The Professionalization of a University Writing Center Staff through a Professional Writing Internship Program

Abstract

The University Writing Center (UWC) at St. Thomas University (STU) is closely connected with the university’s English: Professional Writing program, as many of the UWC’s tutors either major or minor in the program. One of the program’s goals is to provide students with opportunities for growth and professional development in fields related to writing, and one way the program achieves this goal is through a professional writing internship. Many of the Professional Writing students have opted to use their internship to work at the UWC. These interns have shown how a writing center can be a site where tutors grow in many professional directions and where tutors can see first-hand returns from the amount of time and effort they invest into their positions. The goal of this article, then, is to briefly describe the STU Professional Writing internship program and show how it provides our UWC tutors with a variety of professional development opportunities inside and outside of our center.