Interview with Patrese Nesbitt, Walden DrPH student and 2019/2020 Writing Center Intern

In 2019, Patrese began a 9-month internship with the Writing Center, during which she learned about writing center pedagogy, giving writing feedback to students through our paper review appointments, and attending the International Writing Centers Association conference in Columbus, OH. We are grateful Patrese was interested in the internship, as she is also working full time as a faculty member and pursuing her Doctor of Public Health from Walden. She is also now a published author on the Writing Center blog with her blog posts “The Art of Storytelling: Mastering Paraphrasing” and “How to Manage Procrastination and Brain Fog,”where Patrese brings her unique perspective as student, faculty member, and writing center intern to give students writing advice.

Join us in learning a bit about Patrese, how she manages so many responsibilities in her life, and her tips for other Walden student writers.

Writing Center: What are you studying at Walden? 

Patrese: Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

Writing Center: You are also a faculty member at your institution. What do you teach? 

Patrese: I am an Assistant Professor and I teach Health and Physical Education at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky. 

Writing Center: How do you spend your free time? 

Patrese: I spend my free time reading, working out, traveling with family and friends, watching make-up and hair tutorials, or studying about mindfulness and health. 

Writing Center: You have a lot going on: How do you keep track of everything or keep yourself organized? How do you make time for it all? 

Patrese: I have and stick to a “to-do” list! I have a “to-do” list at home which is a dry erase board, updated daily. My “to-do” list is just a notebook at work. As you can imagine, I’ve gone through a lot of notebooks!

Writing Center: What is your approach or goal to one-on-one paper reviews and when giving students writing feedback? 

Patrese: I want to make sure the student knows that I am aware of their own personal goals of their paper review appointment. I do so by stating their goals at the start of their paper review appointment. I may also state their personal goals throughout the paper; sometimes I may ask “what do you think?” to the student to show that I am engaged but I am open to their interpretation and suggestions as well. It is a learning experience for the both of us!

Writing Center: Why or in what ways do you think students can benefit from a one-on-one paper review appointment? 

Patrese: One-on-one paper reviews are an exceptional way to have an individualized review based on your goals, tasks, and abilities. I’ve benefited from a one-on-one appointment at the very beginning of the DrPH program, and it was superior! While I had the opportunity to attend writing centers at my prior institutions, one-on-one paper reviews, in an asynchronous format, feels as if the writing instructor has time to review my personal information without making me feel embarrassed!

Writing Center: What have you benefited the most from or learned the most about during your Internship with the Writing Center? 

Patrese: I increased my knowledge base on the number of tools the Writing Center has towards improving writing. The increased knowledge provided from the internship will help with the success of my dissertation. 

Writing Center: What’s one thing you’ll take away from the Internship and use in your writing at Walden or your teaching at your institution? 

Patrese: Appointments! More students should take advantage of making appointments with the Writing Center to achieve their goals as well as staying on task in their course. I will actually make more appointments! So, Beth, Amy, and Max will certainly see more of me! 

Writing Center: What is the most helpful advice you’ve received about writing? 

Patrese: I find myself typing how I talk, which is ok, but I firmly believe in the process of proofreading/self-editing. You learn so much about your writing style and it helps to ensure you are on task. One more note: follow the MEAL Plan for your writing as if your life depended on it!

Writing Center: Could you talk about a particular writing challenge you faced and how you overcame that challenge?

Patrese: I procrastinate! I prepared a blog about procrastination and it is something I still struggle with as a doctoral student. As one who has struggled with anxiety, I’ve used procrastination to cope with anxiety due to fearing (or overthinking) that what I am writing about is wrong, or I am off topic, and the worst can happen as a result of poor writing. Having a “to-do” is list extremely helpful and has helped me to overcome that challenge. I can always tell when I operate “away” from my “to-do” list. I am not as focused, and distractions are everywhere. 

Writing Center: What’s one writing accessory you can’t live without—or something you couldn’t write without?

Patrese: A college ruled, $0.69 notebook! I carry at least one everywhere!! Especially now as I am getting closer to writing my dissertation!

Writing Center: Describe your approach to writing in three words:

Patrese: Prepare, plan, pray. 

Prepare: Get all the tools that are needed; read the material that helps to reference what you are writing, use a notepad to mind-map or outline what your paper will state, and find a comfy sitting area to write your paper.

Plan: Back to the “to-do” list! Break apart difficult tasks or break apart tasks that may be big (or time consuming) and may lead to overthinking and anxiety.

Pray: or be mindful in what you are getting ready to do. Mindfulness to me means being “in the moment”. Praying helps me to get in the moment and put all my focus on the task from start, through the process, and to completion.

The Walden University Writing Center provides a broad range of writing instruction and editing services for students, including writing assistance for undergraduates, graduate students, and doctoral capstone writers. 

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Helping the Helpers: The Writing Center and Walden University's Global Days of Service

The documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? recounting Fred Roger’s long career in public television has generated publicity and praise since it was released in June 2018. Rogers dedicated his life to helping children understand complex concepts such as empathy, tolerance, and inclusion through his television show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Although it’s difficult to pinpoint a defining message from Rogers, his thoughts about how adults can help children handle tragic events illustrates one principle of his philosophy:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers—so many caring people in this world.”

Fred Rogers was a helper who celebrated helpers on his television show, and his message continues to resonate with children and adults. In the Walden University Writing Center, we are grateful to be able to work with the helpers who have dedicated their careers to promoting positive social change in their communities through scholarship at Walden University. Walden scholars contribute to positive social change in a variety of ways, often while balancing coursework, careers, and familial responsibilities.

To give back to the Walden student community, the Writing Center has created Reviews for Social Change, where students can submit work completed outside of Walden with the goal of positive social change for paper review appointments at the Walden Writing Center. The Reviews for Social Change appointments run from October 15th to October 19th and are part of Walden’s Global Days of Service, so if you’re a Walden student who is writing or has recently written something like a blog post, letter to the editor, scholarship application, article for publication, grant, community resource, pamphlet, or other document to promote social change, we encourage you to make an appointment with us on the Reviews for Social Change myPASS schedule.

In addition to implementing Reviews for Social Change to help Walden scholars, the Walden University Writing Center participates in other center-wide initiatives to support positive social change. In 2017, we partnered with Breakthrough Twin Cities to provide feedback to students on their ACT practice essays. Breakthrough Twin Cities is a multi-year college preparation program for motivated but under-resourced middle and high school students in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, and 100% of their class of 2017 graduated in 4 years, with 98% enrolling in post-secondary education. We’re excited to work with Breakthrough Twin Cities again in October 2018.

The Writing Center also participated in the Douglass Day Transcribe-a-thon organized by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Smithsonian Transcription Center, and the Colored Conventions project. After completing the Douglass Day Transcribe-a-thon, we hosted another transcribing session in August 2018 and have transcribed 168 pages from the Freedman’s Bureau Papers to date. Anyone can participate in transcribing the Freedman’s Bureau Papers, so you can create an account and begin transcribing if you would like to contribute to better understanding of the post-Civil War era.

Although all of these volunteer projects were undertaken to contribute to positive social change, the desire to help Walden students achieve their academic and career goals so that they can employ those skills to help others is an important motivation of the Walden University Writing Center professionals. Walden students’ dedication to helping others shows in their writing that we see daily in the Writing Center. As we begin our Reviews for Social Change initiative, we are proud to be helping the helpers who make up Walden University’s student population.

Are there any writing-related online volunteer opportunities that we should know about? Please sound off in the comments or let us know how you’re contributing to change in your community!

Katherine McKinney is a writing instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. She received an M.A. in English from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Education at Walden. Katherine's goal as an instructor is to show students that the best writing results from practice, and she aims to provide feedback and resources that will guide students through the invention, composition, and revision process.

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WriteCast Episode 49: Meet Your Reviewer: A Conversation with Cheryl Read, Writing Instructor and PhD Student

Come join us for WriteCast! In this episode, Claire and Max chat with one of the Walden University Writing Center's newest Writing Instructors, Cheryl Read. Listen in as Cheryl shares a bit of her background as a writer and teacher and describes the approach she takes working with students in paper review appointments. Click the play below, or check out our WriteCast podcast page to view our entire episode archive as well as transcripts for each episode. 

To download the episode to your computer, click the share button on the player below, and then click the download button.

Cheryl Read joins the rest of the Writing Instructors who are dedicated to supporting the scholarly writing of Walden University scholar practitioners. Working with instructors like Cheryl gives writers the tools and support needed to succeed in building their writing skills. Learn more about our Paper Review service here. .

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Year-In-Review: Walden University Writing Center 2017

As 2017 comes to a close, we in the Writing Center are reflecting on our services for the Walden community this past year: what new offerings we have created and new staff we have added, and how we have organized our center to best meet student writing needs. One change we made later in the year is that our spectrum of services is now distinguished as two offices, the Office of Writing Instruction and the Office of Academic Editing. We asked the managers of these two offices to capture the year in review for their teams.

We began by asking what were the top three questions students asked and what resources the team provides to answer those questions. For managers of the Office of Academic Editing, Tobias Ball and Kelly Chermack, who oversee support for doctoral students at the proposal and final capstone stage and the final form and style review, the top question was about formatting the final manuscript for publication in ProQuest. Both Walden and ProQuest have publication guidelines, and the editors have created templates that have built-in styles for all the formatting specifications. The templates include instructions, and a short video on working in the template is also available. The form and style checklist also provides formatting guidance.

Another frequently asked question is how students can become more effective editors of their own writing. To assist with this, the editors host live editing tutorials through the Walden Capstone Writing Community and also present a webinar entitled Revising and Self-Editing a Doctoral Capstone. Understanding the writing expectations for a doctoral capstone is another common question for students. To help, the editors have created an entire website dedicated to understanding not only the writing expectations for doctoral-level writing but also the expectations for the final form and style review. A few webinars also address this question: Transitioning From Coursework to Doctoral Capstone Writing and Writing Process for Longer Research Projects.

We also asked Kelly and Tobias what they wanted students to know about the editor team. Their overwhelming response is they wanted students to know how dedicated the editors are to helping students produce a publication-ready manuscript and how many ways students can connect with the editors and get questions answered: e-mailing editor@waldenu.edu, chatting live with Editors during Office Hours, joining the Walden Capstone Writing Community, viewing webinars, and attending residencies and intensive retreats. The team added three editors this year to help support our doctoral capstone students. When asked what stands out about the year for the editor team, Kelly and Tobias highlighted the new name, the Office of Academic Editing, to reflect the work the editors do to help students at the capstone stage, from the proposal right through to graduation.

We also spoke with Rachel Willard, who manages the Office of Writing Instruction alongside Anne Shiell. Rachel mentioned that the most common query among students who request paper reviews, visit our live chat, or e-mail us at writingsupport@waldenu.edu  is “Can you help me with my APA?” Learning APA style is a common struggle for students who are new to it, and it’s often the reason students seek out help. Rachel noted, however, that although students typically focus their requests on APA, students find during a paper review that their requests actually span both APA specifics and instruction in areas such as scholarly voice or organization of ideas. Another common question is around help navigating our paper review schedule, or myPASS, which is separate from the usual student portal processes. The writing instructors recommend our video tutorials that make this process easy to follow.

When asked what she would like students to know about the writing instruction team, Rachel wanted to reassure students that the writing instructors are here for them, that they are not as intimidating as students might expect writing experts to be. The team is extremely student-centered, and once students begin sending their work for reviews, they often make it a habit. Students develop relationships with the writing instructors they work with, and both student and writing instructor celebrate successes and improvements. When looking back on 2017, Rachel said that what stands out most is the focus on improving processes and teaching practices to better serve students. The team has grown over the past few years, and each new staff member brings new ideas and gifts to the team and to the center as a whole.

We hope you’ll take some time to get to know our Writing Center staff in 2018. They are doing amazing work to help Walden students strengthen their writing skills and their future publications, and they’re ready to be there for you, too!

Amber Cook and Martha King contributed to this report. They are associate directors in the Writing Center, Amber of Faculty Outreach and Support, Martha of Doctoral Capstone Quality Initiatives.

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WriteCast Episode 45: Meet Your Reviewer: Katherine McKinney, Writing Instructor and PhD Student

In our latest podcast episode of WriteCast: A Casual Conversation for Serious Writers, we welcome one of our newest Writing Instructors, Katherine McKinney. As a member of the Walden University Writing Center Instructor team, Katherine will be providing support to students who are in coursework and working on the early parts of their doctoral capstone projects. Katherine brings great experience working with students to the Walden Writing Center, and you can learn more about:

• How Katherine approaches Paper Reviews and what you can expect if you work together
• Katherine's favorite Walden writing assignments
• The greatest piece of writing advice Katherine ever received

Listen to the conversation by clicking "Play" in the player below. You can also read the transcript for this episode (and all our episodes), and access other episodes, by following this link to our WriteCast page on the Writing Center website. 

You can also join in on the WriteCast conversation by commenting on this blog post. Do you have questions for Katherine? Would you like to propose a topic for a future episode of WriteCast? We may respond to your question in a future installment of WriteCast! 

The WriteCast Podcast is published by the members of the Walden University Writing Center. WriteCast exists thanks, in part, to a Social Media Research Grant from Global Products and Services, Laureate Education, Inc. We welcome comments and questions in all their forms. Please comment in the space below and listen monthly to see if your comment is mentioned on air.  

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AWA Student Spotlight: Sohna Shook

The Writing Center’s Administrative Writing Assistants (AWAs) are at the front line of the writingsupport@waldenu.edu inbox, performing necessary tasks to make the Writing Center run smoothly. Writing Center AWAs are an integral part of the Writing Center as they communicate regularly with students. But, the AWAs are also Walden students, and thus integral to Walden University itself. That’s why we’d like to share some of their stories of academic success, professional accomplishment, social change work, and advice for other Walden students. In this spotlight series, we show our appreciation for all their hard work so that others can be inspired by their stories as well.  

Today's spotlight is on Sohna Shook, a student in the College of Social and Behavior Sciences 

We asked Sohna to share Writing Center resources she values, writing- and student-related struggles she faced, inspiration that keeps her on track of her goals, and how her Walden degree connects with her social change mission. 

Walden University Writing Center (WUWC): What are the most common questions you find in the writing support inbox and how do you provide feedback?

SS: During my shift, the most common questions I find are usually regarding assistance with in-text citations.  I usually respond to questions by providing an example of, for instance, a citation or reference list entry, then I provide additional resources from the Writing Center website. 

WUWC: What Writing Center sources have you used that you found helpful?

SS: I love the Writing Center website which provides resources for APA, such as citation and reference list examples. I have attended webinars which are helpful for a bit more hands-on training. As well, I have enjoyed using the paper review service which provides writing feedback.  

WUWC: How have you struggled as a writer and how have you overcome that struggle? 

SS: My biggest struggles as a writer have been sentence structure and the fact that what I am thinking and what I write down on paper tend to be two different things. I have successfully been able to work with writing instructors on forging the two.

WUWC: What other challenge have you faced as a student and how did you face that challenge?

SS: I am used to the "brick and mortar" college and face-to-face setting, so the challenge I faced as a student has been attending an online school. It has been a challenge for me to not having someone to talk to; however, I have been able to develop friendships at Walden residencies and in the classroom which helped establish a support system for me.

WUWC: Whose story inspires you to keep reaching for your goals?  

SS: Both my parents are immigrants from Gambia, West Africa, and came to the U.S. to obtain their education. They divorced when I was 13 years old and my mother raised all 5 of us by herself. She did not obtain her college degree, but rather worked 2-3 jobs to make sure we had our basic needs met. Her hard work has inspired me to continue working on obtaining my degrees as a testimony to her hard work raising us.

WUWC: How does your degree at Walden connect with your social change mission? 

SS: After graduation, I plan to utilize my professional experience along with my doctorate degree to collaborate with schools in developing stronger programs that work for students with behavior issues and/or mental health diagnoses to include helping teachers develop curriculum to better accommodate these students. I would also like to strengthen counseling programs in higher education.   

Thanks, Sohna! We at the Writing Center are glad to have a colleague such as you and appreciate your dedication to supporting students by providing resources and responding to student questions, and we know students appreciate your support as well! 

The Walden Writing Center provides information and assistance to students with services like live chat, webinars, course visits, paper reviews, podcasts, modules, and the writing center webpages. Through these services they provide students assistance with APA, scholarly writing, and help students gain skills and confidence to enhance their scholarly work. Students can email WritingSupport@waldenu.edu and expect a reply from one of our expert AWAs.

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WriteCast Episode 44: Jeannie's First Residency

Jeannie Croichy is a writing instructor in the Walden University Writing Center, but she is also a student in the Walden Ed.D program. Like many of our students, Jeannie balances work, life, and her academic program. Also like many of our students, Jeannie attended an in-person residency, which provided her with a different type of academic experience. In this WriteCast episode, Jeannie shares some details from the residency she attended, including what it was like to meet other students in her program and the lessons she learned.

If you have never attended a residency, this episode can help prepare you and highlight the positives of working in-person with peers and Walden staff. If you have residency experience, you may find it nice to hear a fellow student's reflection.

Listen below by pressing the "play" button, or access the podcast transcript here.



A full list of WriteCast episodes and transcripts can be found here.




The WriteCast Podcast  is produced by the staff of the Walden University Writing Center and delves into a different writing issue in each episode. In line with the mission of the Writing Center, WriteCast provides multi-modal, on demand writing instruction that enhances students' writing skill and ease. We hope you enjoy this episode and comment in the box below.


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October Webinar Preview

In October, the Writing Center's webinars can help you from beginning to end of any given assignment. We start off thinking about how we can write for social change. Then, join us to learn about, practice, and refine writing thesis statements and editing reference pages. The final webinar of the month will help you think about cohesion in your writing. From the first page to the last page, our webinars can help you grow as an academic writer. If the days/times of these sessions do not fit your schedule, remember that we record all webinars, so you can access them on our site.

Here is the list of October webinars:

Title: Writing for Social Change: Exploring Perspectives | Special Event from the Writing Center and Center for Social Change

Date: Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Time (Eastern): 8:00 - 9:00pm

Audience: All students

Title: Writing Strong Thesis Statements

Date: Thursday, October 12, 2017

Time (Eastern): 7:00 - 8:00pm

Audience: All students

Title: Top 10 Errors: Reference List Checklist

Date: Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Time (Eastern): 4:00 - 5:00pm

Audience: All students

Title: Cohesion and Flow: Bringing Your Paper Together

Date: Thursday, October 26, 2017

Time (Eastern): 12:00 - 1:00pm

Audience: All students

The Walden University Writing Center presents weekly webinars on a range of topics related to scholarly writing, APA style, and the writing process. In addition to webinars, the writing center offers paper reviews, live chat, and a podcast to support writers during all stages of their academic careers.

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AWA Student Spotlight: Ashley Hill

The Writing Center’s Administrative Writing Assistants (AWAs) are at the front line of the writingsupport@waldenu.edu inbox, performing necessary tasks to make the Writing Center run smoothly. Writing Center AWAs are an integral part of the Writing Center as they communicate regularly with students. But, the AWAs are also Walden students, and thus integral to Walden University itself. That’s why we’d like to share some of their stories of academic success, professional accomplishment, social change work, and advice for other Walden students. In this spotlight series, we show our appreciation for all their hard work so that others can be inspired by their stories as well.   

Today's spotlight is on Ashley Hill, a student in the College of Health Sciences. 

   
Originally from Ohio, Ashley now lives in Georgia after traveling around bit. As a graduate of Walden’s Masters in Public Health program, Ashley continued her education by enrolling in Walden’s PhD program in Public Health, specializing in Epidemiology; she currently scheduled her final oral defense. After graduation, she plans to teach and work in the field of infectious disease. Committed to Walden’s social change mission, Ashley is interested in public health for social change—health issues such as the growing issue of opioid dependency, the Zika virus, violence against women, and necrotizing fasciitis (the focus of her dissertation). As a single mother, Ashley balances working on her doctorate degree, spending time with her daughter, and volunteering for emergency preparedness for a local public health district in central Georgia. We asked Ashley some questions about her work as an AWA and tips she has for writers.

Walden University Writing Center (WUWC):What do you enjoy about your AWA work? 

Ashley Hill (AH): I enjoy the plethora of activities we do as AWA’s, but I enjoy helping students in any small way the most. 

WUWC: What are the most common questions you find in the writingsupport@waldenu.edu in box and what feedback do you provide regarding these questions? 

AH: Common questions sent to the writingsupport@waldenu.edu inbox are often questions about referencing specific sources (i.e. journals, books, or websites). For the best understanding, I refer students to the common reference examples, institutional reports, and webpage references. 

WUWC: How have you struggled as a writer and how have you overcome that struggle? 

AH: I had an issue with anthropomorphism and as I work on my dissertation, I’ve experienced issues with writing concisely. I think learning about what writing issue patterns may arise in your writing is the first step towards revising. Second, I found help from peers, dissertation workshops, and my family to improve my writing. 

WUWC: What writing (drafting, revising, editing) tips do you have for other students? 

Ashley's family

AH: I think first making a schedule for yourself once you are in your dissertation capstone is a big element that helps you stay on track. Next, setting aside days to write and other days to revise and edit is helpful as well. Additionally, finding help in any way is a great way to stay focused— whether it is family that reads over your pages, colleagues, the Writing Center--having a couple helpful people outside your committee keeps things going smoothly. 

WUWC: What Writing Center resource(s) have you used that you found helpful, and why? 

AH: There are quite a bit of resources at the Writing Center that are helpful. As I mention previously, the reference list pages but also outlining, templates, tables and figures, paper reviews (if you are working on course work, the premise, or prospectus), [Academic Skills Center] workshops (if you are working on your dissertation), and so much more. 

WUWC: As a Walden student yourself, what academic advice would you give other Walden students? 

AH: Listen to your professors and allow them to guide you. In my experience, there were an endless number of great professors at Walden. Additionally, use the resources available—the Writing Center, Career Services, Center for Research Quality, and any other sources. There are some universities that do not offer this amount of help so be grateful Walden has these resources. 

Ashley celebrated her three year anniversary as an AWA this past April, and we have been greatly privileged to have her as part of our Writing Center—for the Writing Center, AWA’s such as Ashley are a valuable part of our Writing Center support team. 

The Walden Writing Center provides information and assistance to students with services like live chat, webinars, course visits, paper reviews, podcasts, modules, and the writing center webpages. Through these services they provide students assistance with APA, scholarly writing, and help students gain skills and confidence to enhance their scholarly work. Students can email WritingSupport@waldenu.edu and expect a reply from one of our expert AWAs.

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AWA Student Spotlight: David Yeary

The Writing Center’s Administrative Writing Assistants (AWAs) are at the front line of the writingsupport@waldenu.eduinbox, performing necessary tasks to make the Writing Center run smoothly. Writing Center AWAs are an integral part of the Writing Center as they communicate regularly with students. But, the AWAs are also Walden students, and thus integral to Walden University itself. That’s why we’d like to share some of their stories of academic success, professional accomplishment, social change work, and advice for other Walden students. In this spotlight series, we show our appreciation for all their hard work so that others can be inspired by their stories as well.  

Today's spotlight is on David Yeary, a student in the Riley College of Education and Leadership

David joined the Walden University Writing Center AWA team three years ago and embodies Walden’s values of service and community involvement in his interactions with students.  He is a native of Newnan, Georgia but saw several corners of the country as he finished elementary school in Baltimore, Maryland, and attended junior high and high school in Reno, Nevada. He returned to Georgia to obtain his B.A. and later his M.A. degrees, and has lived and taught in the Peach State ever since. Starting off his professional career as a sportswriter and editor, David later was drawn toward a goal he had held since high school: Teaching. Working for positive social change in his community, David has worked within multiple Georgia school systems and even worked with educators at the state level to review and revise education materials to ensure alignment with Georgia’s version of Common Core standards.

We asked David to share a few tidbits about himself, his tips for students reaching out the Writing Center, and his plans for after graduation. Here are his responses:

Walden University Writing Center (WUWC): What are your interests and hobbies?

David Yeary (DY): In addition to having raised six children, my wife and I play bluegrass music (she: guitar and mandolin, me: banjo), work in local elementary schools, and we are campground hosts at Watson Mill Bridge State Park in Northeast Georgia.

WUWC: What is your program of study here at Walden?

DY: I am in the final phase of my Ed.D program. My concentration is Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. My educational specialty is general and content literacy.

WUWC: What drew you to want to study at Walden?

DY: I had desired to pursue a doctorate for many, many years. I am in the last third of my teaching career, and Walden offered the combination of a respected and accredited degree and a totally online program, which was crucial to me.

WUWC: What is the one thing students should keep in mind when emailing the writingsupport@waldenu.edu email with a question?

DY: Mainly, that the only bad question is the one that is not asked. Walden students are extremely fortunate to have the Writing Center  as a resource. The main problem I see is that I am not sure the majority of students are aware of what is available to them.

WUWC: What are your plans once you receive your Walden degree?

DY: My oldest daughter is also in the Walden Ed.D program, and I hope she and I can collaborate on literacy research once we are finished with our doctoral studies.

David is going to miss the Walden Writing Center when he graduates this year—we will miss you too, David! Thanks, David, for supporting the Writing Center and, subsequently, supporting Walden students. For more information on Writing Center sources, visit the Writing Center Home page. 

The Walden Writing Center provides information and assistance to students with services like live chat, webinars, course visits, paper reviews, podcasts, modules, and the writing center webpages. Through these services they provide students assistance with APA, scholarly writing, and help students gain skills and confidence to enhance their scholarly work. Students can email WritingSupport@waldenu.edu and expect a reply from one of our expert AWAs. 

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Director's Bulletin: The Writing Center By The Numbers

Back in 2013, we published a short, by-the-numbers look at our writing center. We were a much different unit back then (we had a staff headcount of 29, not the 46 we have today), and the purpose of that post was to let our readers know that they were not alone in seeking writing support. We wanted to show that The Walden Writing Center was a not a refuge for the compositionally inept or a leper colony for the grammatically impaired (stigmas sometimes associated with writing centers), but rather a place that is designed to be as much a part of your university experience as completing coursework, talking with your professor, or nervously checking your grades after an assignment is due.

With a sizable increase in staff headcount late last year, I thought it’d be fun to revisit our stats, see how much our reach has grown, and reemphasize with our readers that your interest in writing support does not make you an outlier, but rather a member of a pretty big (and still growing!) community.

And now for some 2016 stats with some accompanying numbers for context:

• When we close out the year, our Writing Instructor Team will have conducted almost 11,000 paper reviews. Assuming each essay submitted was at least 6 pages long, that team will have read roughly 66,000 pages of student work or roughly 16.5 million words, meaning that our instructor team has read the equivalent of Tolkien’s Lord of the Ringsover 35 times in the last 12 months!

• Not to be outdone, our team of editors will have reviewed nearly 1,400 dissertations this year. Assuming each dissertation was around 150 pages long, that team will have read 210,000 pages of student work or roughly 52.5 million words, the equivalent of reading the entire Harry Potter series nearly 50 times in 2016!

• Ever wonder what sorts of folks read all those words? Consider this: The Walden Writing Center employs 46 full-time writing professionals who hold over 95 degrees!

• As many of you know, our professionals and our Academic Writing Assistants are available in others ways, too. We responded to over 12,000 e-mails in 2016 and chattedwith over 3,000 students, just more than the entire population of Afton, Minnesota, a 30-minute drive from our Minneapolis offices!

• Or perhaps you attended a webinar this year; if so you’d be one of nearly 7,000 students. And if you watched an archive of a webinar, you’d be in good company: Another 7000,000 viewed one of our recordings, the equivalent of every domestic employee working at McDonald’s attending or watching one of our webinars at least once!

• Or maybe you’ve seen us in a course. We visited over 280 courses; that’s over 5 times as many national parks as you can visit in the United States!

• Or did you download one of our templates?Those were downloaded over 250,000 times, the equivalent of the entire populations of Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Marshall Islands, Monaco, and San Marino downloading our files at least once over a 12 month period.

• You might be in a smaller subset if you accessed one of our interactive Modules this year, but you’re certainly not alone. About 4,000 students took our modules this year, about the number of passengers that can fit on a Boeing 747-400.

• The Writing Center’s website, which houses many of the resources listed above, had over 3.5 million page views this year; that’s a view for every resident of Chicago.

• Our social media accounts (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, and our humble Blog) were no slouch either. We reached over 1.3 million people in 2016, a bit more than the entire population of San Diego.

• If you saw us at a residency this year, this may or may not surprise you depending on where you attended: The Center worked with over 16,000 students at residencies; that’s about as many folks that can fit in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, home of the Islanders and Nets, without having to notify the fire marshal!

If there’s one thing I hope this somewhat silly exercise has shown, it’s that if you have sought out our support in 2016, you’re not alone. Regardless of what services you’ve used, your peers at Walden, although you may not see them, are there with you, by the plane-full, the city-full, the country-full, engaged in this perfectly ordinary university experience of using the Writing Center.

If you haven’t used our services before, well, what’s stopping you?

Brian Timmerman is the Director of the Walden University Writing Center. His skill sets include, among other things, leadership and googling statistics for comparative purposes. 

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