写作工作坊，1987-1996
In 1986, English department chair Linda Hubert wanted to expand the department’s efforts to help students write better. 她开始探索建立一个写作中心的可能性. 第二年，巴特里克306被指定为写作工作室. Two students tutored their peers in writing for English and other courses. Hubert wrote a successful grant to the Kellogg Foundation for computers and furnishings. 在默特尔·卢因的帮助下, 学术计算主任, 她规划了设施并订购了设备.
第二年, the Writing Workshop evolved into a more formal tutoring system under 克里斯汀Cozzens’s direction. 导师从3个增加到7个. Weekly training meetings acquainted the tutors with the principles of teaching writing. 教师 members from various departments came to the meetings to discuss improving student writing.
从节目一开始, tutoring in writing was available for all students without cost for coursework in all departments. Efforts were made to develop tutoring as a valuable service for writers at all levels. The Writing Workshop multiplied in popularity and effectiveness from just a few hundred appointments each semester.
写作与口语中心，1996-2011
In 1996, 院长萨拉·布兰谢, 副院长露丝·贝坦多夫, 英语系主任克里斯托弗·艾姆斯, 也是写作工作坊的主任, 克里斯汀Cozzens, 讨论了扩大计划. 布兰希希望在整个课程中发展写作. Cozzens and Ames saw the tutors as the most significant agents of writing across the curriculum because they already worked with students and faculty in all disciplines.
除了, the projected growth of the college and the expectation of a large first-year class underscored the need for more tutoring hours. Several studies of student opinions suggested that they sought “more meaningful work” for financial aid and other on-campus jobs. Expanding the tutoring program seemed to be a reasonable and valuable response to these issues.
与此同时, the increased attention to the oral presentation in most courses raised the need to train students in public speaking. At a later meeting that included Department of Theatre and Dance members, 培训“口语”导师的想法应运而生. Dudley Sanders (Department of Theatre and Dance) drew an initial proposal.
In 1996, 口语中心于2007年在巴特里克开业, a classroom equipped with audio and video recording and playback equipment. 帕梅拉·特纳是演讲中心的第一位协调员. 在第一年, Turner and her staff modeled many of their practices on those established by the Writing Center but also sought to determine the unique identity of a center devoted to oral presentation 技能.
经过一连串的协调, 维罗妮卡·汉森-菲利普斯于1998年秋季接任该职位. 接替她的是温迪·阿特金斯-塞尔, overseeing a significant shift towards a more rhetoric-based approach to tutoring. Wendy initiated a successful faculty development program regarding using speaking assignments in class. 戴夫•劳伦斯, 下一任演讲中心主任, took this program and the center to a new level of expertise and effectiveness, bringing expertise in digital communications to the 写作和口语中心.
The expansion in 1996 also included new outreach programs for the CWS. The Course Tutors Program puts a dedicated tutor in a course to support student learning and to work with the instructor to strengthen the teaching of writing or speaking. The 合作伙伴 Program creates tutoring pairs for the semester or the year. It’s aimed at students who want to work regularly and consistently on writing or speaking (international or ESOL students, 资深论文作者, 有学习障碍的学生, 创造性的作家, 等.).
Cozzens continued in her role as the director of the newly named and expanded center, 由大卫·劳伦斯教授指导演讲中心. 这两个项目采用了相似的辅导方法, 全体员工定期聚会, 2001年1月, 我们在一起分享吗, specially designed space on the ground floor of the renovated 麦凯恩图书馆.
2012年及以后
2011年，大学范围内预算的大幅削减改变了CWS. 导师的工资预算被全勤工俭学计划所取代, meaning that only students with work-study may be hired as tutors using the college budget. 与过去相比，这是一个戏剧性的变化, 当一个专门的工资预算允许雇用最好的候选人, 不管他们的勤工俭学状态如何. 确保辅导质量保持高水平, 专款用于补充工资预算.
其他的变化破坏了工资结构, 让我们可以雇佣一个全职的演讲中心主任. 应对这些新形势, the CWS administrators and tutors agreed that all tutors should coach writing and speaking. There will no longer be separate writing and speaking centers but one. The 写作和口语中心 became the new name for the English Department’s Writing Workshop, 加入了新设计的演讲中心. The two programs were united for administrative, philosophical, and practical purposes.
2012年春天, a new hiring plan went into effect that asked candidates to demonstrate both writing and speaking 技能 and to reflect on the broad spectrum of communication theory, 技能, 以及面试期间的活动.
除了, we created the Patricia Collins Butler Fellow using funds donated by our late benefactor, 在美国最高法院为案件辩护的人. The Butler Fellow will teach public speaking courses and be the adviser and trainer for the CWS on matters related to oral presentations, 修辞理论, 和更多的. 这个职位, 专为高级博士生设计的, will give the recipient valuable experience as the staff of a peer tutoring center and will thus prepare them for a competitive job market.
The 写作和口语中心 seeks to make a comfortable, helpful, stimulating place for all. Workshops and other special events bring students to the center as well. These activities celebrate and deepen our shared understanding of writing and speaking. Walk-in hours on Monday nights allow students to come to the CWS for short visits. The physical space is open for all students to use as a place to do their work.
导师们对写作和口语教学主题进行了研究, 他们参加会议来学习和展示他们的研究. 他们观察同龄人也是他们教育的一部分. 这一重要功能是CWS培训计划的一部分, reinforcing the idea that we are always learning and helping each tutor remember what it is like to be a student.