IWCA Annual Conference 2026 

Theme: Common Ground: Reorganizing, Expanding, Collaborating
 October 29 to October 31 2026

The consolidation of writing centers with other services or into other service areas is an increasingly common practice. From a pragmatic administrative point of view, it may make sense to co-locate services, merge various learning centers together, or incorporate writing centers into other sites like libraries and learning commons. There can be numerous benefits to co-locating or consolidating services, both for writing centers and for other academic units like libraries. Mahaffy notes, for example, “As writing centers sometimes are given periphery status, often living on the margins of the English department, locating in the library provides them a more central and prominent location,” (174) while Elmborg argues, “Libraries, meanwhile, are undergoing a crisis of space…the nature of library space is changing, and libraries are actively exploring ways to create space for collaboration and education” (9-10). Similar partnerships and collaborations exist in international contexts as well. Godínez López writes about the institutional placement as well as the collaboration efforts of three writing centers in Mexico, and how each writing center has had to adapt or redefine itself in order to continue to support students (3). Ultimately, Godínez López identifies, among other factors, a strong pedagogical foundation and the centrality of tutoring as important for writing centers maintaining their continuity (29).

Yet, as contributing authors to Writing Centers and Learning Commons: Staying Centered while Sharing Common Ground note, “What may seem like an obvious fit to university administrators—to merge writing centers with other, similar student services—brings up many long-held anxieties on the part of writing center professionals” (3). These anxieties emerge most notably in writing centers’ historical marginalization, both as sites of writing and as a method of writing support. As Elizabeth Boquet notes in “‘Our Little Secret’: A History of Writing Centers Pre- to Post-Open Admissions,” the writing lab in the early 20th century was most legible as a method of instruction, contrasted with the writing classroom; however, as the century wore on, writing labs became readily recognized for their sites. She argues that, between the 1920s and 1940s, there’s “evidence of the tension emerging between the institutional space of the writing center and the individual pedagogies enacted in that space” (467). I argue this tension continues today and is, perhaps, most clearly exemplified in the move to consolidate writing centers with other learning support services, libraries, and learning commons. When we’re called to change how we operate, how do writing centers transform and innovate to continue to support students?

Unifying a writing center with other services poses some perceived risks for the writing center, especially in terms of identity and practices. In “How are Learning Centers Working Out: Maintaining Identity During Consolidation,” Malkiel Choseed asserts, “A writing center director must convince stakeholders that the links to our discipline and proven expertise are worth maintaining” (19). That is, even as the space of a writing center shifts and changes, there is need and value to maintaining writing center pedagogical practices, values, and beliefs. As writing centers are unified or co-located with other services, their mission may necessarily expand, creating uncertainties around how to position writing center work in the context of the institution. 

Yet, mergers and consolidation position writing centers to expand on their missions, evolve their methods, and amplify their impact on student success.

In her Peripheral Visions for Writing Centers, Jackie Grutsch McKinney asserts, “the writing center grand narrative has narrowed our gaze to such a degree that others do not understand the complexity of our work and we continue to face untenable positions because of it” (85). She ultimately argues for an expanded vision of writing center work and how we in writing centers communicate what we do. While she briefly discusses multiliteracy centers and centers for writing excellence, other types of consolidation, especially into new spaces or organizational structures, present opportunities for the writing center to demonstrate its value and why the work we do is so critical for student success. As Choseed notes, it can be a time for writing centers to lead.