New home reintroduces campus to CEW

If you’re walking through Baldy Hall and wondering what happened to the Center for Excellence in Writing, it has moved across the North Campus to Norton Hall.

Its new home in 17 Norton has more space to bring in students for help with their writing. The move also has given the center an opportunity to reintroduce itself to the campus.

“This semester we’re really just trying to make people aware of where we are and also reach out to new users of the service because I think during the pandemic people got disconnected to campus resources,” says Rhonda Reid, the center’s director.

Previously housed on the second floor of Baldy, the Center for Excellence in Writing has offered one-on-one writing consultations to the campus community since its inception in 2013.

One misconception is that it’s only for those taking writing courses, Reid says. But it’s open to everyone at UB in every discipline and workspace — from undergraduates struggling with an English paper to graduate students working on a dissertation to staff or faculty writing grant proposals.

“Writing is something that happens all over campus and all writers need support because writing is challenging and a really central endeavor of the university,” Reid says.

Nearly 40 qualified undergraduate and graduate students staff the center, providing nearly 3,000 consultations a semester. Each session is 45 minutes. Virtual consultations also are available.

Individuals can stop by to make an appointment or schedule one online. The center also has a walk-in Writing Lab inside Tutoring and Academic Support Services, located in 128 Capen Hall.

“We have a lot of users that come three times a week — that’s the maximum,” Reid says. “International students, especially, have really found us to be a useful resource. There’s a lot of pressure on them in writing classes.”

The center takes pride in its welcoming environment and students tend to feel less intimidated discussing their writing with peers, says Amy Greer, one of the graduate writing consultants.

“It’s fun to talk to students about their writing projects and do more with them than just, ‘This comma should go here,’ or ‘This sentence is too long,’” says Greer, a PhD student in the English department.

“It’s more like, ‘What is your research about? What is important about it? And how can we make that show up on the page?’” Greer says. “So, you get to have a really cool kind of collaboration with them.”

A 45-minute appointment goes by quickly and, by the end, writers tend to leave having more direction and inspiration, says Ella Lyons, an undergraduate writing consultant.

“So, you can spend 45 minutes in your own living space looking at your paper feeling sort of vacant about it,” says Lyons, a theatre major.

“Or, you can come into the center.”