Re: wc's, faculty referral, student responsibility

[Catherine_Imbriglio@Brown.edu (Catherine Imbriglio)]

Beth, Sara, Twila:

Thanks for responding to my query.  As a (relatively) new coordinator, I
appreciate the information and the advice.

My (conflicted) response to your recommendations for hiring undergraduates:

Part of me would really like to have undergraduates working at our Center.
My staff wouldn't mind; we could sure use the help.  And since many of our
undergraduates are simply amazing, our Center would be stronger for their
presence.  But I have severely limited resources, so for now I can't
provide the kind of formal training that our undergraduates would need to
give them and our Center institutional credibility.

Part of me also knows, however, that many, many of the writers who come to
our Center feel comfortable coming precisely because it is staffed _only_
by graduate students.  These writers are seeking the greater experience and
expertise that graduate staff members can provide, not only for academic
papers, but for a whole range of writing -  med essays; cover letters;
abstracts; dissertations; grant or scholarship applications, etc.  Some of
these writers may be peers, i.e., fellow graduate students or visiting
scholars; most are not, i.e., undergraduates.  I guess what is bothering me
at the moment (though I'm having a bit of trouble articulating it even to
myself) is that while my staff and I may try to adhere to many of the
concepts of peer conferencing in that we try to think of our conferences as
"an exchange between writers at work," what we are doing is not exactly
peer conferencing, at least as I understand it.  And there are gains and
losses involved in this.  While I've read quite a bit about peer
conferencing, I haven't read much on other types of conferences that go on
in Writing Centers.  (Directors giving conferences, for example.)  Can
anyone refer me to some appropriate sources?

Also, Beth asked:

>How do the two programs interact at Brown?  Can students take
>advantage of both resources for the same class?
>

There is no formal interaction between our Writing Fellows Program and our
Writing Center.  Anyone, however, can come to the Center, even if s/he is
taking a class that has been assigned a Writing Fellow.  Once in a while
this does happen, usually if someone wants to follow up on a Writing Fellow
conference.

Thanks all,

Catherine



Catherine Imbriglio
Coordinator of the Writing Center
Box 1852 English
Brown University
Providence RI 02912