This look into a day in the life of a writing center comes to us from Allie Fijolek, Student Outreach and Community Associate at the Hume Center for Writing and Speaking at Stanford University.
It’s Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 6pm. We are just over halfway through the day—tutoring began eight hours ago and will continue for another six hours, ending at midnight. Over 40 undergraduate and graduate students 
have been scheduled for half-hour and hour-long appointments today with one of 15 writing or oral communication tutors—a typical day in the Center. Additional students attend drop-in tutoring with the other 17 tutors working today. (In all, we have 150 hired tutors, a team including undergrads, grad students, and lecturers.) A number of peer oral communication tutors (OCTs) conducted workshops on effective presentation skills earlier today in classrooms across campus, and several peer writing tutors will be working with late night tutees in our satellite dorm locations from 10 pm to midnight.
In our Lounge space, Betsy Palay is wrapping up a three-part series on “Strategies for the Visual Communication of Science.” (http://www.betsypalay.com/). This afternoon marked the final session. Betsy Palay is empowering STEM scholars to re-think the possibilities of using visuals to become better communicators. She says that visual thinking skills can be used “for conceptualization, collaboration, presentation, and education.”
In addition to the buzz of workshops a
nd tutoring, the Center is bustling with administrative activity. From reviewing tutor applications submitted by prospective tutors for the 2015-2016 academic year, to assisting student volunteer art curators who are updating our Center as a student art gallery space, and from preparing for a Valentine’s Day event to help students craft written and oral love notes, to greeting students and fielding questions at the reception desk, there is plenty of excitement to go around!
International Writing Centers Association 