The FMU Writing Center is kicking off this new academic year with some changes and helpful updates to improve their impact on the Patriot community.

The face of the FMU Writing Center for many years has been professor Dr. Jennifer Kunka. Recently the university selected a new provost, Dr. Peter King. The former position King held as Associate Provost for Advising opened up and Dr. Kunka filled that position. With Dr. Kunka gone, one of the most notable changes to the Writing Center is the new director, Dr. Meredith Reynolds. Reynolds is an associate professor of English and formerly served as the Writing Center’s assistant director. She said she is excited to take the position and is looking forward to a busy and successful semester.

“Dr. Kunka has developed a very strong Writing Center during her years as director, so I don’t foresee making any big changes as a result,” Reynolds said. “What she has created works and works quite well.”

The student staff members of the Writing Center worked on projects this summer to improve the program for all students.

Writing Center offers assistance night and day. With more than 10 new online video tutorials — and more to come — answering some of the greatest grammar questions is just a click away.

Senior Writing Center staff member Rebekah Davis leads this project and hopes it will allow for easier access to help for students outside of the normal hours of operation.

Brandi McBrayer, a senior English professional writing major, also worked to create videos for the Writing Center website, but rather than focusing on general writing issues, McBrayer’s videos were oriented towards professional development and professional writing.

Another project, led by senior staff member Christina Xan, is aimed at informing students of all the services the Writing Center has to offer and encouraging more students to utilize those services. Xan has developed a video to be shown at orientation sessions and to individual classes to help students understand how the Writing Center can assist them with all of their composition needs.

Morgan Hicks is continuing work on revamping the Writing Center’s “Write on Target” program. This program is a semester long program that allows English 101 students to meet with a tutor once a week to help them establish good writing skills for their college classes. The project is still in the works and changes should be finished by Sept. 12.

“Each of these projects should help to increase not only the number of services that the Center offers, but also the quality,” Davis said. “We’ve all worked really hard to make the Writing Center a valuable resource for other students.”

Even with all of these new changes, many things remain the same. The office is still located in Founders Hall 114C. Appointments can be made to meet with a tutor in person Monday – Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and appointments to meet with a tutor online can be made Sunday – Thursday evening, usually 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. The Writing Center will still offer several different workshops throughout the semester aimed to help students improve their writing skills in various mediums. So, the next time you’re stuck in a rut with a pesky paper, make an appointment with the Writing Center and let staff help you through it.

For more information on the Writing Center and the services they offer or to book an appointment, visit http://www.fmarion.edu/ academics/wcenter.