Professor Lauren Silber is the Assistant Director of Academic Writing at the Writers Room (The Office of Academic Writing), as well as an Associate Professor of the Practice in Academic Writing. She supervises undergraduate Writing Tutors and Mentors in the Writers Room. The Writers Room offers FREE tutoring and mentorship programs for ALL Wesleyan students. Learn more about writing at Wesleyan here!
What is your favorite part about working with Wesleyan student employees?
Wesleyan students are buzzing with energy and creativity. Working alongside these students inspires me to keep thinking, growing, and experimenting to make sure that my courses and programs are both sustainable and adapted to the ever-changing student populations I work with. I am always learning from the student staff I work with, and we’re able to collaborate in productive ways. I feel quite lucky to work alongside the Writers Room staff.
Can you share any memorable experiences or achievements from supervising student employees?
I have a love for the everyday. Because of this, I have to say that sitting in the Writers Room and listening to the one-on-one appointments happening in the space feels like a real achievement as a supervisor. The Writers Room staff are nimble and supportive in their roles. It’s more than a supervisor can hope for. When I think beyond the everyday, I would say two of my most memorable experiences and achievements include (1) co-writing and publishing a book chapter about adequacy in the Writing Center with 5 Writers Room undergraduate staff, and (2) working closely with the Center for Prison Education (CPE) to have formerly incarcerated CPE students join our professional development seminar to help us re-think our dominant narratives of what it means to be a writer, a Wesleyan student, and an employee at a writing center. Both of these experiences have pushed me to reconsider the value of the dominant scholarship and practices in my field.
How do you think on-campus jobs contribute to students’ professional development and goals?
I’ve seen student employees get to learn the basics of working in a small organization which means handling payroll, engaging in all-staff meetings, undergoing observations, receiving professional assessments, and maintaining active and timely communication with fellow staff and supervisors. At the Writers Room, staff get to develop their ability to work with others, practice listening, and learn about a wide array of topics and disciplines and writing techniques. Our staff also engage deeply in questions of education and justice. What is the purpose of writing? Do we need a writing education and what does that education look like? How can we help people and reduce the educational harms caused by norms and expectations? We are always reading and writing and working and reflecting. This engaged work environment allows students to think critically about their identities as people, writers, students, and workers. And I truly believe having these opportunities to reflect on work experiences helps our staff figure out their commitments and values; a discovery that will shape the ways they move through the world after graduation.
How does your department’s campus jobs help you and your students impact change within the university or broader community?
Every 45-minute appointment we hold is a moment of interaction that prompts a change, both in the staff member and in the student writer they are working with. Working at the Writers Room offers staff a chance to support the Wesleyan community as they figure out who they are as writers and who they want to be and how to get there. I also see our staff change a lot from working with other writers. This constant interaction with the Wesleyan community – math and bio majors, music and dance majors, anthropology and English majors alike – offers a profound insight into how complicated writing and learning is. We all learn and write differently, and though our writing products might look similar (or have to, especially in academic settings), our processes are uniquely our own. Being able to witness and foster these differences, allows our staff to develop a confidence in themselves that inevitably seeps into their work with the writers they meet with.
Shout out any programs, events, resources, or information you want students to know about your department!
Don’t forget that the Writers Room offers FREE programs for ALL Wesleyan students. Anyone can make a 45-minute appointment on WCOnline (our scheduler) by going to WesPortal–>Academics–>Writing Workshop. We also offer a mentor program where students can be matched with a mentor for the whole semester and earn a 0.25 credit for weekly meetings. Finally, we offer lots of programs for thesis writers including writing retreats. Check out our Instagram @wesleyanwritersroom or our Writing at Wesleyan website to learn more.
Updated March 27, 2025.
