During Snively’s tenure of 18 years, Writing Mentoring was the only service offered by the Writing Center. This service entailed one-on-one interactions between students who needed help with a specific writing assignment and either Snively, one of the Peer Writing Mentors whom she had trained, or more recently, a Writing Fellow who is a recent graduate of the College.
“While we thought that the work that the Writing Center had been doing was important, we felt that there was a need for a more professional staff to provide writing instruction,” remarked Gentzler. “So [after Professor Barale and I took over], we decided to hire four Writing Associates and three Writing Fellows.” Each of the Associates has a writing specialty, an advanced degree and experience teaching writing instruction at the college level. The Writing Fellows are recent graduates of the College who excel in the writing process. These changes in staff have allowed for an expansion of services. While the Writing Center still offers Writing Mentoring as its standard service, it is no longer the sole service provided; it is now one of six.
The Writing Center offers a wide variety of workshops that pertain to the many different aspects of the writing process for students as well as faculty members. Thus far, more than 25 have been successfully held. Sustained and personalized one-on-one writing instruction is another of the Center’s new services. “We route students to the Associates who would be best for them based on their needs,” said Barale. ESL Instruction, once external to the Center, is now an integral part of it. The Associate who offers ESL tutoring also offers instruction in creative writing, the Center’s fifth service. Writing Counseling, aimed at assisting students who are prone to procrastination and anxiety, is the Center’s sixth service.
Gentzler emphasized that the Center’s offerings are not only for those who have trouble with the writing process: “The services are available to the whole student body and are not just for those who think of themselves as having ‘problems’ with writing. Everyone needs a reader — the more readers you have, the more skillful your writing will become.” She affirms that the Center can help even the best students hone their skills and refine their writing. To this end, the Center offers workshops for seniors writing honors theses, fellowship essays and internship applications. “These workshops help us target a group of students who may not have traditionally used the Center’s services.”
The number of students using the Writing Center has increased by a large margin over the past year. “We are up 47 percent over the past fall,” said Gentzler. “The fact that students are coming in again and again suggests that they are pleased with the help and advice that they are getting. We’ve been getting good feedback from faculty members who hear from students [about the Center].”
Brian Smith ’12 recalled his experience at the Writing Center last fall as being very positive. He needed assistance with an assignment for his First-Year Seminar, Pariscapes, with Professor Ronald Rosbottom. “The Writing Center really helped me out,” he remarked. “They proofread my paper, gave me new ideas, and took care of all the grammatical mistakes. It was definitely worthwhile going there.”
Barale attributed the Writing Center’s success in part to the support that the College has given as a whole. “We have a beautiful place in which to operate and for the most part things are good,” she said. “The College has been extremely supportive — everyone from President Marx to the custodians. Every single person has been as helpful as possible.”