Writing Centers at the Center of Change

Writing Centers at the Center of Change looks at how eleven centers, internationally, adapted to change at their institutions, during a decade when their very success has become a valued commodity in a larger struggle for resources on many campuses.

Bringing together both US and international perspectives, this volume offers solutions for adapting to change in the world of writing centers, ranging from the logistical to the pedagogical, and even to the existential. Each author discusses the origins, appropriate responses, and partners to seek when change comes from within a school or outside it. Chapters document new programs being formed under changing circumstances, and suggest ways to navigate professional or pedagogical changes that may undermine the hard work of more than four decades of writing-center professionals.

The book’s audience includes writing center and learning-commons administrators, university librarians, deans, department chairs affiliated with writing centers. It will also be useful for graduate students in composition, rhetoric, and academic writing.

Joe Essid, University of Richmond, studies the role of writing centers in curriculum development and the transition to college writing. He co-edited Identity and Leadership in Virtual Communities: Establishing Credibility & Influence. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2013. His articles have appeared in Kairos, Writing Lab Newsletter, and Educause Quarterly.

Brian McTague has been the director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Writing Center since 2013. His pedagogical interests include reflective and creative academic writing, teaching writing to non-traditional students, such as those with learning differences, and making writing education accessible to all, including via the community writing center model.