More than 225 writing center professionals will attend the Midwest Writing Centers Association (MWCA) 23rd annual regional conference Oct. 26-28 at the Crowne Plaza Clayton Hotel. WUSTL and Fontbonne University are co-sponsoring the conference, titled “Expand the Frontier: Look Up, Look Out.”
“Writing center administrators and tutors from all around the Midwest will come together to explore a variety of ways to encourage and support student writing,” said Doreen Salli, director of The Writing Center at WUSTL and a member of the MWCA conference planning committee.
“Washington University is playing a very active role in the conference. There will be many opportunities to share ideas and to engage in dialogue about writing center work, and we are looking forward to these conversations.”
Several members of WUSTL’s Writing Center will participate in the conference, which will focus on writing center theory, research and practice.
Salli will participate in two panel discussions. In the first one, “Mentoring in the Center: How We Help Each Other Learn, Adapt and Grow,” she and Seema R. Mukhi, coordinator of writing programs for the University’s Cornerstone: The Center for Advanced Learning and a former WUSTL Writing Center tutor and administrator, will discuss how education, experience and mentoring helped to prepare them for writing center work.
They are especially interested in exploring how writing center professionals can use mentoring to further their own professional development, foster the growth of others, enrich their writing centers and enhance the field as a whole.
Fran Hooker, coordinator of Webster University’s Writing Center and a former WUSTL tutor, will participate in the discussion.
In another panel, Salli will introduce four Writing Center peer tutors who will lead a discussion on “The Literary Memoir: Creativity and Self-discovery in the Training of Peer Tutors.”
These tutors are undergraduates in Arts & Sciences: Brent Dawson, a senior majoring in English and minoring in writing; Carly Glazer, a junior double-majoring in political science and Spanish; Christina Skelley, a senior majoring in the Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities; and Laura Wolkoff, a junior majoring in psychology with a minor in English literature.
The students will discuss how one creative writing assignment — the literary memoir — contributed to their growth as both writers and tutors. They also will discuss how the process of writing, revising and publishing their class’ memoirs fosters self-reflection, collaboration, empathy and a strong sense of community in WUSTL’s Writing Center.
Burton Pu, Ph.D., a lecturer in the Department of English in Arts & Sciences and a tutor in The Writing Center, will give a talk titled “Writing Center: A New Cultural Frontier.”
His talk, which will be given from the perspective of a non-native English-speaking tutor, will explore how interpersonal communication between native speakers and English as a Second Language students in a writing center challenges and transforms it from the “gatekeeper” into the “door opener” in a new cultural frontier, where different cultures and educational values negotiate and enrich each other.
Ruth Berson, Ph.D., a Writing Center tutor and lecturer in the Women and Gender Studies program in Arts & Sciences, will give a talk titled “A Learning Experience for All Concerned: Coaching Ph.D. Candidates Through the Dissertation Process.”
She will discuss what writing centers can offer dissertation writers. In addition to examining how issues such as audience, structure and revision are reshaped in the context of a long-term project, she’ll also explore how the tutor’s quest for knowledge generates the questions that will help the writer shape her or his ideas.
The Writing Center, a free service for all WUSTL students as well as faculty members, is located in Eads Hall, Room 111. The staff and peer tutors work with students on essays, senior theses, personal statements and more.
The Writing Center also offers consultations for faculty members and teaching assistants who wish to assign more writing in their courses. Topics of these consultations include devising effective writing assignments, implementing informal writing in courses and evaluating student writing.
For more information on the conference, go online to usiouxfalls.edu/academic/english/MWCA06/. Walk-ins are welcome but will need to register on-site. For more information on the center, call 935-4981 or go online to artsci.wustl.edu/~writing/home.html.