Keynote Speaker: Dr. Jennifer Wells

Dr. Jennifer Wells is the Director of Writing at New College of Florida, where she also serves as director of the Writing Resource Center. Previously, Dr. Wells directed the Reading and Writing Center at Florida State University. Before moving into a higher education career, Dr. Wells was the Reading & Writing Specialist at Mercy High School, where she founded and directed their Reading and Writing Center. Dr. Wells is well known for her research on writing transfer, the important role peer tutors play in facilitating transfer, and the primacy of emotions and emotional orientation in student writing development. Dr. Wells’ article in Praxis (co-authored by Dana Driscoll) “Tutoring the Whole Person: Supporting Emotional Development in Writers and Tutors” makes a strong case for why and how peer tutors respond to “the whole person”--an approach that requires emotional intelligence, metacognitive strategies, and mindfulness practice. In her keynote address, Dr. Wells will draw on the pedagogical principles outlined in How Learning Works: 8 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching (Lovett, Bridges, DiPietro, Ambrose, Norman) to engage the audience in considering how writing centers support the processes of student learning in ways that cannot be replicated by non-human writing assistance.