We've been busy at the UVM Writing Centers. We recently celebrated International Writing Centers Week, reminding our students that they are welcome, seen, and valued at the UVM Writing Centers. The writing centers offer students a space where they can enter as themselves, with however they are feeling and whatever they are writing, knowing that our tutors are ready to support them. We also hope YOU know how much the writing centers value our alumni and hope this update provides you with a little cheer!
Featured Story: Introducing Our Interim Director
Holly Painter, a Senior Lecturer in the English Department is taking the reins as our Interim Director.
Holly Painter, a Senior Lecturer in the English Department is taking the reins as our Interim Director while UWC Director Sheila Boland Chira is on sabbatical for Spring 2025. Sheila’s sabbatical project centers around analysis of the Alumni Impact Survey many of you completed in 2022.
With Holly at the helm, the program is in good hands! Recent alumni may already know what a talented educator and wonderfully warm human Holly is from taking Holly’s popular English classes (like Harry Potter and Climate Change in Sci-Fi and Fantasy). Read more about Holly’s appointment and many accomplishments here.
More Stories from UWC
Generative AI
Since the release of ChatGPT and other generative AI large language models, we have been exploring the impact of GenAI on student writing and how we can support writers’ development. Here are a few things we’ve done or are working on:
- Recently, we added a student-facing guide for Understanding GenAI to our website, explaining some of the limitations and potential benefits, while emphasizing the importance maintaining agency instead letting technology take away a writer’s ability to think critically and make appropriate rhetorical choices.
- This semester, the 25 service-learning writing tutors enrolled in Exploring Writing Centers are undertaking a group project looking into how UVM students use GenAI tools, what UVM faculty teach them about these tools (or not), and how writing tutors can best coach students to make smart and ethical choices. We hope to share the results in next year’s newsletter!
- We continue to monitor usage of our services. Some writing centers feared they would see a decline in engagement if students chose GenAI tools over peer-to-peer feedback and support, but in 2023-24 we held 2072 sessions with 1055 students—a slight increase over 2022-23.
CRLA Recertification
The UVM Writing Centers were recently recertified by the internationally recognized College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA). Our tutor education curriculum, which includes two 3-credit service-learning courses followed by ongoing training for student employees, continues to meet -- or exceed -- CRLA’s rigorous standards. We are proud of the commitment our staff and tutors have made to providing a high-quality writing center experience. (By the way, if you add your CRLA credential to a LinkedIn profile or other professional networking site, you may be asked for our CRLA program ID, which is US-VT-0962.)
Giving Back
We know that you valued your writing center experience! If you are curious about how you might give back, here are a few suggestions:
- Writing tutors work on representing their writing center experience on their resumes and in their professional networking profiles as they prepare for life after UVM. If you haven’t already joined UVM Connect or requested to join our sub-group of Writing Center Alumni, we would love to welcome you! UVM Connect is a growing global network similar to LinkedIn but specifically for Catamounts. When you identify yourself as “Willing to Help,” current and former writing tutors will know they can connect with you, ask questions, and learn more about how to translate the skills they are building as writing tutors into opportunities beyond UVM—just like you did.
- Writing tutor alum Amy Carmusin (‘85) recently decided to give back through philanthropy and established a scholarship fund to honor former long-term Director, Sue Dinitz. Amy explains why: “I’m a proud Writing Center Tutor alum. Writing is an important life skill—we all write for personal, professional or academic purposes. The UVM Undergraduate Writing Center truly benefits tutors and those they serve. Sue Dinitz’s work with students to improve their writing skills, as well as her training of the tutors to do so, stayed with me long after UVM. To honor Sue, I created the Sue Dinitz of the Writing Center Fund, a scholarship fund targeted to in-state, undergraduate students who major in English, preferably writing. If you’d like to join me in honoring Sue’s legacy, you are welcome to contribute to this fund. Thank you to Sue! And to all of you for helping me honor her.”
Give to the Dinitz Writing Center scholarship fund. - Another way to give back philanthropically is to contribute to the Writing in the Disciplines and Undergraduate Writing Center fund, established by Sue Dinitz and long-term Director Jean Kiedaisch. This discretionary fund has been used to support writing tutors to do research, travel to writing center conferences, and share their findings. Now that conferences like the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing (NCPTW) and the New England Writing Center Association (NEWCA) Conference have come back from a pandemic pause, we look forward to reestablishing UVM’s tradition of writing tutor research and writing center conference attendance.
Give to the WID & UWC discretionary fund.
Did you know? You can follow us on Instagram @catswriteuvm