Miami Student

Issue date: 3/4/08 Section: Campus

The Howe Writing Center sees an increase in student consultations each week. As of the seventh week of spring semester, the center has provided more than 600 advising meetings since opening Oct. 15, 2007.

Since its opening in mid-October, the Howe Writing Center in King Library has conducted over 600 student writing consultations-and that's only the beginning.

Kate Francis, manager of daily operations at the Howe Writing Center, said the center is doing extremely well, exceeding expectations set when the center opened Oct. 15, 2007.

According to Francis, the center provided more than 400 writing consultations from Oct. 15 to the end of the fall 2007 semester and has already provided more than 200 student consultations as of the seventh week of the spring 2008 semester.

"We see an increase every week in the number of student consultations from the previous week," Francis said. "We have been extremely busy, especially in the last few weeks."

Francis said the writing center has also seen an increase in international students who use the center's resources.

With a 100 percent increase in international student applications to Miami for the class of 2012, Francis anticipates significant growth in the amount of international students the center will see in the 2008-09 academic year.

Francis said that since many international students are not native English speakers, it is challenging to write papers in English.

To accommodate the increase in student consultations, the center has hired 12 additional consultants this semester for a total of 24 consultants. Consultants come from a wide variety of majors, and are required to take a course to prepare them for their responsibilities, Francis said.

Sophomore Jaclyn Kamman, a student consultant, has worked at the writing center since it opened. She said she has really enjoyed her job and feels that she has been able to help many students improve their writing.

"It is beneficial for both parties involved," Kamman said. "I help students with their writing, and, in turn, I have become a better writer and am better prepared to assist students with many types of writing."

Francis said she has received many inquiries regarding employment and recruitment, since hiring for next year will begin soon.

Continued...

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