing the Writing Center’s New Academic Staff Members

Community Writing Assistance, Disability and Writing Centers, Outreach, Staff Introductions, Uncategorized, Writing Center Academic Staff, Writing Center Staff, Writing Center Workshops

This academic year, the Writing Center was able to hire three new academic staff members, all of whom are recent graduates of UW-Madison’s PhD program in English. Below, we’ve asked them to respond to a series of questions with the hope that you, our readers, will be able to get to know them through their words. […]

October 7, 2019