For the first time in its history, the FMU Writing Center (WC) was open for business during the Summer I and Summer II semesters.
The WC was open from May 30 to July 2 for the Summer I semester, and it was open from July 9 to August 8 for the Summer II semester. Open on abbreviated hours, the WC offered its services Mondays through Thursdays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A staff of five undergraduate students and two faculty members ran the WC.
The WC’s summer hours were funded by a Federal Department of Education grant.
Dr. Meredith Reynolds, Assistant Professor of English and Assistant Director of the WC, was pleased with the opening.
“I was really excited that the Writing Center was open this summer,” Reynolds said. “I believe that the number of students who took advantage of our resources confirms our belief that the Writing Center is a valuable campus resource.”
Although the WC did not offer workshops or workouts during the summer semesters, it offered extended tutorials for students. Reynolds commented on the advantages of this schedule.
“Summer classes are so compressed, with students responsible for so much work in so little time,” Reynolds said. “As a result their time to plan, write, and revise their papers is compressed as well. We also extended our appointment times, meeting with students for a full sixty minutes, which allowed for more in-depth analysis and revision.”
Junior English-liberal arts major Brooke Rogers worked as one of the undergraduate tutors in the WC this summer. Rogers explained the impact of having the WC available.
“I think the biggest advantage of having the WC open this summer is that we were able to reach out and help students we normally couldn’t,” Rogers said. “Students in summer courses cover a lot of material in a shorter amount of time, and that can be stressful.”
Lavon Davis, one of the summer tutors, graduated at the end of the summer. Davis was thankful that the WC’s summer hours allowed for his employment.
“Since I had an independent study over the summer, the WC provided me with a rewarding employment opportunity while completing my last requirement for graduation,” Davis said.
In addition to offering normal tutorials, the WC was able to offer online tutorials for a limited number of students enrolled in online courses through the university.
The WC began giving online tutorials in the spring of 2012 to education and nursing students, but it soon hopes to offer that resource to all FMU students. Reynolds explained that these tutorials were especially helpful.
“Most students enrolled in online classes were working elsewhere, either part-time or full-time, and many online students live outside Florence, some even outside of the state,” Reynolds said. “Making the WC available as a resource to these students was important.”
Reynolds went on to thank the staff for their work over the summer.
“I really enjoyed working in the WC this summer,” Reynolds said. “I hope that we find a way to open next summer, too. I also want to thank all the tutors for their dedication and hard work; I appreciate all they did to make the summer WC such a success.”
The WC is located in Founders Hall 114C and will open Monday, August 27.