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Welcome back! I trust all of you enjoyed a well-deserved break; however, I assume everyone was also anxious to get back to the normalcy of a regular schedule. The Writing Center staff was certainly excited to return as we have several new projects in the works.
At the end of last semester, we were saddened to hear about the loss of the Intensive English Program and its benefit to SIUE's campus. However, we did see an opportunity to broaden our services and have decided to attempt conversation groups for international students this spring. Our goal is to provide international students an opportunity to improve their spoken English while we work through a paper, read from a text or just converse in general. At present, we do not know exactly how the groups will be divided (or if that will even be necessary), but we are generating awareness, and several individuals are interested in getting involved.
A major project for us this semester will be the much needed overhaul of our website. We plan to redesign it completely and include an even larger array of downloadable handouts and informative links. Our hope is that this new site becomes a real "center" of writing on SIUE's campus in that most writing related questions will have an answer somewhere in the site.
Accompanying the technical aspect of redeveloping the website will also be the task of redeveloping and updating our paper handouts here in the Center. We want to update the handouts and expand the amount of information we have available for students to take with them when they leave, as well as modify the format so the material can be easily transferred to the web.
The idea of a spoken word event here late in the semester has also been discussed. This event is envisioned as a salute to how electronic communication has changed our understanding of writing and how the visual is becoming paramount in almost any text. We have been thinking about how the context of writing is expanding, and how the public performance of writing can give us new views on a subject. However, this idea is still in its infancy, and we welcome outside comments/support.
Of course, the newsletter will continue to be published and evolve, while we will try to expand our consulting services by talking to more classes and getting the word out about who we are and what we do. Overall, we want everyone to know that the Writing Center is a place where anyone can go to get help and feedback regarding writing and that the key to improvement is being open to revision. We look forward to hearing comments from faculty and staff this semester and we hope to engage readers in a stimulating dialogue about writing with each new issue of this newsletter.
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