Update on the Writing Center

In student contacts and new initiatives undertaken, the MSU Writing Center has had an extremely productive year. After opening with a skeletal staff in the spring of 2005, the MSU Writing Center moved ahead full-throttle in the 2005-2006 school year. Over each of the first three semesters of operation, the number of tutorial sessions increased at a rate of nearly 45% per semester.

In the 2005-2006 academic year, the MSU Writing Center conducted 1,131 tutorials. Nearly 88% of those sessions in the spring semester reported that they had visited the MSU Writing Center at least once before. The high number of repeat visitors reflects the positive learning experience offered by the center. While we have not completely tallied the data collected from students who anonymously evaluated their tutorials, a cursory examination reveals an extremely positive assessment of the work of our staff and a strong satisfaction by the student-writers.

While the center principally draws from the first-year student population, an increasing number of students visit from our larger MSU community. We have responded to requests for presentations regarding the services of the center from professors in departments of sociology, chemistry, forest products, and engineering.

In order to inform students and faculty about the services of the center, staff members engaged in a variety of outreach activities. As representatives of the MSU Writing Center, staff members visited classes and distributed brochures and flyers around campus. We sent letters to campus Deans and Department Heads in order to reach faculty members. We included nearly 4,000 brochures in packets sent out to incoming first year and transfer students, and provided brochures for the Residence Halls Association, Pathfinders, and the Panhellenic Council. Articles featuring the MSU Writing Center have appeared in the student run newspaper, the alumni magazine, and the Arts and Sciences electronic newsletter. We also have a running infomercial on WMSV 91.1 FM.

In order to provide our staff with exposure to recent developments in writing studies and to potentially share their own research, the MSU Writing Center has joined the International Writing Center Association as well as the Southeastern Writing Center Association. We also participated in the University of Louisville’s Writing Center Research Project, which gathers data about writing centers from across the nation.

Given the remarkable increase in demand in 2005-2006, this year the center will work to capitalize on its popularity through increased outreach, training, and presentations at upcoming writing center conferences.

Tennyson O’Donnell, Director