Re: released time for administrators

[Libby Miles <lmiles@uriacc.uri.edu>]

Tere --

Here are some answers to your query.  I'm new to this position, so I'll
answer to the best of my ability.

At 10:44 AM 10/5/98 -0500, you wrote:

>1.  what is your rank?  do you hold a staff/faculty/administrative
>appointment?

I am an assistant professor, and this is the first time the U of RI has had
a tneure-track faculty member directing the writing center.  They made the
switch (in part) because they felt that the staff directors were doing
well, but lacked the instituitional clout to make lasting changes.  For
example, as a faculty member I'm on routing lists for grants and such that
a staff member wouldn't be able to access.

>2.  what is your teaching load?  how much released time are you allowed to
>administer your center?

We are on a 2-3 load university-wide, and my writing center duties are a
1-1 equivalent (note, equivalent is a better way to put it than "release"
time).  This means I teach 1-2, mostly graduate and undergraduate rhetoric
and writing classes.

>3.  what size is your institution;  how many people staff your center and
>how many students do you see a semester?

The U of RI has about 12,000 students.  Our staff, by contrast, is four
tutors and myself.  No one (unbelievably!) has tracked our numbers until
this year. We do have work study help with answering phones and filling the
appointment book.

>4.  what programs, besides the simple task of training tutors and
>administering the smooth running of the center, are you also in charge of
>(wac, consultants to faculty, etc.)?

I do lots of faculty outreach across the university.  We have just
implemented junoir- and senior-level writing groups in other disciplines
like Econ and Engineering, and we are working on facilitating ESL writing
groups for intro-level classes.  The deans are hoping I'll eventually take
on the ESL program in its entirety (UGH!) and the undergraduate WAC
tutoring program.

Good luck with your report.  I hope you get more of what you need.

Libby




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Libby Miles
Director of the Writing Center
University of Rhode Island

lmiles@uriacc.uri.edu