Friday Workshops 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

These workshops will run concurrently.

This year's workshops are designed to appeal to three potential MAWCA audiences: undergraduate peer tutors, graduate-student administrators (and future or prospective graduate-student administrators), and professional administrators.

To add workshops to your existing conference registration, click here.


W1. The Transfer of Tutoring: A Workshop for Undergraduate Peer Tutors

No matter what you will do in your future, you will find ways that the work you did as a writing center tutor will transfer to it. That premise will drive this workshop. Working with a panel of present and former Peer Readers from Drexel, you will explore in depth what it is you really do as a tutor and how those core skills, abilities, philosophies, and, perhaps, tendencies, can transfer to other contexts, both in and beyond school.

Scott Warnock is Director of the University Writing Program at Drexel University and a past director of the Drexel University Writing Center.  He is the author of Teaching Writing Online: How and Why and numerous chapters and journal articles about online learning, computers and writing, and education technology. 


W2. Building Campus and Community Collaborations: A Workshop for Writing Center Administrators

This workshop on taking writing center work outside the writing center is designed for writing center administrators. As administrators, we are often called to work across disciplines, student/faculty/staff affiliations, and campus/community boundaries. Whether it’s with students applying for Fulbright, faculty teaching their courses, or community members in outreach programs, this work, while exciting and energizing, can be challenging to sustain. This workshop is an opportunity for administrators to think through and strategize how we can use our writing center philosophies and methodologies to build synergistic partnerships across our campuses and beyond.

Rachel Wenrick is Associate Teaching Professor of English and University Writing Program Associate Director for Strategic Initiatives at Drexel University. Wenrick built the partnerships necessary to launch Writers Room, a community outreach program, in 2014. She earned an MFA in writing from Columbia University’s School of the Arts and is co-author of Angelique Kidjo’s memoir, Spirit Rising.



W3. Negotiating the Middle Place: A Workshop to Equip Graduate Administrators

In this interactive workshop, we’ll identify the sometimes dizzying roles and duties of graduate student administrators in order to brainstorm strategies around time management, communication, and professional development. We will address these frequently asked questions: How do we accomplish long-term objectives and attend to the “right-now” demands of our centers? How do we create collaborative relationships with tutors while also mentoring them in a professional way? As student leaders in our writing centers, can we nurture our own professional and scholarly development? What kind of support should we expect from our writing center director?

We encourage current graduate administrators, future graduate administrators, and undergraduate tutors interested in continuing their writing center experience as administrators to join us in this exploratory workshop and discussion. 

Mid-Atlantic Writing Centers Association,  West Chester University English Department, West Chester, PA 19383

MAWCA is a 509(a)(2) public charity.

Liz Mathews (left) is a graduate student at West Chester University in the Teaching, Writing, and Criticism Track. She is a peer administrator at the West Chester University Writing Center charged with professional development for peer tutors. She is also a Professional Tutor at Villanova University.

Amanda Scheibner (right) is a graduate of the Master's program at West Chester University. She is currently the Assistant Director of the West Chester University Writing Center.


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