re-posted from: NCPTW

Juli Parrish, Director of the University of Denver (UD) Writing Center was awarded the 2024 Ron Maxwell Distinguished Leadership Award at the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing in Tacoma, Washington on October 18. Parrish, who was unable to attend the conference, has directed the UD Writing Center scine 2015 and has a long history of engagement with NCPTW. The Maxwell Award selection committee (composed of former award recipients) recognized how her values around peer writing tutoring and collaborative learning extend throughout her work with NCPTW. Especially noteworthy has been her investment in mentoring peer tutors’ attendance and presentation at NCPTW and beyond. One nominator noted that she has “guided and mentored at least 70 undergraduate and graduate peer tutors to present at national and regional writing center conferences,” including NCPTW. This nominator went on to identify her impact on “countless undergraduate adn graduate consultants as they develop leadership positions within the writing center and beyond in their chosen professions.”

Those who nominated her for this award described with admiration Dr. Parrish’s history of supporting and mentoring peer writing tutors across a number of contexts, including the peer observation model she and her staff implemented during the Pandemic, the collaboratively developed asynchronous feedback model that increased accessibility particularly for neurodivergent students, and her leadership roles with Center Moves and the Rocky Mountain Writing Centers Association.

The Center Moves Editorial Team is thrilled to inform you that the second issue of Center Moves: A Peer-Reviewed Archive of Tutor Training Materials is live!

This issue centered on two tutor training topics: how to support tutors with linguistic justice mindfulness and with tutoring citation formatting. Please check out our three fantastic submissions!

The Center Moves Editorial Board would also like to thank our reviewers for this issue, Lori Jacobson, College of William and Mary; Jack Kenigsberg, Hunter College; John Bradley, Vanderbilt University; and Erik Echols, University of Washington, Bothell. Additional thanks to Jamaica Ritcher, University of Idaho, for being one of the founding editors of Center Moves and the submissions editor for this second issue. All of us on the board are sad to have her step away from Center Moves and wish her well on her future endeavors.

Applications for a research or travel grants from the Rocky Mountain Writing Centers Association are currently open. 

The application deadline is August 15, 2024. All members of RMWCA are eligible to apply for the grants.

To learn more, and to apply for the grants or seed money, go to https://rmwca.org/Travel-&-Research-Grants. You will need to log in to your RMWCA account to access the page.

If you have any questions, please write to RMWCA President Heather Graham at heather.graham@slcc.edu

Teaching English in the Two-Year College invites proposals for a special issue on writing centers in two-year colleges, guest-edited by Clint Gardner of Salt Lake Community College and Sarah Z. Johnson of Madison College.

Nearly twenty years ago TYCA published its Position Statement on Two-Year College Writing Centers.  The position statement was a collaborative effort of writing center professionals who attended the Two-year College Writing Center Special Interest Group at the International Writing Centers Association Conference. It was later adopted as well by IWCA (International Writing Centers Association), the only position statement adopted jointly by both organizations. At the time, these guidelines were greatly anticipated, as many two-year college writing center administrators (who sometimes were simply English faculty who’d been told “go start a writing center”) recognized that two-year contexts presented a unique set of parameters and opportunities. The document held up well over the years, giving helpful advice to both experienced administrators and tutors, and presenting newcomers to the field a theoretical and practical framework to build their programs.

However, the world has changed a lot in the intervening years—booms and busts in enrollment, various funding crises, and of course, a global pandemic. Through it all, writing centers remain essential to the success of many two-year writing programs and the students they serve. Yet the precarity remains as well.  

As TYCA revises its Position Statement on Writing Centers in Two-Year Colleges to reflect this new-but-same reality, we invite proposals that explore the contexts and labor of two-year college writing centers. What insights do these programs bring to the field of writing center studies, and what perspective can they provide to all teachers of English in the first two years of college?

Possible themes and topics of research include but are not limited to

• Staffing structures
  o   What are the implications, advantages, and disadvantages of mixed-staffing models?
  o   Peer tutoring (making it more available and possible)
  o   Providing training and ongoing support for peer and/or professional tutors
  o   Embedded tutoring

•  Peer tutor experience

o   Nontraditional “peers”

o   Writing Fellows in two-year colleges

o   Inter-institutional transfer and peer tutors 

• Labor issues

o   Gendered nature of the field

o   How are 2YC WCs administered?  What is their institutional location?

•  How the WC is utilized in new models of basic writing
•  History of community college writing centers
• Demographic studies (of both users and staff)
• Equity work of TYC writing centers (linguistic, racial, cultural, sexual and gender identity)
• Impact of enrollment declines on 2YC WCs
• Assessment, advocacy, and institutional recognition 

We encourage proposers to share stories of both success and disappointment. Any writing center administrator can tell you stories of imposed reorganizations, budget cuts, and other disasters. We learn from it all, and though it isn’t as common in the literature, we invite colleagues to share the hard-won wisdom that comes from failure.

Proposal Guidelines

• Proposals should (a) be grounded in relevant theory and recent scholarship and (b) have a practical application for tutoring, teaching, tutor-training, or program design and administration.
   Proposals should include a works-cited list that illustrates the types of scholarship that the finished piece will draw from.
• The audience for proposals and finished articles should be instructors and program administrators who teach English in the first two college years at institutions that serve a broad range of learners from diverse social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds.
• For full-length articles (~4000 words) proposals should be no more than 500 words long, not including the works-cited list.
• TETYC has long published Instructional Notes and for this issue, we invite undergraduate peer and professional tutors to propose short pieces exploring evidence-based, research-situated discussions of innovative tutoring practices and approaches.

Special Issue Timeline

 1. Authors should submit proposals to the TETYC Editorial Manager submission system by November 15, 2023. TETYC’s general submission guidelines are available here.

 2. Proposals will be selected in January 2024.

 3. Authors with accepted proposals must submit complete manuscripts to the TETYC Editorial Manager submission system by July 1, 2024.

 4. Authors will tentatively receive reviewer feedback by September 2024.

 5. Final manuscripts will be due to the TETYC Editorial Manager submission system by March 2025.

 6. Articles will be published in the December 2025 issue of TETYC.

For questions, please contact tetyc.editor@gmail.com.

 Relevant Scholarship

Aikens, K. (2019). "Prioritizing Antiracism in Writing Tutor Education." Johnson, K.G. & Roggenbuck, T. How We Teach Writing Tutors. Writing Lab News Letter. https://wlnjournal.org/digitaleditedcollection1/Aikens.html

Azima, R., Hixson-Bowles, K., & Simpkins, N. (2022). “Starting from Square One”: Results from the Racial Climate Survey of Writing Center Professional Gatherings. The Writing Center Journal, 40(1), 5–26. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27203753

Bennett, K. C. (2022). "Critiquing the Normative Discourse Circulated by Two-Year College Writing Center Websites through Critical Disability Studies and Technical and Professional Communication." Teaching English in the Two Year College, 49(3), 238-256.

Blazer, S. & Fallon, B. (2020). "Changing Conditions for Multilingual Writers: Writing centers for Destabilizing Standard Language Ideology." [Special Issue: Promoting Social Justice for Multilingual Writers on College Campuses]. Composition Forum 44. https://compositionforum.com/issue/44/changing-conditions.php

Daniels, S., Babcock, R. D., & Daniels, D. (2015). “Writing Centers and Disability: Enabling Writers through an Inclusive Philosophy.” Praxis. http://www.praxisuwc.com/daniels-et-al-131

Efthymiou, A. (2021)."What Else Do They Take with Them?(And What Do They Leave Behind?): Understanding Writing Center Conferences as Opportunities for Tutor Transfer." WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship, 46(1-2), 10-18.

Herzl-Betz, R. & Virrueta, H. (2022). "Perdiendo Mi Persona: Negotiating Language And Identity At The Conference Door." [Special Section: Undergraduate Research Experiences]. Pedagogy 22.1 [Special Issue: Undergraduate Research as a Future of English Studies], 169-172. https://doi-org.unco.idm.oclc.org/10.1215/15314200-9385624 

Missakian, I.L. (2015). Perceptions Of Writing Centers In The Community College:  Ways That Students, Tutors, And Instructors Concur And Diverge. (Doctor dissertation, University of California, Irvine). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, 3717093.

Munn, V.L. (2011). Moving Beyond Basic Skills In Community Colleges: The Beliefs And Practices Of Culturally Responsive Peer Mentors.  (Doctoral dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles).  ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, 3483186.

Naydan, L.M. (2021). "What are You?: Rethinking Frames for Contingent Writing Center Work." Speaking Up, Speaking Out: Lived Experiences of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty in Writing Studies (pp. 59-69).

Pantoja, M.V. (2010) An Analysis Of Writing Tutoring Assessment In Four Community College Writing Centers. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, 3410759.

Perdue, S. W., & Driscoll, D. L. (2017). "Context Matters: Centering Writing Center Administrators’ Institutional Status and Scholarly Identity." The Writing Center Journal, 36(1), 185–214. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44252642

Sévère, R. (2019). "Black Male Bodies in the Center." Denny, H.; Mundy, R; Naydan, L.M.; Sévère, R. & Sicari, A. (Eds.), Out in the Center: Public Controversies and Private Struggles, Louisville, University Press of Colorado (pp. 43-50).

Valentine, K. and Torres, M.F. (2011). "Diversity As Topography: The Benefits And Challenges Of Cross Racial Interaction In The Writing Center".  Writing Centers And The New Racism: A Call For Sustainable Dialogue And Change. Ed. by Greenfield, L. and Rowan, K.  USU Press. 192-210

Valles, S.B., Babcock, R.D., & Jackson, K.K. (2017) “Writing Center Administrators and Diversity: A Survey.”  The Peer Review, 1.1.  https://thepeerreview-iwca.org/issues/issue-1/writing-center-administrators-and-diversity-a-survey/ 

Vick, N., et al. (2015) "The Effectiveness Of Tutoring On Developmental English Grades." Community College Enterprise, 21(1), 11-26.

Wells, J. (2016). "Why We Resist 'Leading the Horse': Required Tutoring, RAD Research, and Our Writing Center Ideals." The Writing Center Journal, 35(2), 87–114. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43824058

The Rocky Mountain Writing Centers Association is pleased to announce that its members have selected Theories and Methods of Writing Center Studies: A Practical Guide edited by Jo Mackiewicz and Rebecca Day Babcock.  Members and other insterested parties will be gathering online throughout the summer to discuss the book.  Mackiewicz and Babcock have agreed to join the final session.  See our Events page for more information.

The International Writing Centers Association announced on September 24, 2019 the candidates selected to fill posts on the IWCA board.  Among those selected were RMWCA members Elizabeth Kleinfeld and Eduardo Mabilog.  Elizabeth currently serves as RMWCA Treasurer, and Eduardo is a peer consultant at Nevada State College.  Congratulations to Elizabeth and Eduardo!

The Executive Board of the Rocky Mountain Writing Centers Association is proud to announce that it has officially endorsed International Pronouns Day 2019:

“We endorse International Pronouns Day, which seeks to make respecting, sharing, and educating about personal pronouns commonplace. Referring to people by the pronouns they determine for themselves is basic to human dignity. Being referred to by the wrong pronouns particularly affects transgender and gender nonconforming people. Together, we can transform society to celebrate people’s multiple, intersecting identities. We encourage colleges, schools, workplaces, and local organizations to hold educational and empowering events on International Pronouns Day.”

International Pronouns Day 2019 will be held on October 16, 2019.  We encourage RMWCA individual and institutional members to visit the IPD website for useful links about the day:  https://pronounsday.org/

RMWCA President Elect Lisa Bell has been awarded the 2019 IWCA Dissertation Grant for her project “Training Tutors to Scaffold with L2 Writers: An Action Research Writing Center Project.”  Congratulations to Lisa! 

On Thursday, June 20, 2019, writing center directors from all across Utah gathered in Logan, Utah at Utah State University to exchange ideas and discuss writing center theory and practice.  Topics included community outreach and marketing; tutor recruitment and development; supporting discipline-specific centers; online tutoring; accessibility and inclusion; obtaining financial support; collaborating with high schools; and graduate student involvement. The symposium concluded with a robust question and answer session, and a luncheon in USU's posh Skyline Restaurant. The event was completely funded by USU, and organized by USU Writing Center staff.  Attendees were very appreciative of the generosity of both the school and the staff. While the event was not officially sponsored by RMWCA, the association still encourages such events around the region, and seed money is available in order to help development. If you are interested in hosting a similar event (or any sub-regional event), please contact your RMWCA State Representative, or any of the Executive Board Members for more information.

In order to support further sharing, the organizers set up a Google Drive where anyone involved in writing center work (within Utah, the RMWCA region, or beyond) may drop materials.  Session notes may be found in the "Utah Writing Center Director Symposium '19" folder. The notes are very thorough, and should prove useful to those who could not attend the symposium.

We've got some exciting news!  RMWCA has developed a new system to award research and travel grants, as well as seed money grants.  While we have previously given by travel and seed money grants, RMWCA has not awarded research grants. Our process for awarding the grants was also pretty informal. We've formalized the process in order to ensure that grants can be awarded in a timely and equitable fashion in future.

As an organization, one of the key goals of RMWCA is "to facilitate community and professional development among RMWCA members."  Research and travel grants do not be paid back. Seed money grants are used to develop local/regional conferences within RMWCA boundaries and need to be paid back within in 90 days after the event. All members of RMWCA are eligible to apply for the grants. The selection committee will consist of the RMWCA Executive Board, and there are two deadlines for the grants:  January 15and August 15of each year. Applications will be evaluated and funds will be dispersed based on the following criteria:

• RMWCA membership
• Financial need
• Representation of an underrepresented demographic
• Not having received funding within the previous year
• Quality of application
• Benefit for general membership (outcomes, inclusion, etc.)

To apply for the grants or seed money go to https://rmwca.wildapricot.org/Travel-&-Research-Grants.  You will need to log in to your RMWCA account to access the page.

Thanks for RMWCA President Elect Lisa Bell for heading up the efforts to revise our process.