Ecwca Newsletter-winter 2011

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East Central Writing Centers Association Winter 2011

ECWCAECWCA, ECWCA & You

Making Connections to Make a Difference

ECWCA is proud to announce the production and distribution of our

very own newsletter, ECWCA. ECWCA will facilitate ourorganizations growth, relevance, and continued dedication to

excellence by seeking to better meet the needs of those in our

geographic region and by providing an outlet for important

conversations between our members. This newsletter is our newsletterand is designed to avoid super-fixed formats by allowing for varied

contributions and contributor ingenuity.

ECWCA will be published twice an academic year with issues

distributed in September and January.

To make ECWCA a success, we need your help! We want to ensure all

centers, tutors, and directors have access to this newsletter. To ensure

you are on our mailing list, e-mail ECWCA [email protected].

This first issue is not the template but the idea of what our organizations

newsletter can be. Inside, you will find sections weve begun to think of.

You will not find sections only you can think of. We hope you will

roaden the context, scope, and possibilities of this newsletter by

contributing. In turn, we will better meet our organizations diverse

needs.

This first issue begins with a letter from our current president, Jay Sloan.

Included are also sections entitled Call for Conversations and Tutor

Voices. These sections are designed to meet the immediate needs of

directors and tutors respectively. In Call for Conversations, Leah

Schell-Barber of Stark State College kicks off what is sure to be a nice

discussion on center leadership/unity. In Tutor Voices, four tutors

discuss how writing centers have influenced their academic and

professional lives.

e hope future editions of this newsletter will also feature your work,

oice, research, discussion, and more. Help us bring our conversation

from the furthest corners of our region to this new outlet. Directors,

encourage your tutors to contribute materials, ideas, and more. Tutors,

encourage your directors to contribute the same.

-Anthony Garrison

Our First Issue: A Note from the Editor

Winter 2011

INSIDE

Tutor Voices

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A Letter from the President ofECWCA

Call for Conversation by Leah Schell-Barber, Writing Center Director atStark State College

Though Ive left writing center work for now, I lookback at . . . writing centers as the places where I was

forged. -Dan Kenzie, Purdue University

Call to update your centers status.Help the ECWCA redefine ourregion!

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Volume 1, Issue 1


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East Central Writing Centers Association

A frequent topic of conversation at the jointInternational Writing Centers AssociationConference/National Conference of Peer Tutors ofWriting in Baltimore last year was who was nothere. She decided she couldnt afford IWCA this

year. Hes going to CCCCs instead. In this eraof shrinking, sometimes disappearing, travelbudgets, many writing center professionalsdirectors as well as tutorsfind themselves havingo limit themselves to one academic conference a

year, spreading opportunities for professionaldevelopment even thinner. In such a financialclimate, regional writing center organizations likehe East Central Writing Centers Association

become more essential than ever, offering moreaffordable, local opportunities to participate inhe larger writing center community. As President

of the ECWCA, I was heartened to hear that theIWCA Board has begun an initiative, exploring

ways that they might enhance their connections to,and increase their support of, regionalorganizations like ours.

Similarly, the Board of the ECWCA is mindful ofhe struggles of those tutors and directors who

may find attendance at even a regional conferencefinancially challenging. Currently, the ECWCAcovers eight states: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana,Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and half of

Letter from the President of ECWCA Jay Sloan

We are rightfully proud ofthe many years our

organization has worked tosupport the professional

development of generationsof writing center directors

and tutors. At the sametime, we look forward to

the challenges in ourfuture. To the next 32

years!

The time has come for the East Central Writing

Centers Association to rearticulate who we are as an

organization in terms of who we are as individualwriting centers. And we need of your help!

Please visit the link below to update your centers

information and help us ensure each center in our

region is recognized and represented by our

organization and on our website. Part of our

continued success is our ability to represent ourregion properly. In a few short seconds, you canhelp us do just that!

Visit www.ecwca.org/update to complete thesurvey!

Updating our Status & Defining our Region: A Call for Participation

Update your centers profile at thelink to the right!

Continued on page 4

both Illinois and Pennsylvania, a relativelylarge region if youre the Writing CenterDirector at a small college in West Virginiatrying to budget travel for yourself and fivetutors to our annual ECWCA conference. In

addition to working to keep our conferencecosts as affordable as possible, the ECWCABoard is very cognizant and veryappreciative of the efforts of mini-regionalorganizations functioning within our area.Groups like the Michigan Writing CentersAssociation, the Northeast Ohio WritingCenters Association, and the Ohio WritingCenters Consortium actively work toprovide affordable, even more localized,professional development opportunities forour members. And like the IWCA, theECWCA Board needs to find ways to furthersupport their efforts.

As we gear up for our annual ECWCAconference to be held at Western MichiganUniversity March 3-5, 2011, we are aware ofthe many struggles facing writing centerstoday. This years Conference Host, KimBallard, has made a timely choice ofconference theme, for example: assessment.


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Q. Tell us a little about your time as a writing center tutor.

A. I was hired by Kim Ballard at the Western Michigan

University Writing Center when I was an English major with noidea what I was getting myself into. What started as a studentob later became an appointment as an Assistant Director in thecenter and led to an instructorship in the DevelopmentalWriting Program. Upon leaving Western, I was hired by BillMacauley as the Writing Center Intern at the College ofWooster, where I worked for a year. Under Kim and Billsinvaluable guidance, Ive just entered the graduate program inRhetoric and Composition at Purdue University.

Though Ive left writing center work for now, I look back athose two writing centers as the places where I was forged,

where I met the peopleclients, colleagues, and mentorswhowould change my life profoundly.

Q. Do you feel working in the writing center has set you apartfrom your peers academically or professionally? How so?

A. More than anything, the Writing Center taught me how tocollaborate: how to give and seek feedback, how to steer aconversation, and when to sit back and listen. That ability,combined with a comfort level for thinking on the fly and afamiliarity with a wide range of writing contexts, has served mewell as a professional and become a survival skill for me as agraduate student.

Q. Thinking back to your time as a writing center tutor, can youdescribe a high point?

A. The first time I saw my name on an acknowledgements page,I knew I was in the right line of work. This particular writer wasalso a tutor I had trained, which made it doubly rewarding.

Q. There are hundreds of tutors who will read this piece. Whatadvice might you have for those tutors preparing to graduate?

A. Opportunities lead to more opportunities, so take advantageof them when they present themselves and seek them outdoggedly when they don't. You never know which door willchange your life

Q. Looking back at your time as a writing center tutor, what isone thing you wish you had known sooner - and why?

A. Nothing. If I knew then what I knew now, I might have

aken a more direct route to get where I am, but the hiccups andfoibles are what make the effort worth it.

-Dane KenziePurdue University

There are so many different styles and techniques for writingconsultants, and there are so many skills that make up a goodutor that it is difficult to pinpoint or define just one best wayo consult. However, my experience at the Western Michigan

University Writing Center has reinforced some general ideasabout helping students and has taught me some valuablelessons.

Here are some tangible skills that consultants should find inhemselves and develop if they want to be successful. The first,

and in my opinion the most important, is natural curiosity. Thebest tutors are ones who genuinely take pleasure in knowingand learning and teaching. These are consultants whoconstantly seek ways to improve their own techniques and arewilling to adapt, question or redefine their philosophy ofutoring. Writing centers are unique places where we not only

get to help others see their writing but where we get to workwith challenging and often times foreign topics; goodconsultants find this exciting.

The second skill is flexibility. Consultants have to be willing toadjust to their clients needs: their clients writing needs, andheir clients learning needs, their clients confidence needs.

Another necessary skill for consulting success iscommunication. The most helpful thing Ive found for manystudents is talking about writing with someone they see as anexperienced writer. Good consultants need to engage theirclients in a dialogue about their writing, and that discussionshould lead to better writing.

Understanding yourself and your consulting style is skillnumber four. Be the person you would want to be tutored by.

John D Chrisman

Tutor Voices

Continued

Dan

Kenzie


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Its that simple.

The last point Ill make is really less of a skill and more a way of living, but it is crucialo success. Build strong relationships with your peers and mentors and take every

opportunity that comes your way. Present at conferences. Make connections withinstructors and other students. Apply for jobs. Get yourself out there as much as you

can.

Some of these skills come naturally, some are teachable, but I doubt any one ofhem is an absolute indicator of consulting success. In a big way, a lot of our success

is generated by the people with whom we choose to surround ourselves. And I cansay for certain that without the help of my peers and mentors I would not be writingo you today.

-John D ChrismanDaytona State College

Having been an English major with a focus onliterature in my undergraduate education, mypriorities put research over pedagogy, althoughinevitably I would eventually have to developsome teaching skills if I ever planned on getting a

job. Luckily, I wound up working at my school'swriting center during my junior and senior year,even though I wasn't completely sure where thisexperience would lead me. The uncertaintymostly resulted from my own state of confusion

about what possibilities were available to me after I graduated. Should I go tograduate school, join the Peace Corps, or dismiss academia altogether and try to findwork in the private sector? These were the choices I had.

I actually wound up doing all three, and in each case the experience I had at theWriting Center provided great preparation for all of them. Right after graduating, Ifound a retail job at Borders because the customer service experience looked good on

my application. After a couple of months of that, I discovered that retail wasn't forme, and in applying to graduate school, the experience from working at the WritingCenter complemented my good grades enough for acceptance. Finally, and mostimportantly, the Writing Center gave me the unique opportunity to interact withstudents from various cultures in an academic way, which is an extremely valuableexperience as far as the Peace Corps is concerned. It is a volunteer position, but theapplication process is as competitive as some jobs. Undoubtedly, without theexperience of working at the writing center, I would not have the opportunity Icurrently have of living and teaching English in Thailand from 2011 through 2013.

No matter what you wind up doing, the experience of working at a Writing Centerwill always be a great stepping-stone to new and exciting prospects.

-Joshua CoblentzPeace Corps

(Continued)

Letter from the President(Continued)

Joshua Coblentz

2010-2011 Board Members*Past President: Jeanne R. Smith, Kent State University-Kent (OH)President: Jay D. Sloan, Kent State University-Stark (OH)Vice-President: Jackie Grutsch McKinney, Ball State University (IN)Secretary: Kim Pennesi, Seton Hill University (PA)Treasurer: Trixie Smith, Michigan State University (MI)

Conference Host: Kim Ballard, Western Michigan University (MI)Student Representative: Ashley Hartfik, Western Michigan University (MI)IWCA Representative: Barb Toth, Bowling Green State University (OH)

At-Large Member: Anthony Garrison, Kent State University-Kent (OH)At-Large Member: Jo Ann Vogt, Indiana University (IN)At-Large Member: Kim Cole, Lansing Community College (MI)At-Large Member: Megan Ward, Northwestern Michigan College (MI)

*Board positions as of January 30, 2011

Assessment touches a nerve for

many writing center professionalsfinding themselves pressured togive account for their viabilityand effectiveness in these tryingfinancial times, to defendthemselves and their servicesagainst threatened funding andstaffing reductions andeliminations. And yet, too, this is amoment of opportunity. We havethe chance to help shape the kindsof assessment that speak mostmeaningfully to the work we do, tohelp harried administrators and

faculty colleagues betterunderstand and appreciate ourefforts, but also, importantly, togauge and rearticulate our goals,strategies, and impact forourselves.

Formed at Youngstown StateUniversity in 1978, the East CentralWriting Centers Association is theoldest professional writing centerassociation in the world, predatingthe National Writing CentersAssociation (which became theInternational Writing CentersAssociation just ten years ago). Weare rightfully proud of the manyyears our organization has workedto support the professionaldevelopment of generations ofwriting center directors and tutors.At the same time, we look forwardto the challenges in our future. Tothe next 32 years!

-Jay Sloan, Ph.D.Kent State University, Stark


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I sat down at my computer to write this essay andinstantaneously pulled up my Facebook, Twitter, and Email. Iwas immediately reminded of the Writing Commons, and theconstant multi-tasking that is necessaryanswering the phone,

checking email, helping writers as they come inand I realizedust how much the Writing Commons has helped me learn skillshat reach far beyond the four walls of our center. As a

Managerial Marketing major, multi-tasking has becomenecessary for me. The business world requires constantattention at all times, as does my major.

With social media at the forefront of marketing, the ability tocommunicate accurately and effectively with your consumers isbecoming increasingly necessary. Just as we sit one-on-oneevery day in sessions, marketers now must be able to advertiseand communicate with consumers on a more personal level. Aswe identify issues in sessions that writers do not even realizehey need to work on, marketers must do the same with

consumers.

In addition to communication and problem solving, identifyinga target market (audience) is one of the most importantdecisions a marketer can make. All other important decisionspositioning, marketing mix, etc.are based off of the initialarget market decision; just as a paper is initially based off of a

writers intended audience. The marketer, just as the writer,needs to be aware of the background knowledge as well as theneeds of the consumer to most accurately convey an idea ormessage, or ultimately, from a marketers perspective, increasesales.

-Bethany SchlottererKent State University

BethanySchlotterer

2010 ConferenceReview Trixie Smith

The ECWCA 2010 conference hosted by Michigan StateUniversity and Lansing Community College pulledapproximately 280 writing consultants and center directors toMSU for a full program of concurrent sessions and events,including a keynote luncheon, a WAC/WID panel featuringfaculty from LCC and MSU, and a Friday night reception at

Michigan's Historical State Museum. Dr. Pam Childers, ourkeynote on Friday, gave an enlightening 40-year retrospectiveabout the work of writing centers along with her predictions forthe continued growth of centers and the partnerships they willmake in the future.

Feedback after the conference included these kinds ofcomments: I wanted to publicly thank and praise Jill Reglin,Trixie Smith, and Leslie Farris for hosting a great East CentralWriting Center Association Conference this past weekend.There were great presenters, eager attendees, a fun bash at alocal history museum, and good writing center talk all over theplace.

Hands down, the conference website and the conferenceprogram guide were the best I've ever seen. Anyone looking fora model for future conferences should really check out the site(http://writing.msu.edu/ecwca) and/or beg for a copy of theprogram from one of the hosts.

-Trixie Smith, Ph.D.Michigan State University

Contribute to Tutor Voices

Interested in sharing your thoughts abouttutoring? Sharing an idea? A success? Submit yourpiece to [email protected] by August 1,2011. Submissions should be less than 400 words.


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East Central Writing Centers Association Winter 2011

ECWCA is a newsletter published for the benefit of its members. Reproduction of its contents is permissible only for use by those writing center

professionals in our geographic region. All other reproduction requests should be made via e-mail at [email protected].

The Situation:

Once upon a time, we were a small writing center at a communitycollege. Then the recession hit in 2008 and our student population hassince almost doubled. This increase led my small staff of 15 tutors togrow to 45 tutors working at the main campus, a satellite campus, and

online.

hen our writing center was created in 2004, it was staffed withprofessional tutors. This move was made since we are a two-yearcollege, and the logistics of training a new staff every two yearsseemed impossible for the first Director, a part-time employee.

Currently, our staff consists of professional tutors who work up to 20hours per week, adjunct faculty who work between 8 and 15 hours perweek, and full time faculty who work one hour per week.

The Development:

ith everyones hectic and dissimilar schedules, it became impracticalto mandate regular staff meetings or require specific professional

development activities.

eve tried several professional development activities in the past thathave included message board article discussions, group projects, andindividual goal setting. These activities were not only difficult for thestaff to fit into their busy schedules, but they were difficult to maintainand oversee as the director, especially without regular staff meetings.

ith many tutors to manage (many of whom were brand new to ourschool), it became clear that I needed help in making sure everyonewas trained on our writing centers policies as well as in managingprofessional development activities. Thus, our writing centermentoring program was born.

Our mentoring program exists in order to help give both new andestablished members of our team a more clear idea of what our writingcenters working theories are, to create unity and consistency among

tutors, and to more clearly outline the duties and expectations of thetutors. Mentoring tutors are responsible for helping build anatmosphere where every member of our writing center is confident

and knowledgeable about his or her abilities. Mentoring tutors havethe freedom to adjust ideas as they see fit in order to suit the needs oftheir groups, and they are encouraged to keep their strengths andinterests in mind as they develop ways to promote discovery withintheir groups.

Mentoring tutors have to have worked in the writing center for at least

a year and must maintain a 15-20 hour weekly shift. Each mentor willwork at least once every week with the members of his or her group(generally, 5-6 tutors) but not necessarily at the same time. This makesit difficult for the groups to get together as a whole, but the mentorsare quite creative in keeping lines of communication open betweengroup members. Mentoring groups have developed Facebook profiles,collaborated on local conference proposals and presentations, andoften used observations as a jumping off point for discussion. To makesure every group progresses, I hold monthly meetings with thementoring tutors and require an informal end-of-the-semester reporton their conversations and projects.

ere hoping that as we continue to grow, we can also grow as awriting center, in numbers as well as professionals. So far, ourmentoring program has not only helped me maintain lines ofcommunication with my staff, it has also created a way for all tutors to

engage in professional development activities that aid in theirdevelopment as writing center tutors while taking into considerationtight schedules and other commitments to the college.

The Discussion Point:

By no means is our method of encouraging professional developmentperfect, but it seems to be working well, even as we continue toexpand. Along with my peers within the ECWCA network, I would beinterested to know what other writing centers in the area havedeveloped to encourage professional development among their staff. Ilook forward to reading what you share!

-Leah Schell-Barber

Call for Conversation - Leah Schell-Barber

The Writing Lab Newsletter

The Writing Lab Newsletter(WLN) is a bi-monthly publication (September to June) for those who work in the tutorial setting ofwriting labs or centers (or in writing centers within learning centers). Articles focus on writing center theory, administration, andpedagogy. The website, http://writinglabnewsletter.org , contains an open archive of past volumes.

Call for Papers: WLNinvites articles, reviews of books relevant to writing centers, and revisions of papers presented at regionalconferences. We also regularly include a Tutors' Column with essays by and for tutors. Recommended maximum length is 3000words or less (including the Works Cited) for articles and 1500 words or less for the Tutors' Column. Please use MLA format. Allsubmissions are peer reviewed. Send your manuscripts as attachments via e-mail to [email protected]. Foreditorial questions, contact Muriel Harris ([email protected]), editor, or Michael Mattison ([email protected]) or JanetAuten ([email protected]), associate editors.Subscriptions to WLNare U.S.$25 per year for subscriptions mailed in the U.S. and U.S.$30 for subscriptions mailed to Canada.International and digital subscriptions are also available by contacting [email protected]. Please orderWLN through ourWeb site: .

Contribute to Call for Conversation!

To contribute to this conversation or start a new one, [email protected].

Ecwca Newsletter-winter 2011

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