News From the Center
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Writing Fellow Revives Psychology / Psi Chi Mentoring Program by Jim Sanford, Undergraduate Studies, Associate Chair, Psychology In 1996, as part of the Linked Courses Program (now Mason Topics), the Psychology Department established an e-mail mentoring program that paired juniors and seniors in Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology, with freshmen who had declared psychology as their major. Writing fellow Afra Saeed wanted to revive that program even though writing and psychology courses are no longer linked as they had been in the former program. For the e-mail link, the freshmen were enrolled in linked sections of ENGL 101 and PSYC 100 and, as part of their composition coursework, wrote on psychology-related topics, sending drafts to their Psi Chi mentors; they also prepared poster presentations on their research topics, an event attended by their mentors, parents, and the Psychology Chair and Associate Chair. In addition, the mentors corresponded regularly with the first year students with questions about the major, courses to take, careers in the field, and so on. When Mason Topics redirected its focus to thematic linkages over two semesters, the mentoring link was dropped. However, last fall, Afra, a writing fellow in Dr. June Tagney’s Psychology 324: Personality Theory and also the current president of Psi Chi, learned of the existence of the former mentoring program when she was talking to Terry Zawacki, who directs the Fellows program and who, with Dr. Sanford, had developed the earlier mentoring link. She discussed establishing a revived mentoring program with other Psi Chi officers and with Dr. Sanford. All were enthusiastic, and this spring fifteen Psi Chi mentors are paired with seventeen undergraduate students in a pilot of the revived mentoring program. Both mentors and mentees have given glowing evaluations to date. Psi Chi members plan to attend orientation sessions this summer to recruit incoming freshmen to participate in the mentoring program next fall. Afra’s success, while not directly related to her fellowing position in Dr. June Tagney’s course, is just one more illustration of the kinds of connections writing fellows make possible across the curriculum. We recognize the excellent effort of all our writing fellows and their faculty mentors:
Extending the Writing Center to the Learning Communities: A New Initiative We are pleased to announce a new peer tutoring course, NCLC 295, which gives first-year Mason Topics students the opportunity to work with students from the Mason Topics program and other first-year learning communities. Like CHSS 390: Peer Tutoring in Writing in the Disciplines, which is open only to upperdivision students, this course covers the theory and practice of tutoring. To design the course, the writing center collaborated with Mason Topics director Teresa Michals and faculty Ken Thompson. Residence Life was also involved in the discussion as the new initiative brings tutoring services to the learning community floors in the residence halls. We welcome our first Mason Topics tutors: Mike Dupuy (Systems Engineering), Shamama Moosvi (Government and International Affairs), and Jeff Sears (Information Technology). We also welcome Spring ‘08 Peer Tutors in CHSS 390:
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Personal Statement Workshop Proves to be a Big Success The Writing Center is pleased to announce that its collaboration with the Office of Post-Graduate Fellowships and Scholarships (PGFS) has proved to be a success. Among the seasonal writing and research workshops offered by the writing center, Kristin Von Kundra, our personal statement specialist sponsored by PGFS, designed and conducted the most highly-attended and well-received workshop in the GMU writing center’s recent history. The forty students who filled the room for the presentation component, and the twenty who stayed for the workshop section, reveals the high demand and need for a position like Kristin’s. The well-received presentation is available as a Powerpoint file on the Writing Center’s website. The WAC program is pleased to announce that the following faculty will be presenting papers at the 2008 International Writing Across the Curriculum conference in Austin, Texas:
This News from the Center is reported by Anna Habib, Assistant Director of the Writing Center. |