New Undergraduate Student Writing Center to fill in for Covel labs
The new Undergraduate Student Writing Center will open in the Humanities building on Monday. Bruce Beiderwell, director of writing programs (left), and Christine Holten, director of the writing center (right), sit in the new center that will fill the void left by the closure of Covel Peer Learning Labs last year.
Undergraduate Student Writing Center
The center, located in the Humanities building, opens Monday. It will be open second through tenth week each quarter.
The hours are:
- Mondays – Thursdays, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
- Fridays, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
SOURCE: Undergraduate Student Writing Center
Compiled by Kylie Reynolds, Bruin senior staff.
By James Barragan
Sept. 30, 2011 3:26 a.m.
A new student writing center will be operational starting on Monday, offering face-to-face tutoring and online sessions for undergraduates.
Located on the bottom floor of the Humanities building, the Undergraduate Student Writing Center fills in the space left by the closure of Covel Peer Learning Labs last year, said Bruce Beiderwell, director of Writing Programs.
University administrators approached Writing Programs about taking responsibility for a new student writing center to meet student needs, he said.
The center will offer 80 hours of individual peer tutoring sessions for students every week.
These sessions will run from second week to tenth week each quarter, said Christine Holten, director of the writing center.
In addition to face-to-face tutoring, the center will also offer online tutoring through a live chat tool on their website, Holten said.
The online tool will use a combination of Google Docs and Google chat, Holten said.
Students will submit their essays online, and their peer tutor will discuss it with them via Google chat at a scheduled time, she said.
The center is also seeking to implement drop-in tutoring sessions at other locations on campus in the future, Holten said.
Raquel Saxe, academic affairs commissioner for the Undergraduate Students Associated Council, said the new center will help students at every point of the writing process because peer learning facilitators can help with issues ranging from brainstorming to revision of final drafts of papers.
Judith Smith, dean and vice provost of undergraduate education, said the center may operate better than previous writing tutorial programs because it is run by directors who specialize in helping people write.
The center is currently funded by the division of undergraduate education, but is in the process of receiving funding from other sources, like the Student Services Fee, Smith said.
She added she hopes USAC will also contribute resources to the center.
Smith said the new center’s location and its hours of operation are more convenient for students, especially those who do not live in campus dorms.
The center will be open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
