Bradley Hughes (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Paula Gillespie (Florida International University), and Harvey Kail (University of Maine) for their co-authored “What They Take with Them: Findings from the Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project” (The Writing Center Journal 30.2 [2010]: 12-46).

Harvey Kail, Brad Hughes, and Paula Gillespie (left to right), 2011

The IWCA’s Best Article Committee was chaired by Steve Sherwood of Texas Christian University and included Matt Gilchrist, Elisabeth Piedmont-Marton, and Dawn Fels.

“What They Take with Them: Findings from the Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project” presents the major findings from narrative survey research with a sample of 126 tutor alumni from three universities, demonstrating that being a peer writing tutor has multiple, long-lasting effects on former tutors. Using the results from these surveys, the article argues that writing centers do more than help student writers; peer tutoring, with its training and experience in collaborative learning, is itself a powerful form of liberal education that writing tutors and writing fellows take with them into their lives and careers. The article provides writing center professionals with a “second claim” for funding and support.

The article was nominated by an august group of writing center scholars, including Kenneth Bruffee, Jon Olson, Muriel Harris, Melissa Ianetta, Lauren Fitzgerald, Brian Fallon, Mara Holt, Jody Cardinal, and Nancy Grimm. Some excerpts from their nominations:

“The publication of the article represents a monumental achievement for the field of writing center studies, and the article exemplifies all the criteria for the award: it addresses research and assessment issues of long-term interest in the field; it deepens understanding of the impact of peer tutoring; it documents the value of peer tutoring; the research model it advocates has been useful to many in the field, including large flagship universities, private colleges, and community colleges; it provides a model of collaborative and cross-institutional research for the field, and it makes a compelling argument incorporating the voices of many former peer tutors.”

“The research and scholarship that the authors undertake represents the very best of writing center research because it answers questions about peer tutoring that have long gone unanswered and provides evidence about peer tutoring in writing that until now we have only been able to explain as a hunch or through anecdotal evidence.”

“The essay is a carefully written, thoughtful, educationally significant work about students who, as undergraduates, served as peer tutors in their colleges. Many of these former peer tutors, now in their 30s, 40s, and some already in their 50s, have responded to research requests frankly and in discerning and perceptive terms. What their responses reveal is that peer tutoring is a transformative educational experience, giving students skills, values, and social engagement necessary for both a liberal education and a full life. The essay argues, among other things, that peer tutors can explain usefully not only what they “take with them,” but also how peer tutoring works, why it is necessary, what tutors and their students gain in learning to write by engaging with their peers, and why, for an adequate college education, peer tutoring is essential. . . . This article deserves the highest commendation.”

“The publication of this article represents a milestone in writing center scholarship. As the authors themselves note, the benefits of Writing Center employment for peer tutors has been a topic of long-term interest for Writing Center scholars and professionals for over 30 years. To my knowledge, however, we have not had a publication containing research that both illustrates the nature and broad range of these benefits and most importantly, demonstrates their existence with empirical evidence. By providing substantive proof that writing center employment fosters the development of various skills and intellectual and interpersonal competencies among undergraduate tutors, the authors make an original and significant contribution to writing center scholarship.”

“This essay promises to make a profound impact on writing center scholarship both by documenting the new important knowledge generated by PWTARP and by analyzing this data in an insightful and well-written analysis that speaks meaningfully to all writing stake holders: tutors, writers, directors and senior administrators.”

“It’s truly a major piece of research. It’s essential reading for all administrators who question the use of peer tutors or fund them insufficiently. . . . Moreover, this is research reported with solid theory grounding it. And it’s so well written and so clear.”

“My vision of our Writing Center’s purpose and value within the context of our overall institutional mission has been deeply influenced by the connections Hughes, Gillespie, and Kail have revealed between writing center employment and the nature of a liberal arts education.”

More on the Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project can be found here:
http://www.writing.wisc.edu/pwtarp/?page_id=13

Other nominated articles were:

Bromley, Pam, Kara Northway, and Eliana Schonberg. “Bridging Institutions to Cross the Quantitative/Qualitative Divide,” Praxis, Fall 2010, http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/?q=node/325

Harris, Muriel. “Making Our Institutional Discourse Sticky: Suggestions for Effective Rhetoric,” The Writing Center Journal 30.2 [2010]: 47-71).

Hirschhorn, Jane. “Bridging Quantitative Analysis with Qualitative Experience: Two Concerns Working Together for a More Comprehensive Perspective.” Praxis, Fall 2010, http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/?q=node/333

Prejean, Kelli. “Reaching In, Reaching Out: A Tale of Administrative Experimentation and the Process of Administrative Inclusion,” Praxis, Spring 2010, http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/?q=node/308

Schultz, Matthew. “Synch or Swim: (Re)Assessing Asynchronous Online Writing Labs.” Praxis, Fall 2010, http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/?q=node/326

Simpson, Jeanne. “Whose Idea of a Writing Center Is This, Anyway?”  Writing Lab Newsletter 35.1.

First, congratulations to Michele Eodice (University of Oklahoma), Anne Ellen Geller (St. Johns University), and Neal Lerner (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), who have been awarded the CCCC Research Initiative Grant ($10,000) for 2010-2011 for their study Seniors Reflect on Their Meaningful Writing Experiences: A Cross-Institutional Study.

Second, congratulations goes to The Writing Center Journal editorial staff for being awarded the Phoenix Award for Significant Editorial Achievement (see http://www.celj.org/phoenix for details).

Finally, Dawn Fels’ dissertation, “The Vernacular Architecture of Composition Instruction: What the Voices of Writing Center Tutors Reveal about the Influence of Standardized Instruction and Assessment,” has been selected to receive an Honorable Mention for the 2011 CCCC James Berlin Memorial Outstanding Dissertation Award. Congratulations!

Dissertation chair: Ben Rafoth, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

From the award letter to Dawn:

The selection committee noted that your dissertation tackles issues of standardized instruction and assessment and is impressive in its treatment of the writing center as both research and vernacular site. Envisioning the writing center in this way, you imagine peer tutors helping “to create institutional change” and in ways that reinforce your claim that they are “the unacknowledged ‘architects’ of composition instruction.” In this regard, you do well in detailing, in the “Discussion of Results” chapter, peer tutors’ keen understanding of difficulties students can face in coping with a range of standard demands composition instructors place on them. Your dissertation is most impressive in its sustained attention to its leading research questions and in the freshness of its portrait of peer tutors as caught between worlds, one pressing for standards, the other for students’ finding themselves as writers and learners.

The following policies should be noted:

*Nominated publications must be dated within the calendar year for which awards are being considered (2010).
*Publications may appear in print or digital venues.
*The IWCA welcomes submissions from scholars and researchers at all stages of their academic careers, including undergraduate students, graduate students, and adjuncts, but notes that all submissions will be evaluated in the same way and with the same criteria.
*The IWCA welcomes single-authored and collaboratively authored works.

Criteria for the IWCA Scholarship Awards:

*The publication addresses one or more issues of long-term interest to writing center administrators, theorists, and/or practitioners.
*The publication discusses theories, practices, or policies that contribute to a richer understanding of writing center theory and practice.
*The publication shows sensitivity toward the situated contexts in which writing centers exist and operate.
*The publication makes a significant contribution to the scholarship of and research on writing centers.
*The publication will serve as a strong representative of the scholarship of and research on writing centers.
*The publication embodies the qualities of compelling and meaningful writing.

Process:
Send your nominating rationale and attach a digital copy of the article in an email addressed to Roberta Kjesrud, IWCA President, and Steve Sherwood, Article Award Committee Chair: [roberta.kjesrud@wwu.edu; s.sherwood@tcu.edu].  If no digital copy is available to you, send your rationale and a complete citation.

Each year the East Central Writing Center Association (ECWCA) board members acknowledge the outstanding service provided by tutor/consultants throughout the region. Designed to celebrate the contributions of undergraduate-student, graduate-student, and staff writing center tutors, these awards serve not only to publicly acknowledge deserving tutor/consultants, but also to support and sustain the important work of writing centers for campuses and larger communities for another generation. Two awards, one in each category explained below, are presented each year.

Award Categories:

1. Outstanding Tutor of the Year Award
This award recognizes innovative approaches to tutoring/consulting, the quality of work with writers, and the articulation of a tutoring/consulting philosophy. While any member of the writing center staff who tutors may be nominated for the Outstanding Tutor of the Year award, it is generally given to those who hold tutoring positions.

2. Tutor Leadership Award
This award recognizes the leadership contributions of writing center tutors, including but not limited to administrative work, development of new programs, writing center training innovations, presentation of writing center work in academic and non-academic forums, work with special populations, and creativity. While any tutor may be nominated for the Tutor Leadership Award, it is generally given to tutors who hold positions of leadership in their writing centers: for instance, assistants to the director, assistant directors, and graduate students are the most likely candidates for this award.

Awards:
•    $200 Cash Award
•    Award Certificate

Guidelines for Nominators:
Individual institutions are welcome to nominate multiple writing consultants for both awards; however, each tutor/consultant should only be nominated for one award per year. Award recipients are ineligible for the same award in the following year.
Nominators must include the following three documents (saved in rich text format):

1. A short cover letter written by the nominee for identification purposes only
(on letterhead, if electronic letterhead is available) that
•    identifies her/himself/
•    names the category for which she or he is being nominated,
•    provides the nominee’s address and/or e-mail and phone numbers,
•    identifies the nominee’s institution,
•    provides the name and contact information for the faculty/administrator sponsoring the nomination.
(Note: This cover letter will be separated from the other two documents to ensure blind review.)

2. A personal statement written by the nominee. To ensure a blind review, the nominee should use plain paper (not letterhead) and avoid mentioning the institution. Provide first name and last initial as a means of identification, instead.
a. For the Outstanding Tutor of the Year Award, the personal statement should describe a clear philosophy of tutoring/consulting, exemplified through narratives about one or two significant tutoring/consulting sessions.
b. For the Tutor Leadership Award, the personal statement should delineate the activities that demonstrate the nominee’s leadership in the writing center.
3. A letter of support for the nominee from the sponsoring faculty/administrator. This letter should
•    make clear whether the nomination is for the Outstanding Tutor of the Year Award or the Tutor Leadership Award;
•    for the purpose of anonymity, be written on plain paper (not letterhead);
•    avoid reference to the nominee’s institution;
•    refer to the nominee by first name and last initial; and be written anonymously.

Submission Deadline: January 31, 2011, midnight
Submission Procedure: The nominating person should attach the above three forms saved in rich text format in an e-mail to

Jeanne R. Smith, Awards Committee Chair
jrsmith3@kent.edu

Questions?  Contact Jeanne at the e-mail above or by phone at 330.672.1788.

Please note the policies, criteria, and nominating process below.

Policies:

• Nominated publications must be dated within the period for which awards are being considered, January 2009-May 2010.
• Publications may appear in print or digital venues.
• The IWCA welcomes submissions from scholars and researchers at all stages of their academic careers, including undergraduate students, graduate students, and adjuncts, but notes that all submissions will be evaluated in the same way and with the same criteria.
• The IWCA welcomes single-authored and collaboratively authored works.
• Self nominations are not accepted.

Criteria:

1. The publication addresses one or more issues of long-term interest to writing center administrators, theorists, and/or practitioners.
2. The publication discusses theories, practices, or policies that contribute to a richer understanding of writing center theory and practice.
3. The publication shows sensitivity toward the situated contexts in which writing centers exist and operate.
4. The publication makes a significant contribution to the scholarship of and research on writing centers.
5. The publication will serve as a strong representative of the scholarship of and research on writing centers.
6. The publication embodies the qualities of compelling and meaningful writing.

Process:

As soon as possible but no later than June 15, send your nomination, including title and publisher information, along with a short rationale, to Roberta Kjesrud at the email address below.

Roberta Kjesrud
President, International Writing Centers Association
Western Washington University
516 High St., CH 03
Bellingham, WA 98225-9124
360-650-4566
Roberta.Kjesrud@wwu.edu

All nominations should be submitted electronically to Al DeCiccio, chair of the committee, at adeciccio@svc.edu and should include the following:

• A letter of nomination that includes the name and institution of the nominee, your personal knowledge of or experience with the nominee’s service contributions to the writing center community, and your name, institutional affiliation and email address.
• Detailed support documents (maximum of 5 pages). These may include excerpts from a curriculum vitae, workshop or published material, stories or anecdotes, or original work by the nominee.
• Other letters of support (optional, but limited to 2)

All materials must be received by Al DeCiccio, chair of the IWCA Muriel Harris Outstanding Service Award committee, by July 1, 2010.  The winner of the Award will be announced at the 2010 IWCA/NCPTW Conference, in Baltimore.

Read about the history of the MHOSA in Writing Lab Newsletter 34.7, pp. 6-7 .

Abstract of Thompson’s Article

Limited Time Full-text Access Courtesy of Written Communication and Sage Publications

http://wcx.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/26/4/417?ijkey=ea5bP2hSlztBY&keytype=ref&siteid=spwcx

Nominator’s Statement

“I nominate this article for several reasons: 1) It represents an exciting new direction in writing center research, both in terms of methodology (a microanalysis of not only language but gesture) and in terms of findings as it provides much-needed nuance in regard to concerns about tutor “directiveness.” 2) The author’s theoretical framework nicely captures a great deal of research and theory on student development and socially situated learning, advancing our understanding of those models. 3) The article is published in one of the premier peer-reviewed research journals in writing studies, offering evidence that writing centers are key and valuable research sites.”

Also Nominated for 2009

Babcock, Rebecca Day. “Research-Based Tutoring Tips for Working with Deaf Students.” Kansas English 93.1 (2009): 73-98. Print.

Charlton, Jonikka. “The Future of WPA Professionalization: A 2007 Survey.” Praxis: A Writing Center Journal 7.1 (Fall 2009). http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/praxis/?q=node/275. Web.

Lape, Noreen. “Giving Voice to Tutors’ Really Useful Knowledge: A New Plan for Writing Center Podcasts.” Writing Lab Newsletter 34.2 (October 2009): . Print.

LeCluyse, Christopher. “Medieval Literacy in the Writing Center.” Writing Lab Newsletter 33.10 (June 2009): 10-13. http://www.writinglabnewsletter.org/archives/v33/33.10.pdf. Web.

Ronesi, Lynne. “Theory In/To Practice: Multilingual Tutors Supporting Multilingual Peers: A Peer– Tutor Training Course in the Arabian Gulf.” Writing Center Journal 29.2 (2009): 76-94. Print.

Rowan, Karen. “All the Best Intentions: Graduate Student Administrative Professional Development in Practice” Writing Center Journal 29.1 (2009): 9-41. Print.

Best Article Committee

Steve Sherwood (Chair), Sam Van Horne, Elisabeth Piedmont-Marton.