Re: writing center directing as teaching

[ngrimm@mtu.edu (Nancy M. Grimm)]

Nancy

Just some quick thoughts about your situation. I was responsible here for
developing the learning centers in math, chemistry, and physics as well as
directing the writing center. Initially (about 5 years ago) I faced a
similar situation in that the plan was to lay off professional staff. I
compromised by taking on the responsibility of developing the other centers
and keeping the staff to assist in the development. 

What I did was to use the writing center model to improve the other
centers--more training for the tutors, more emphasis on developing
relationships with students, more reaching out to meet students' needs,
more careful record keeping to support continued funding, more development
of content-specific expertise, more development of expertise in learning
disability support, esl support (which affect all the disciplines). So
rather than weaken the writing center or lose staff, my proposal was to
keep the professional staff and put them to work developing the other
centers. We were able to get grants to support some of this development.

One important key was to maintain very close relationships with the
academic departments and continued faculty involvement. In our university,
it was essential to keep the budget in the academic rather than student
services area. It was also important that each center develop their own
training program, their own handbook, their own record-keeping system. We
worked with them, respecting their expertise, using our experience and our
models to assist them in developing a program that was well-suited to their
discipline. It worked much like a good writing across the curriculum
program.

These "new" centers have developed well and are immensely popular with
students--and as a result we all have a higher profile on campus. They are
not perceived as remedial but as smart ways to meet the rigorous
requirements here. Last year's senior class named us the beneficiaries of
the Senior Gift. 

I developed a team learning model in chemistry and math, initially for
underrepresented students, but now there are waiting lists to get on the
teams.  

The budget battles still have to be fought, but there's lots of evidence
now to fight them with. 

Five years later we now run on a loosely confederated model with a rotating
chair of a learning center steering committee. The other centers have their
own coordinators now, often people with other departmental
responsibilities--teaching or administrative. My aim all along was to
develop ownership in each department. Sometimes I had to start with a
undergraduate student as coordinator. But one thing this effort had
convinced me of is how much undergraduates are capable of when the way is
cleared for them to do good work.

Now, three other departments are working to establish learning centers.
They always begin assuming that centers run on their own--and are initially
confounded by the intellectual and administrative work that it takes to get
one to work well.

I think you can make the argument that a community college needs AT LEAST
two professionals to get a good program working. What I recommend takes
more work from those two professionals (at least initially), but if my
experience is any indicator, you can rely on some of your experienced
student tutors to help you develop a good overall program if consolidation
is inevitable. You can also do a lot to improve conditions for student
learning.

That may be more advice than you wanted. Let me know if there are specifics
you'd like to know more about.

Nancy

>I need advice here.  My writing center budget and program are under severe
>attack because of college-wide enrollment decline (even though our number
>of students has remained fairly constant).  The first line of attack is to
>remove one of our two professional positions.  It was grant-funded for 5
>years, and institutionally funded for the last year on a temporary basis
>with the plan to conduct a national search early this spring.  In January,
>however, a hiring freeze was imposed, so we've been scrambling every since
>to find other funding to no avail.
>
>It may sound as if a community college would not need 2 professionals
>leading its writing center, but part of what we do is to administer 60-70
>sections of a one-credit support module that about half our students are
>required to take along with freshman composition.  These sections are
>staffed by 35-40 student tutors, working in small groups under our
>direction.  In addition, we perform about 1200 hours of individual
>tutoring for students in any discipline.
>
>The writing on the wall seems to be saying that the intention of the
>administration might be to consolidate our individual writing tutoring
>with the newly created tutoring center.  I know that many of you work in
>what are called learning centers, and I'm hoping that you might share your
>experience with me of how that arrangement works.  I've always held the
>idea that tutoring writing (and reading) are somewhat different
>propositions than tutoring other things, that it is less interested in
>"skills" and content and more devoted to the idea of a relationship with
>language.  I'm sorting out what stance to take in case I'm approached with
>such a suggestion, and I need help from my WCenter buddies.
>
>Nancy Leech

Nancy Grimm, Director, MTU Writing Center       work 906-487-3265
Humanities Department                           fax 906-487-3559
1400 Townsend Drive
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, Michigan 49931