News
Writing Center continues to provide great service under new leadership
By Sarah Salimi ’20 and Emily Eisler ’17
September 8, 2016
Tags news
This academic year, the Nesbitt-Johnston Writing Center welcomes Jennifer Ambrose as its new director. Until this year, Sharon Williams was the Writing Center’s director. Ambrose is especially excited to help provide Hamilton students with a space to improve their prose, remarking, “It is very important that everyone has an opportunity as they are writing to discuss that writing with someone else.” She elaborates: “We are often too close to our writing, which makes it difficult to look at it objectively...Sometimes it’s just easier to hear constructive criticism from someone closer to your own age.” Ambrose comes to the Hill from the University of Iowa, where she was the Assistant Director of the Scientific and Technical Writing Center.
Ambrose stressed that it was difficult to motivate students to use their services in Iowa. Since it is estimated that between 90 and 95 percent of the student body visit the Writing Center at least once during their four yearsat Hamilton, she is no longer worried about getting students in the door.
To Ambrose, the Nesbitt-Johnson Writing Center is distinct from similar institutions because of the support it receives from the entire College community. She feels this support stems from the fact that both faculty and students at Hamilton “understand the value of writing and the value of tutoring writing.”
This year, the Writing Center will employ 25 tutors with concentrations throughout the College, such as physics, government, biology, and creative writing, making it easy for students to match with a tutor having a familiarity with the department they are writing for, from mathematical proofs to anthropology essays to biology labs.
Students are encouraged to come in for either a pre-writing conference before they begin writing their paper or a session to go over a draft they are currently working on. The Center has services for faculty as well for their own academic work and curricular planning.
The mission of the Writing Center remains to improve both students’ writing and their feelings towards the writing process. Ambrose hopes to realize this mission with the students and faculty that use the Center’s services during her time at Hamilton. She firmly believes that “The true marker of success for us is that people leave feeling better equipped to communicate effectively on their own...We’re here so that people can succeed in college...but also after college.”