After Dr. Deborah Reese retired at the end of the fall semester, Professor Renee Berry stepped up to fill in the position as the director of the writing center. 

“Being able to do this job is a dream of mine, I started my career in writing centers. I’ve always wanted to be involved in the writing center here on campus and I want to build on the fine work that Dr. Deborah Reese in the 21 years that she ran the writing center,” Berry said. 

“My goal is to continue what she’s done and bring us into the 21st century,” Berry said.  

Many students may not know Professor Berry started her career in a writing center at a small community college in upstate New York after she got her bachelor’s degree in English. She worked at the community college teaching classes in grammar and reading and working in the writing center for six years before she got a Master’s degree in English. 

After Berry obtained her Master’s, she continued to teach at the same school for sixteen more years. Then, she moved to Savannah and started to teach at Armstrong State University in the spring of 2009. She started on the staff part-time as an adjunct professor and then, she moved to a limited-term position. This is her second year as a lecturer. 

Berry does not plan to change much about the services the writing center offers or how it operates. Students can still expect the same services that have always been offered. These services include computers, a typewriter, a de-stress station, coffee and handouts. 

“If you don’t want to make an appointment to talk about your APA style paper, you can stop in and pick up a handout on APA style,” Berry said.  

Additionally, online appointments are coming soon to the writing center. “We’re hoping by the end of February, if not sooner, that we will be able to do online tutoring consultations through the wconline platform and we’ve set up two computers sort of dedicated to that,” Berry said. 

The writing center also has all new tutors.

 “We have a brand new group of tutors, who are all new, but are really enthusiastic and I think are going to be a really great crew of people,” Berry said. 

Berry also hopes to market the writing center more. Donnette Brow-Ansah is an intern for the writing center this semester. The focus of her internship will be marketing and publicity. 

“One of the things I really hope we are able to do is to be seen as a campus resource for writing in any discipline…Any writing project in any class can be brought to the writing center for a consultation with a tutor to get feedback and make sure their writing is on track,” Berry said. 

To make an appointment, students must now visit www.georgiasouthern.mywconline.com, select the Armstrong campus, create an account and login in to schedule an appointment with the writing center from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m.-12 p.m. on Friday.