Before and After the Tutorial

Few would disagree that the tutorial is the central act of our writing centres. Faculty members from across the curriculum send students through our doors in search of one-to-one mentoring, group work, grammar instruction, and any number of other possibilities. As Writing Centre Administrators we take pride in the number of student-contact hours that we log each year. But what happens before and after the writing tutorial? What institutional relationships have we developed to help ensure not only that students continue to seek our services, but that faculty, administration, and the local community are aware of what we do? How do we craft our relationship with these various constituencies toward sustainability in our work?

With each relationship comes a different set of dynamics. How, for example, does a writing centre administrator focus her resources on supporting student writing while also engaging with faculty as to what that writing should look like? What relationships must be forged and maintained to enable these successful partnerships? How, for example, does the writing centre position itself in the area of student services in terms of assessment, accreditation and, ultimately, student retention and graduation rates? What relationships have we made, as writing centre directors, and, more importantly, what relationships do we need to develop in order to create the most productive contexts for our work? This collection works to describe essential writing centre relationships that have developed, to understand unique current writing centre relationships, and to consider possible important future relationships.