Category: Writing Center Tutors

How to Discuss GenAI in Writing Consultations

AI Writing, Graduate Students, Tutor Publications, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center Research, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Brady Hall and Emma Bapst, Miami University of Ohio—AI has become part of our writing center ecosystems. Whether we like it or not, students use it in their processes. Some professors require it in their courses; others ban it completely. This leaves students caught in the middle, trying to satisfy competing interests. As students perform to try to satisfy their instructors, they are learning a “hidden curriculum,” or knowledge that travels behind the network of traditional classroom education with regard to AI. These contexts permeate writing center experiences as well. With coexisting perspectives of AI refusal and acceptance, it can be difficult for writing center consultants to feel comfortable addressing AI use with students at all. 

April 14, 2026
Yellow dandelions growing between gray pavement stones.

Supporting Tutors and Writers Amid Heightened Risk: Navigating Writing Center Work in the U.S., 2026

AI Writing, Higher Education, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Undergraduate Students, Writing Center pedagogy, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Anonymous—The field has long emphasized the collaborative ethos of writing center work (Harris, 1988; Lunsford, 1991). Within this framework, writing centers are often positioned as “safe” or “low-stakes” environments where writers can experiment, explore identities, and develop confidence in their voices (McNamee & Miley, 2017). But the ability of writing centers to function as “low-stakes” environments depends on the broader social conditions in which writers and tutors live. […]

March 24, 2026
Two paths diverging in a forest

Finding Universal Design for Learning in Your “Tough” Tutoring Session

Disability and Writing Centers, Diversity and Inclusion, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center pedagogy, Writing Center Theory, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Anmol Sahni, Emory University—Last semester at the Emory writing center, I had one of those tutoring sessions that just felt… off. It began the usual way: greeting the writer, setting an agenda, and planning to read the draft together. These practices often work well—but that day, something wasn’t clicking. The student wasn’t disengaged, but I sensed a kind of resistance, or maybe fatigue, that the standard approach wasn’t addressing. […]

December 16, 2025
A blurry image of the word focus.

Writing Centers as Attention Technology

Disability and Writing Centers, Peer Tutoring, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center pedagogy, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Tisha Turk, Grinnell College—In recent years, attention has come in for a lot of, well, attention. Scholars, journalists, and cultural critics have written about how corporations capture and monetize the finite resource of our attention and, sometimes, how we can regain control of it (Wu; Odell; Hari; Hayes). Those of us working in institutions of higher ed have probably observed the effects of attention capture not only on ourselves but on our students. My observations about attention are not […]

December 2, 2025
A brick pathway going past a concrete and copper patina two-story building on the right and a green space with trees on the left.

Embracing Critique, Finding Trust

Tutor Training, Writing Center Tutors

By Laura Widman, Hamilton College—This past year, I designed fall tutor training with our WC director, focusing on creating opportunities to learn and build community around a central theme: Interrogating Power. I had led numerous trainings on multilingualism and metalanguage in tutoring, but this was the first opportunity I had to plan training from the ground up and to lead large portions of it myself. I was excited to explore training topics further outside of my niche, and to see how our new tutors engaged with training and our WC community. […]

August 12, 2025
Street art of black and white children looking up with streams of colorful paint falling towards them.

Dear Future Writing Tutor

Diversity and Inclusion, Multilingual Writers, Peer Tutoring, Racial Justice, Social Justice, Tutor Publications, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Anonymous—Do you remember when you were a kid and the idea of going to college sounded like the most sophisticated milestone you could think of? Starstruck by the idea of being rewarded for learning through open acknowledgement of your contribution to English– because you always loved reading and writing, language was a toy and a tool and a comfort– sounded more glamorous than a cover of Vogue. Do the memories taste bittersweet to you too? […]

July 8, 2025
This photo depicts the Horseshoe, a greenery space with lush grass and trees in the middle of UofSC’s campus. The photo shows students sitting together in groups. The Horseshoe is across the street from the Byrnes building where the UofSC writing center is housed.

Listening and Learning: The Exigence of Creating Community Through Feedback

Graduate Students, Higher Education, Student Voices, Tutor Training, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center Research, Writing Center Staff, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Sam Hyatt and Meg Hultgren, University of South Carolina—As doctoral students serving as Assistant Directors (ADs) in the Writing Center (WC) at the University of South Carolina during uncertain academic times, we’ve had the unique opportunity to navigate leadership roles while still actively engaged in graduate study. Our tutoring staff is also distinctive—comprised entirely of English graduate students, primarily MAs and MFAs in their first year of school—which has shaped the collaborative and academic culture within our center. // Our overlapping roles as students, tutors, and leaders has been both challenging and rewarding, […]

May 13, 2025
Red and white tulips with the University of Wisconsin ornate W crest icon in the background.

Honoring the Writing Center’s Instructors: 2025 Awards for Excellence in Teaching

Awards and Honors, Graduate Students, Peer Tutoring, Writing Center Tutors

Each year, the Writing Center celebrates and honors the exceptional work of our teaching assistants by presenting two teaching excellence awards. Our team of over 35 teaching assistants work extremely hard to provide personalized, one-to-one writing instruction to more than 1,500 students. Beyond this work, they also contribute to the Writing Center’s mission by leading […]

April 29, 2025