Editor’s Note — This is a story in an ongoing Nebraska Today series that spends an hour (sometimes more, sometimes less) at campus locations to highlight events or services. For more information, or to suggest a topic for the series, send email to tfedderson@unl.edu or call 402-472-8515.
It’s 10:45 a.m. in 102 Andrews Hall, more popularly known as the Writing Center. A bright space decorated in hues of green, blue and purple conveys a welcome gathering place. Four students at two separate tables are speaking in hushed voices, but encouragement is clearly audible.
“It might be really compelling to say this first, followed by this paragraph,” Erin Bertram says, using a marker to draw an arrow on the paper. “A lot of what writing is, is trying on different outfit combinations and seeing what works the best.”
Bertram, a Writing Center consultant and English graduate student, is working with Emily, a fellow graduate student, on her doctoral thesis and organization of a section is the topic for the consultation.
At another station, an undergraduate student is reading her composition aloud to hear how it flows as a consultant listens and answers questions as they arise.
After about 10 minutes, the hushed voices give way to shuffling as those students finish up and additional students stop in to make consultation appointments with the receptionist between classes. The next group of students with appointments is arriving, setting up their places at the next available tables, and three more consultations begin.
It’s a typical morning in the center, which employs 22 student workers, both undergraduates and graduate students, to offer writing help to about 105 people per week. Based on the schedules of the student workers, there are two to four consultations going on at any one time during the Writing Center’s hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon on Fridays. There are also satellite hours at six additional locations, including the Adele Hall Learning Commons in Love Library.
Rachel Azima, the center’s director, said that during the 2015-2016 academic year, 1,163 students made use of the Writing Center’s services through 3,283 appointments. She expects that total to grow this year.
“We’ve been booked solid for at least two days out at a time pretty consistently since the beginning of the semester,” Azima said. “Being in the Learning Commons when that opened last year reminded people that we’re available and we’ve been able to continue that partnership.”
The Writing Center has always been housed in Andrews Hall, but the new space is much more conducive to the type of collaboration that happens in the center. Its bright new entrance greets students as they meander the hall’s first floor.
“We wanted the space to feel welcoming, as a space that belongs to everyone,” Azima said. “We were much more cramped in the old space and it wasn’t ideal for multiple consultations going on at once.”
The new space is outfitted with four tables for consultations, a lounge area, a reception desk and a six-computer desk so that consultations can happen in every form.
Azima said the Writing Center is open to the entire university community, including faculty and staff, to help with any kind of writing. Consultations can cover editing, brainstorming, proper citation, organization, forming an argument – anything someone needs assistance with.
“We saw students from at least 101 different majors last year, so we covered a broad range of topics,” she said.
Bertram said that’s one of her favorite parts of working as a consultant, along with getting to teach in a way that’s tailored to the individual.
“I teach classes as well, but I prefer the personal dynamic, because we’re having discussions that really matter to them,” Bertram said.
New students take up the bulk of the consultations by design, to help them get comfortable with using the center and adjust to college writing assignments.
“We reach out to undergraduate classes and give presentations during First-Year Experience and Transition Program for freshmen,” Azima said. “We want them to know right away that we’re here.
But Azima said the Writing Center shouldn’t be looked at as a place where bad writers go and no one is going to mark up compositions with red pen.
“We love to collaborate and be encouraging,” she said.
Appointments can be made in person, by calling 402-472-8803 or online at http://www.unl.edu/writing/scheduling.
