Name: Carolyn Rudinsky
Program: MAE
Graduate Assistantship Description: This is my second year as a Graduate Assistant at DePaul’s writing center, the University Center for Writing-based Learning (UCWbL), where I work as a writing tutor and a leader in the UCWbL Outreach team. At the most basic level, UCWbL writing tutors work with DePaul students, faculty, staff, and alumni on any writing project at any stage of the writing process. However, tutors at the UCWbL also do so much more, which is why I’d suggest clicking on the hyperlink above and exploring the UCWbL’s website to learn about our writing center. As a GA on the UCWbL Outreach Team, I help develop, coordinate, and run UCWbL events that seek to promote awareness of the UCWbL and its services, celebrate writers and their texts, and impact the larger Chicago community through service projects. Some of my favorite annual UCWbL events include the Banned Books Week initiatives we organize in conjunction with the DePaul University Library (for which we received a Judith Krug Fund Banned Books Week Event Grant this past year), the Peer Tutor and Mentor Summit (nine other DePaul offices/organizations collaborate in the planning of this, our largest annual event), and our work with On the Money (a nonprofit magazine created by and for Chicago-area high school students).
Carolyn (center) moderated the panel discussion with Chicago-area authors and students for Banned Books Week 2014, which took place in the Richardson Library September 24, 2014.
The UCWbL is a mission-driven organization that seeks to promote the voices of individuals by helping writers within (and beyond) the DePaul community develop and strengthen their writing skills. I’ve worked as a writing tutor before (both at my alma mater’s tutoring center and as a freelance tutor) but hadn’t previously encountered anything like the UCWbL, a writing center ultimately guided by ethical considerations concerning writers and writing that also fosters a community of talented, curious, supportive, and delightful staff members. We have a running joke at the UCWbL that “collaborative” is the word most often used to describe UCWbLers and their work, and I must admit that many of what I consider my most successful projects at the UCWbL are indeed collaborative efforts. All UCWbL staff create a Digication ePortfolio that documents each tutor’s experiences, accomplishments, and professional development, and if you’d like to learn a bit more about the work that I do, you can click here to view my UCWbL ePortfolio.
Thoughts on the Graduate Assistantship: Overall, I’ve found my time as a GA to be a thoroughly enriching, worthwhile experience, and am truly grateful to have been given this opportunity.
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The deadline to apply for 2015–2016 graduate assistantships is January 15, 2015.