Community College Survey

[Jennifer Jordan-Henley <JORDAN_JJ@A1.RSCC.CC.TN.US>]

For a variety of reasons, community college writing centers face many 
problems a university center does not. These problems influence 
strategic planning as well as day-to-day operations.

We are conducting a survey similar to the Oklahoma State University 
survey compiled by Sharon Wright and published in the _Writing Lab 
Newsletter_ in June, only this survey is geared specifically to 
community colleges nationwide.

When this information is compiled, I will be glad to e-mail or snail 
mail the general results to those who responded.  All specific 
information regarding salaries, staff, or internal politics is 
confidential, or, if you wish to leave a question unanswered, feel 
free to do so.

Please send your responses to me at the address below by *January 30.*  
Include your full address at the bottom of your post (my software does 
not automatically give me the name of the sender in the header).  
We hope that this survey will help us to justify what we consider some 
of our most basic writing center needs and that it will serve as a 
benchmark for future planning. Certainly, as we share information, it 
will be interesting to see how many of us solve our problems.

Thank you.

1.	Name of institution and location.

2.	Approximate number of users per semester (or year).
	Average enrollment per semester (or year).

3.	Describe the physical layout of your writing center.  Is it 
primarily a writing lab with lots of space for sitting down the 
students and working side by side, or is every available surface taken 
up by a computer?  Is it attached to another area?  What is the 
approximate square footage?

4.	Describe your tutors.  Are they writing tutors or computer 
tutors?  Are they students, interns/graduate students from a nearby 
university, volunteer community members, adjuncts, or faculty?  Or do 
you have one or two people who handle all writing consultations?

5.	What are your hours of operation?  Are you open all year?  Can 
community members also use your center?

6.	Does your center sponsor other activities which support the 
college (student newspaper, literary magazine, special workshops, 
etc.)?

7.	Does your center engage in any profit-making activities, 
including regular classes, community or industry workshops, resume 
services, or writing consultations?

8.	Are your students primarily remedial/developmental, 
composition, or a combination?

9.	Is the writing center under a specific department (if so, 
which one), or is it a separate entity, such as a library or a 
learning resource center might be?

10.	To whom does the director report?  Is the director an integral 
part of the center, working directly with students and tutors, or is 
the director an administrator outside the center?

11.	What academic rank does the director hold?  Is tenure 
required?  Does the director also teach? What rank and experience is 
required for the job of the director?  What is the salary of the 
director (or range)?  Does the director have additional administrative 
responsibilities?

12.	If other faculty/administrators work in the center, what is 
their salary and required rank and experience?  Is tenure required?

13.	What are your funding sources?  How much is your budget?  Who 
develops the budget?

14.	How many support staff are assigned to the center (not 
tutors)?

15.	How many tutors are assigned to the center?  How much are they 
paid?

16.	How are the tutors trained?

17.	Do you have branch campus writing centers?

18.	What computer equipment do you have?  Are your computer 
terminals networked?  Is your center on-line?  If it is, do you use 
on-line resources for your students?  How?

19.	What computer software do you use?

20.	How do you evaluate your effectiveness (student surveys, 
quality teams, advisory boards)?  If you conduct surveys, how often?

REMINDER: Please include your name and e-mail address.  Thanks!

 _________________________________________________________________
|Jennifer Jordan-Henley, Director      	jordan_jj@a1.rscc.cc.tn.us| 
|The Oak Ridge Writing Center		(615) 481-2026            |
|Roane State Community College		Fax: (615) 481-2018       | 
|545 Oak Ridge Turnpike						  | 
|Oak Ridge, TN   37830                                            |
|"It is solemn to remember / that Vastness / is but the Shadow of |
|the Brain / which casts it."--from the letters of E. Dickinson   |
 _________________________________________________________________