Writing Center & WAC Participate in Fall for the Book Festivities

Writing Center Co-sponsors Personal Statement Workshop for Graduate School and Scholarship Applications

Joe Schall, author of Writing Personal Statements and Scholarship Application Essays, led two full-house workshops at Mason for students writing their personal statements for graduate school and for nationally competitive fellowships and scholarships.

The workshops were co-sponsored by the University Writing Center, the Postgraduate Fellowships and Scholarships Program, the Undergraduate Apprenticeship Program, and the Pre-Health Advising Program. In collaboration with the Postgraduate Fellowships and Scholarships Program, the writing center is pleased to support a personal statement tutor who works primarily with students applying for nationally competitive scholarships and graduate programs.

Tutors Write Poems “On Demand”

Festival goers interested in producing a poem didn’t have to ask politely; they could demand a poem from writing center tutors at the Poetry on Demand booth during Fall for the Book. Visitors filled out content questionnaires that tutors used to compose poems in a variety of genres. The tutors who participated are MFA poets.

Writers Center Themselves and Their Writing

In a crowded writing center, with all chairs filled and writers sitting crossed-legged on the floor, Professor Don Gallehr conducted a workshop on using meditation as a prewriting strategy (click here to read an article on Prof. Gallehr's 2005 Meditation and Writing workshop). He emphasized breathing techniques, proper posture, and methods of focus to help writers let go of their distracting thoughts and worries and to lead them to discover “what their writing wants to become.”

The George Mason Review Revives Its WAC Focus

Jennifer Janisch, writing center tutor and TA, and new editor of The GM Review, along with faculty advisors, Terry Zawacki and Anna Habib, is working on a new initiative to bring a WAC focus back to The GM Review. The GM Review staff distributed free copies of past issues to undergraduate students and faculty across the curriculum during Fall for the Book. Current issues are available in the bookstore.

The journal is calling for compelling essay submissions from all disciplines. Please let Jennifer know about strong student writing that should be a part of The GM Review by sending an e-mail to her at gmreview@gmu.edu.

Welcome to Our Peer Tutors...

...who span a wide range of majors:

• KT Ahner: History.
• Patti Dickinson: Linguistics.
• Adina Horvath: Government and International Politics.
• Tammy Najarian: Nonfiction Writing and Editing.
• Afra Saeed: Psychology.
• Molly Simons: Government and International Politics.
• Jeff Sears: Information Technology. Mason Topics Tutor.
• Matt Brooks: Global Affairs. Tutor at Mason’s Ras al Khaimah campus, United Arab Emirates.

And Congratulations to Our Writing Fellows

• Angela Panayotopulos: Writing Fellow with Prof. Rose Cherubin in Philosophy 301: History of Ancient Western Philosophy
• Ahriel Harris: Writing Fellow with Prof. Beth Schneider in SOM 301: Business Models, a gateway WI course.

This News from the Center is reported by Anna Habib, Assistant Director of the Writing Center.