The Hortense Parrish Writing Center, located in the Andy Holt Humanities Building (H209), is a UT Martin student support facility named after a retired composition teacher who began the center with her work as a volunteer. The center is open to all students, and most students come on a drop-in basis. Each year, student visits to the center number approximately 8,000. Center assistants, working more specifically with students than with individual papers, help students become better editors and writers.
In addition to individualized tutoring, the Writing Center holds two writing workshops each week, hosts Talk Time (a special outreach activity designed to give non-native speakers an opportunity to practice language skills), and offers literary roundtable discussions, basic skills review, computer assistance, and general orientation sessions for First Year Initiative groups and other classes.
Through regular staff meetings, discussions with faculty, and feedback from a writing center student questionnaire, the center coordinators and staff continuously evaluate and assess the effectiveness of the center's student support. Among the changes which have resulted from the evaluation and assessment are the establishment of Talk Time, the addition of student assistants to help with basic skills review, and improvement of individualized tutoring sessions.
The center coordinators meet regularly, attend Student Success Center meetings, English department meetings, and professional meetings related to writing centers. Additionally, the coordinators are intensely involved in the Department of English and in service to the University.
Since the fall of 2003, the center has also been involved in the support for the English 100 and English 110 classes. Each student enrolled in these classes must spend one hour per week in the center.
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