By Amanda Vernon (’17)
JACKSON, Tenn. — Union University will provide students with a writing center in the fall of 2017 as a part of Union's reaffirmation of accreditation.
The writing center will be put into place following a Quality Enhancement Plan involved in the reaffirmation.
“The Quality Enhancement Plan is what we as an institution are going to do to enhance student learning,” said Christine Bailey, chair of the QEP development team.
Union’s previous QEP established the university Honors Community in 2010.
Bailey, associate professor of English and director of composition support, along with English professor Patricia Hamilton, submitted a proposal for the writing center with two goals in mind.
“The first objective is to strengthen foundational writing skills,” Bailey said. “The second is to strengthen discipline-specific writing skills.”
Union President Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver said the QEP fits with Union’s strategic plan to develop leaders for the future and to enhance research opportunities for all students.
“It really engages all of us in developing writing, both in our students and among our faculty and staff as well,” Oliver said. “We know that writing is so central to all of life, and we want to be sure that as we are sending out our students and hoping for them to be leaders, a part of that will be very effective writing.”
The writing center will hire student tutors across disciplines and have faculty liaisons to help them. The plan for the center will extend beyond the current writing lab on Union’s campus, which is open twice a week, and allow students more opportunities to work with tutors in person and online.
“Our student base at Union has a lot of strong writers,” Bailey said, “but even strong writers can benefit from research assistance within their discipline."
While the writing center’s location is under consideration, it is set to open in the fall of 2017. A search for a director for the writing center will begin in the spring.
