SUBJECT:

Announcement of Writing Center

The Council of Provosts is pleased to announce the establishment of a new campus-wide Writing Center which will open in Fall 2012. The Writing Center will serve as a resource for undergraduate students at any level of study who seek support for writing assignments in any class across campus. Housed on the main level of the Mandeville Center, it will provide assistance in the form of both group workshops and individual tutoring by peer tutors.

The Writing Center's Director, Madeleine Picciotto, is exceptionally well qualified to lead this important new campus initiative. Dr. Picciotto received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Princeton University. She has over thirty years of experience teaching writing at institutions that include Princeton, UCLA, Spelman College, and the University of Massachusetts and has been active in writing center administration since 1988. She served most recently as Director of the successful Writing Center at UC San Diego's Warren College and as a Lecturer in the Warren Writing Program. She has published in the field of writing center practice and composition pedagogy in such venues as Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, The Journal of Teaching Writing, The Writing Instructor, and College Teaching, and is the author of a textbook for first-year students, Critical Thinking: A Campus Life Casebook, published by Prentice Hall. Among her other honors and achievements, she is a recipient this year of the Academic Senate Award for Teaching Excellence for Non-Senate Faculty.

Writing is a critical skill for students in every field of study. The Writing Center will offer UC San Diego students opportunities to improve their writing throughout their undergraduate careers. Students in upper division courses, including transfer students, will benefit from the Center's services along with those in their first and second years. Dr. Picciotto looks forward to collaborating with faculty to identify ways in which the new Writing Center can help meet the particular writing needs of students in their classes.

Please contact Provost Susan Smith (susmith@ucsd.edu) with any questions.

Barbara Sawrey Associate Vice Chancellor - Undergraduate Education