Laying the Foundation: Writing Centers and Student Affairs Foundational Documents

M2300

Writing centers have a storied history in academia as student support centers. Recognizing this fact, the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education lists Carino’s “Early Writing Centers: Toward A History” as a foundational text for the student affairs functional area of Learning Assistance Programs. Similarly, there are several documents that serve as foundation to student affairs that are useful to writing center professionals. The Student Personnel Point of View 1937 and 1949, ACPA Student Learning Imperative, Learning Reconsidered 1 and 2, as well as the NASPA/ACPA Professional Competencies are all viable sources for navigating higher education as a student centered writing center administrator, tutor, or consultant. We argue that these documents, and the practice that follows, allow for writing centers to find new strategies for navigating institutional politics and allow for the building of bridges with like-minded colleagues across an institution. This panel will serve to give context to the ideas mentioned above through a brief overview of the documents and provide a conversation on how a current first year, second year, and graduate of a student affairs program utilize the foundational texts in a writing center context to bridge the foundations of students affairs with that of writing centers.