Reflecting, Rewriting & Recovering
April 1, 2023 | University of California, Merced
Schedule Overview:
8:00am - 9:00am: Check-in & Coffee/Breakfast
9:00am - 10:00am: Keynote Speaker
10:15am - 11:15am: Concurrent Session A
11:30am - 12:30pm: Concurrent Session B
12:30pm - 1:45pm: Lunch
2:00pm - 3:00pm: Concurrent Session C
3:15pm - 4:15pm: Concurrent Session D
Keynote Presentation: 9:00 - 10:00
Reflecting on Writing Center Wellness
Conference Center, Dr. Vikram and Priya Lakireddy Grand Ballroom
Dr. Genie Nicole Giaimo, Middlebury College
Concurrent Session A: 10:15am - 11:15am
The Spotlight Can Swivel: Racist Assumptions About the Tutor
ADMIN 360 | Roundtable
Siraj Ali, Sonoma State University
Leah Chavez, Sonoma State University
The Spotlight Can Swivel will be a roundtable discussion about addressing racial biases and assumptions that Writing Center practices and discourse make about Tutors. We will also discuss what role the race of the tutor has played in past tutoring experiences.
Talk Aloud: Exploring the Internal Processes of Consultants’ Asynchronous Responses
ADMIN 364 | Roundtable
Maureen McBride, University of Nevada, Reno
Allie Hamilton, University of Nevada, Reno
In this session, we will share how our center used talk aloud to learn more about our consultants’ thought processes and decision-making for their online asynchronous responses. Participants will be invited to explore this process and the subsequent benefits, challenges, and potential adaptations for their own work and centers.
Artful Recovery: Inviting Tutors Into Wellness
ADMIN 353 | Panel Presentation
Paula Barrington-Schmidt, California State University Stanislaus
Brittany Groves, California State University, Stanislaus
Jacqueline Hollcraft, California State University, Stanislaus
Joy Ok, California State University, Stanislaus
Reconnecting to writer and tutor identities was critical to Stanislaus State Writing Center’s sense of recovery as we moved to in-person operations. We integrated opportunities for creative expression to promote wellness and community. In this panel, tutors and leaders provide context and share their artful experiences including Writers Retreats and Open Studio.
The Benefits of Incorporating Greenbelt Writing in the Writing Center
ADMIN 350 | Panel Presentation
Schuyler Becker, California State University, Stanislaus
Autumn Anderson, California State University, Stanislaus
Andrea Wagner, California State University, Stanislaus
The First Five. The Slice of Life. These are examples of what Ralph Fletcher calls “greenbelt writing”—low-stakes writing that aspires to be free of revisions and instills a sense of ownership. Our presentation advocates for reflective habits and wellness in Writing Centers and composition classrooms through greenbelt writing.
Reflecting on Emotional Intelligence In and Beyond the Writing Center
ADMIN 362 | Panel Presentaion
Evelyn Roque, University of California, Merced
Genoveva Vega Gastelum, University of California, Merced
Isabella Statsinger, University of California, Merced
As writers, we know that emotions are undeniably intertwined with the writing process. This panel will examine the role of emotional intelligence in writing centers and how it impacts consultants, multilingual writers, and neurodivergent writers. We will explore how we can rewrite the role of emotion in the writing process.
Concurrent Session B: 11:30am - 12:30pm
Writing Back to the Self: Restorative Writing Practice in the Black Feminist Tradition
ADMIN 360 | Engaged Learning Experience
Jamie Moore, University of California, Merced
This session will introduce generative writing prompts to participants that are derived from Black feminist autotheory and critical memoir practice. Participants will learn how this tradition of writing can deepen narrative writing practice. As writing center consultants, these practices not only contribute to personal writing development, but have the potential to foster discussions of community building and healing with peers.
When Things Fall Apart for Tutors: Reflecting and Learning from Sessions Where We Cannot Do Enough
ADMIN 364 | Panel Presentation
Michelle Jones, Sonoma State University
Jack Van Dine, Sonoma State University
Barbara Beatie, Sonoma State University
This panel will work through a variety of scenarios in which a tutoring session falls apart. We will present and build strategies for managing such situations to best support both the tutor and tutee. We encourage attendees to enrich and complicate these scenarios with their own experiential knowledge.
Research and Writing Workshops: Rewriting roles, assessing reflections, and recovering collaboration at Stan State
ADMIN 353 | Roundtable
Kevin Augustine, California State University, Stanislaus
Emily Radza, California State University, Stanislaus
Manny Valenzuela, California State University, Stanislaus
At Stanislaus State, the writing center and library piloted a series of workshops led by a librarian and writing tutors to assist students with their research and writing needs. In the workshop, students select a series of research topic lectures followed by roaming assistance between the librarian and writing tutors. In this discussion, a librarian and writing tutors will share their experiences facilitating these sessions.
Making Better Writers or Writers Better?
ADMIN 350 | Roundtable
Tammie Lovvorn, Jessup University
In recovering from the pandemic, the importance of well-being reemerges. Recently, students have been sharing how visiting the Writing Center helps relieve stress. This discussion will examine how serving students’ emotional needs relates to our “Idea of a Writing Center,” while fulfilling our responsibilities to our students and ourselves.
Lunch: 12:30pm - 1:45pm
Conference Center, Dr. Vikram and Priya Lakireddy Grand Ballroom
Concurrent Session C: 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Rewriting our View of Language and Bilingualism: Spanish Language Circle
ADMIN 360 | Panel Presentation
Maria Camarena, California State University, Stanislaus
Rosa Naranjo Soria, California State University, Stanislaus
Soleil Jones, California State University, Stanislaus
Kamila Moreno, California State University, Stanislaus
In this panel, we will share the reflective language justice work the CSU Stanislaus Writing Center did in Fall 2022. This work allowed us to create our Spanish Language Circle. Join our panel to hear about our Writing Center’s revision of the way we value language and bilingualism.
Revising Our Writing Center: Student-Tutor Perspectives
ADMIN 364 | Panel Presentation
Nanda Warren, California State University, Monterey Bay
Alyssa Phillips, California State University, Monterey Bay
Alex Olivas, California State University, Monterey Bay
Lucas Bugarin, California State University, Monterey Bay
Brenden Derbish, California State University, Monterey Bay
This presentation examines our institution’s tutoring practices from the perspectives of four writing tutors who have been students before, during, and after the pandemic. Our guiding question: How do our revised practices challenge (or not yet challenge) assumptions embedded in the “grand narrative” (McKinney, 2013) of writing tutoring?
Tutor Training for Non-Tutors: How Writing Center Praxis Can Pave the way for Enhanced Collaboration in the Classroom
ADMIN 353 | Panel Presentation
Chloe Ray, University of California, Merced
Trevor Jackson, University of the Pacific
We plan to test the effectiveness of equipping FYC students with techniques usually imparted to Writing Center tutors and present the results of our pedagogical experiment. These lessons will be presented with an emphasis on transparency about how writing tutors are trained to look and talk about writing.
Plagued by Doubt: Regrounding Ourselves as Writers Who Love Writing by Reimaging Our Writing Center Practices and Writing through Imposter Syndrome
ADMIN 350 | Panel Presentation
Barbara Beatie, Sonoma State University
Jack Van Dine, Sonoma State University
Meghan Berggren, Sonoma State University
Claire Wilson, Sonoma State University
"When small communities organize… around a love ethic, every aspect of daily life can be affirming for everyone” - bell hooks
Our panel dialogues about Imposter Syndrome in academia, offering Writing Center teams opportunities to collectively brainstorm practices for renewal and regrounding organized around the community value: our love of writing.
Concurrent Session D: 3:15pm - 4:15pm
Yes, we (must) Speak Spanish: How Bilingualism in Writing Centers Combat Racism and Increases Representation of Latinx Students
ADMIN 360 | Individual Presentation
Luis Granados, California State University, Fresno
My research reflects how writing centers have harmed ESL (Latinx) students by not prioritizing the hiring of bilingual tutors. This decision has undeserved a majority of the student population in Hispanic-serving institutions. I will demonstrate that the incorporation of other languages in writing centers increases accessibility to the students.
Examining the Current State of CA Writing Centers Through a Critical Discourse Analysis Survey
ADMIN 360 | Individual Presentation
Robbie Hill, California State University, Fresno
This presentation will explore the current states of 35 CC(community college) writing centers to determine how coordinators, tutors, and students have responded to the lingering effects of the pandemic. A close analysis of language used by respondents will inform a discussion surrounding the importance of a tutor’s ever-changing roles within the center.
Rewriting the Narrative: How Consultants Can Influence Student Perception
ADMIN 364 | Roundtable
Madison Wuensch, University of California, Merced
Cesar Cuevas, University of California, Merced
Being tutors and consultants, we strive to constantly challenge any negative perceptions of writing centers by reinstilling our core values and mission statement. During the session, we will facilitate activities to reflect on, rewrite, and recover a more positive narrative of writing centers.
Reimagining Collaborative Learning
ADMIN 353 | Roundtable
Emily Bristow, University of the Pacific
Chiana Griswa, University of the Pacific
Aidan Low, University of the Pacific
In this 15-minute roundtable discussion, peer consultants will share how and why they developed varying assessment strategies to re-center their writing center’s mission of collaborative learning. These assessment tools allowed the writing center to identify gaps to shift the writing center environment into an inclusive alternative learning space.
Writing Outside the Center: How Reflective Writing in New Spaces Can Transform Writing Center Work
ADMIN 350 | Engaged Learning Experience
Mary Worthington, California State University, Stanislaus
Matthew Notary, California State University, Stanislaus
This session shares how a mission-driven and writing-for-wellness focus can create lasting partnerships across campus that invite writers and scholars otherwise missing from the writing center space. As we write, reflect, and collaborate together, each person will formulate their own action plan to create the partnerships needed on their campus.
