Bell TowerOctober 16, 2024

The Writing on the Wall

If there’s one thing she could tell students, Dr. Mary Lutze, director of the Writing Center would say: “Anyone’s writing can be improved with instruction. Even I use the Writing Center.”

The UAFS Writing Center, on the edge of the campus but with the perk of ample parking, is available to all students, staff, and faculty. Since its formal opening in October 2020, it has seen 16,500 visits, suggesting Lutz’s advice is finding an audience. Initial funding came from a $2.5 million federal grant from Title III funds, which aim to increase success, persistence, and retention, especially among students with financial need.

Among those 16,500 visits are nearly 5,000 scheduled tutoring appointments with more than 1,700 unique users. Students can use the space to study or meet even if they aren’t working with a writing tutor.

The eye-popping numbers “come from our kiosk system,” said Lutze, assistant professor and director of the Writing Center. The kiosk system, which tallies ID card swipes, tracks occupancy, although it misses people on tours, faculty who don’t swipe, and students who forget to swipe or forget their cards. Thus, she believes the 16,500 is an undercount.

Students from all three colleges turn to the Writing Center, including high school students enrolled in concurrent credit courses.

“I’d like to see every student on campus use the Writing Center,” Lutze said. “There is a long-standing idea of the Writing Center as providing remedial services, and you won’t use the Writing Center unless you are bad at (writing).”

To offset that idea, Lutze and assistant director Jeffrey Warndof visit classes to explain the center’s services. They point out that they both use the center and that faculty members, even those with strong publication histories, use it.

Tutors work with students throughout the writing process, from brainstorming, thesis statements, and outlines to transitions, citations, and formatting. They help the student determine that the final product meets the assignment requirements and offer guidance with finetuning.

Lutze said that working with the Writing Center from the beginning of a semester can pay off for students in unexpected ways.

“They won’t surrender to procrastination; they won’t feel the need to use generative AI (artificial intelligence) because they are up against a deadline,” she said.

Students use non-directive tutoring strategies, Lutze said.

“We want it to be crystal clear that when a student comes in with a paper and then submits it that it is their work, not the Writing Center’s.”

Tutor training is an essential part of Lutze’s responsibilities. She said she has adapted a semester-long course to a six-week training session, and students must do two observed peer-tutoring sessions and two online sessions before they are scheduled to work.

Lutze adapts training to reflect recent best practices for writing centers. Sessions address how to handle ChatGPT and other AI uses.

She also works with tutors to provide a welcoming attitude to diverse learners, including nontraditional and international students, students from different majors, and students with disabilities. Two bilingual tutors can work with native Spanish speakers who are writing in English and native English speakers who are writing in Spanish. She said she’d like the center to be used more as a literacy source offering conversation practice.

The original Title III grant was for five years, but because the COVID-19 pandemic delayed implementation, the university has requested a sixth year. Under the terms of the grant, the Writing Center is open only to UAFS students, faculty, and staff. In the future, Lutze would like to see the client base expanded to people in the community, including alumni.

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