Seven undergraduate consultants from the Boise State Writing Center presented research at the 2023 National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This conference’s theme was “Building Bridges and Breaking Clichés,” highlighting the unique position of writing centers to form connections with their diverse campus populations while challenging popular misconceptions surrounding writing center work. Students leveraged their diverse academic disciplines to foster discussions on forming connections between writing centers and their greater campus communities in line with this year’s theme.
- Jasmin Fryer (English teaching, creative writing minor) and Rachel Jacobson (creative writing) delivered their presentation, “Teaching WC Practices to Intro Creative Writing Workshop Classes.” Fryer and Jacobson discussed the results of their pilot program, conducted during the Fall 2023 semester, that introduced creative writing students to writing center theories on providing constructive, supportive feedback.
- Kelby Andrew (media arts; writing, rhetoric and technical communication), Markus Choi (finance), McKenna Hunn (business administration), Rachel Puzey (visual arts) and Zach Rojas (games, interactive media and mobile development) collaborated on a panel presentation titled “Innovations in Writing Center Theory: How to Navigate the Future of Artificial Intelligence from the Perspective of Multidisciplinary Students.” In this session, the group shared insights on how writing centers can foster meaningful conversations with students on effective and ethical usage of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT and BardAI – providing recommendations through the lens of their disciplines. This panel was sponsored by West Virginia University.
- Additionally, Melissa Keith, director of the Boise State Writing Center, and Gigi Smith, director of the College of Western Idaho Writing Center and former graduate assistant of the Boise State Writing Center, led a roundtable discussion titled “Mentorship Beyond Graduate School: Imagining New Support Structures for Early-Career Directors.” This session was also sponsored by West Virginia University.
Each student received a $400 travel grant from the Associated Students of Boise State University.