This space is for contributions from the NVC Leadership Team.
By Kate Fisher, NVC academic program coordinator, and NVC Tutor Heather Lidowski (representing Dean Patrick Fontenot of NVC Academic Services
As we start the new semester, one of the best ways we can improve student success is to encourage our students to practice writing. We have many resources on campus from an Advocacy Center, Math Lab, Veterans Center, Computer Lab, and yes a Writing Center too!
The practice of writing is an essential element of achieving a broad, critical, and successful education. The Northwest Vista College Multidisciplinary Writing Center, as part of the national Writing Across the Curriculum program, strives toward the goal of producing successful writers using researched practices that have been shown to improve student success. Our program focuses on building confidence and refining skill through general and discipline-specific programming, one-on-one tutorials, workshops, and campus-wide student, faculty, and staff engagement. Creating confident writers, students, and citizens takes repeated exposure to a diverse set of perspectives and practices across the disciplines, and we are here to help achieve that goal.
The Center, and overall initiative, considers writing from a holistic viewpoint that sees every writing assignment – no matter the length or purpose – as an opportunity to help students build their confidence and ability. We support the practice of writing through tutoring, example, and application. We expect students to progress in their confidence and ability as they receive assistance and feedback from both their instructors and our Center. Consistent progress will help improve retention and completion for our NVC students.
An important part of this larger goal is the service and support we as a college provide to our ESL students. We are an international city with a diverse population, and our services need to reflect that. In partnership with the ESL Program, we have an ESL Instructor-in-Residence three days a week to better assist our students across the disciplines. The broad and critical perspective of our Center means we want to offer more opportunities for both our students and services to improve, and the partnership is a crucial part of that purpose. We welcome enquiries into other service, workshop, or collaborative opportunities.
- The Multidisciplinary Writing Center is located in MLH 232.
- Hours (in-person and Zoom): 9am-7pm Monday-Thursday; 10am-3pm on Fridays
- ESL Instructor-in-Residence: 9am-12pm Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday
- Contact us at kfischer11@alamo.edu or nvc-mwc@alamo.edu