International Writing Centers Association
- Visit other writing centers. Look for a variety of systems and approaches.
- Read the writing center readings on the IWCA site, and the basic literature including The Writing Center Resrouce Manual from IWCA Press.
- Join a regional and the International Writing Centers Association, meet the members, and ask as many questions as you can.
- Subscribe to The Writing Center Journal and the Writing Lab Newsletter.
- If possible, join WCenter, the electronic conference devoted to discussion of writing center practice and theory.
- Develop answers to the following questions:
- What will be the mission and philosophy of the center?
- Where will the center be located?
- Who will staff it?
- How will they be paid for their time?
- How will they be trained? By whom?
- How will the staff be evaluated? By whom?
- Where will funding for the center come from? Institutional budget lines? Grants? Combination?
- Where will materials for the center come from? What kinds of materials are needed?
- Who will be the constituencies of the center?
- How will they be served?
- What will the policies of the center be?
- Who will direct the center? To whom will that person report? What will the compensation be?
- How will records be kept? What information will need to be gathered? For whom? For what purposes? How often? How will it be distributed?
- Write a goals and purposes statement for the center to clarify how your center will fit into your school's structures and mission.
- List the goals for a period of several years so you are sure of what you will aim for each year of operation.
(c) 2006 International Writing Centers Association