Partnerships
This page provides information, hyperlinks, and contact information for SSWCUPs around the United States. The variation and overlaps between these partnership models showcase the range of approaches such partnerships can take. If you are interested in beginning a partnership, or want to further develop one you already have, consider reading about and connecting with any of the partnerships listed here.
The University of Connecticut has a longstanding SSWCUP with area middle and high school writing centers. From their website:
Part of the reason that public land grant universities like UConn were founded was to serve their state and regional communities. The University Writing Center carries on that spirit of service through our collaborations with Connecticut middle and high schools. In partnership with the Connecticut Writing Project and several area schools, we work to launch and sustain writing centers that value writing across the curriculum, focus on each writer’s development, recognize the benefits of peer-to-peer tutoring, and understand writing as a complex, interactive process.
UConn hosts an annual Secondary Schools Writing Center Conference, welcomes schools to tour their writing center, and invites questions and inquiries from all. Find out more about the research they’ve published on their partnership here and here.
Contact: uconnwc.hsoutreach@gmail.com
Since Spring 2021, Muncie-area schools have partnered with Ball State University faculty and students to start six writing centers in local middle and high schools with a seventh set to launch in Spring 2024. As a result, Muncie/Delaware County may just have more writing peer tutors per capita than any other city or county. The Muncie schools were (and are) supported in their efforts by an IDOE Learning Recovery Grant awarded to Ball State, which helped with supplies, training, and mentorship. Last year, these writing centers added a combined 100,000 minutes of writing instruction to students in these local schools.
Contact:
- Susana Benko, English Education professor, Indiana Writing Project Director (slbenko@bsu.edu)
- Kat Greene, Associate Director, Ball State Writing Center (kttryon@bsu.edu)
Ohio Writing Project & Milford HS Writing Center
The working partnership between Milford High School student-led writing center and Miami University’s Ohio Writing Project spans over a decade. MHS’s writing center, in its twelfth year, was modeled after Miami’s Howe Writing Center. Together, OWP, Howe, and MHS have collaborated to not only strengthen writing project practices in schools but also to encourage other local middle and secondary schools to begin their own writing centers.
Contact:
- Beth Rimer, Ohio Writing Project Director (rimerba@miamioh.edu)
- Betsy Woods, Milford High School Writing Center and Ohio Writing Project Teacher Consultant (woods_b@milfordschools.org)
Brigham Young University’s Research and Writing Center (RWC) partners with several local SSWCs in various phases of development through one of their writing center project groups. Many RWC tutors are English Teaching majors and energized about sharing their love for writing tutoring with secondary school counterparts. Partnership initiatives have included field trips, meetings with directors, and student-led tutor training. If your writing center is interested in partnering with BYU, feel free to reach out.
Contact:
- Tyler Gardner, BYU Writing Center Director (tyler_gardner@byu.edu)
- Amber Jensen, BYU English Professor and Central Utah Writing Project Director, (amber_jensen@byu.edu)
The University of Mississippi Writing Project, in conjunction with the Oxford Writing Center, is in the beginning stages of conversations with local high schools to develop local writing centers. We plan to offer summer workshops as well as sessions at the annual Transitioning to College Writing Symposium. Our goal is to support writers at all stages of development and creating safe spaces for all individuals seeking writing consultations.
Contact:
- Ellen Shelton, University of Mississippi Writing Project Director (eshelton@olemiss.edu)
Your Partnership Not On This List?
The SSWCUP website aims to be a hub where interested universities, secondary schools, and Writing Project sites can learn of and connect with each other. If you know of a SSWCUP that isn’t mentioned here, please tell us about it at sswcupmail@gmail.com, and we will add the partnership to this page for others to learn about!