Students, staff and faculty from the Boise State Writing Center presented their research at the 2024 National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing in Tacoma, Washington.
This year’s conference theme, “NCPTW at 40: Where are We Now?,” reflected on the progress achieved in the field of writing center studies over the past four decades, while also addressing key issues and misconceptions that have persisted around writing center work since the inaugural conference in 1984.
To address this theme, members of the Boise State Writing Center discussed strategies for serving and forming connections with a disciplinary diverse campus population:
- McKenna Hunn (professional consultant), Alexa Porter (professional consultant), Rachel Jacobson (professional consultant) and Emily Thorsen (assistant director) delivered a panel presentation, “Proposing Productive Professor Partnerships.” Their discussion focused on how establishing partnerships with faculty across campus can enhance the mission of writing centers to support student learning while also addressing misconceptions about their services. Hunn presented the research of former Boise State writing consultant, Rachel Phillips, in a posthumous tribute.
- Melissa Keith (director), Kelby Andrew (graduate consultant), Taylor Krohn (undergraduate consultant) and Elizabeth Shockley (professional consultant) also delivered a panel presentation, “Nurturing Multidisciplinarity in the Writing Center.” This session explored how disciplinary backgrounds shape consultant and student identities in writing centers, aiming to present a multifaceted approach for creating learning environments that are inclusive of all academic disciplines.