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Writing
Center founder returns as director in summer Steve Sherwood, an instructor of English, helped start the Writing Center when he came to TCU 14 years ago. Starting July 1, he will become its new director. “I enjoy teaching, but I am looking forward to enhancing and building the Writing Center,” Sherwood said. “The Writing Center is a great place now, but I, along with faculty and staff, plan to make as many improvements as we can.” Sherwood said some of the improvements include increasing office hours in the center, hiring more tutors, getting more involved with other departments and developing an online virtual center. “There has been more of a demand for the Writing Center this year,” Sherwood said. “We definitely need to increase our evening hours in the center. In order to do that we need to get funding to hire more tutors.” Jeanette Harris, the current director who will retire from her position June 28, said the Writing Center conducts more than 3,500 tutorials a year and has generally done more every year. She said the center has five staff members, four part-time professional tutors, an administrative assistant and about 10 to 12 peer tutors. Larry Adams, associate provost for academic affairs, said he is confident that Sherwood will be a leader in his position. “We decided to conduct a nationwide search,” Adams said. “We received and reviewed many applications and Sherwood came out to be the best qualified and well suited for the position.” Brooke Hessler, an adjunct professor of English, said she expects Sherwood to continue to broaden the range and depth of resources the Writing Center offers to students and faculty on campus. “Like a lot of other faculty, I too consult the Writing Center tutors for help with my work,” Hessler said. “So this support is really important to me.” Sherwood said it is important for the Writing Center to reach out and get more involved with other departments. “We have close ties to the English department, but we serve the entire campus,” he said. “My mission is to strengthen the bond with all other departments on campus.” He said they want the other departments to know what the Writing Center can do for them. Sherwood said they have been coming up with another future plan by having an asynchronous real-time virtual Writing Center. “This will allow anyone who needs help to meet with a tutor online in a MOO (virtual environment chat room) situation where you can have a virtual environment,” he said. “We don’t know when this could happen, because it all depends on the financial support. We are prepared when it happens because we do have tutors who know how to work that area.” Meredith Smith, a senior advertising/public relations major and a peer tutor for the Writing Center, said Sherwood has some big shoes to fill by replacing Harris. “Dr. Harris is a great director and I think Sherwood will keep up with the high standards of the Writing Center,” Smith said. “I think writing is really important no matter what field you are in. Having good writing skills leads to good speaking skills. It all helps in the professional world.” Raul
Martinez IV |
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