This Week in English | March 11 – 17, 2019
Volunteers Sought for Accepted Students Day
I’ll be leading a group of accepted students, their parents, and friends over to Neville Hall this Friday at 11am and would love to be able to introduce them to some of our current majors and minors. If you’re able to drop by the Wicks Room (Neville 304) and share your perspective on UMaine with members of the incoming class of 2024, please let me hear from you by the end of day on Thursday at english.chair@maine.edu. There will be snacks.
Writing Center Updates
Writing Center director Paige Mitchell writes in with this expansive update:
This semester we have twenty-six peer tutors—our highest number yet! We have fourteen new, nine returning, and three ELL specialists. Check out their websites in our About the Tutors page. Our tutor assistant director, Cara Morgan, and our tutor schedule coordinator, Chris Hunter, are graduating, and are also awardees for student employees of the year! We also have seven additional graduating tutors: Kylie Palmer, Alyna Stober, Brieanna Daisy Welsh, Emma Hutchinson, Sam Johnson, Eric Arnold, and Jennifer MacArthur! Congratulations and Bon Voyage!
Writing Center Workshops:
On February 27, Honors College preceptor Rachel Snell brought in two sections of her HON 111 for essay-drafting workshops. One class experienced a combined workshop with our Translingual section of ENG 101. Our ENG students explained their controlling purposes and lines of inquiry, and HON students discussed analyses of gender roles and technology in the Koran, Inanna, and the Odyssey!
On March 1, Susanne Lee, our new Executive in Residence at the Maine Business School, brought her BUA 480: Managerial Marketing students to the Writing Center for a workshop on drafting case study analyses.
Writing Center Promo Videos:
Our tutor assistant director, Cara Morgan, recently produced two brief videos capturing highlights of writing center tutorials in analytical writing, and creative writing. We’re currently producing two additional videos for Honors and ENG 101 tutorials. We’ll soon send them to professors and students in writing intensive courses to recruit clients and demystify what happens in the Writing Center. These videos are currently linked on our Writing Center homepage. Please feel free to watch and distribute them now: Here’s a quick video for How to Schedule a Writing Center Appointment.
Preview YouTube video Writing Center Tutorial Example – Analytical Essay
Preview YouTube video Writing Center Tutorial Example – Slam Poem
Writing Center Satellite Locations:
Lastly, in our quest to write where the writers are, we’ve opened Writing Center Satellite locations in student hubs across campus. We now have locations in the Commuter Lounge Memorial Union, ground floor; Student Accessibility Services, 104 East Annex; the First year and Transfer Center, 145 Memorial Union; the Multicultural Center, 312 Memorial Union, and evening tutoring in Fogler library.
Two commuting and non-traditional students staff our commuter lounge satellite: Brooke Curtis and Amy Dias. Amy is also conducting an IRB study on tutoring non-traditional students.
Olivia Welsh, who’s conducting an IRB study on tutoring students with learning disabilities, staffs our accessibility services satellite.
Katie Skvorak, who works with the FYTC through her RA position, is now representing the Writing Center there too! See her flyer here.
And Connor Ferguson, who’s conducting an IRB study on diversifying Writing Centers through outreach initiatives to minority populations, staffs our Multicultural Center satellite.
Thanks for reading and supporting the University of Maine’s Writing Center! We appreciate Professors who encourage all students to experience collaborative drafting and revising with trained peer-tutors.
Twitter: @UMaineWritingCe | Facebook: @UMaineWCenter | Instagram: um_writing_center | Book an Appointment Here: https://umaine.edu/wcenter/
English Faculty at Conference on College Composition and Communication
Scholars from all over the country will converge in Pittsburgh this week for the annual meeting of the Four Cs (#4C19) and three of our faculty members are on the program. Luke Redington is scheduled to present “Making Voice Manifest: Performative Writing Pedagogy Based on Vocal Music Master Classes” on a Thursday afternoon panel. Ryan Dippre co-chairs a special interest group meeting on “Writing Through the Lifespan Collaboration” later that day and speaks on the topic in a Friday panel. Dylan Dryer, who serves on the editorial board for College Composition and Communication, chairs an unconventional panel on “genre uptakes and ‘disruptakes’” on Saturday morning and presents his thoughts on “Literature and Writing in English Departments” later that day. The whole department wishes them safe travels and great conversations.
Maine Day Meal Packout
English major Emma Hutchinson is managing this year’s Maine Day Meal Pack-Out, which aspires to provide meals for 65,000 hungry Maine students (flyer attached). Donations can be made through the Outreach portal or through the UM Foundation and volunteers can register to help nearer to Maine Day.
Save the Date: Recognition Ceremony on Friday, May 3
The English Department’s end-of-the-year recognition ceremony will be held on Friday, May 3, in the Hill Auditorium, with refreshments available at 3:30 and the ceremony itself to start at 4pm. Please plan to join us in celebration of the great work students, faculty, and staff have accomplished this academic year!
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Enjoy the portents of spring that this last week before break offers, everyone!
Steve
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This Week in English 51 was sent to faculty, students, and friends of the department on Monday, March 11, 2019. If you would rather not receive these weekly bulletins, please reply with <unsubscribe> in your subject line. Earlier installments are archived on our website.
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