By Cidonia Ponce
The College of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU Pueblo (CHASS) has always supported its students in any capacity that they can. Specifically, CSU Pueblo’s English department offers a number of resources for students to excel, including classes that offer a publishing opportunity, to even an English Club to get students engaged and involved in the program.
However, one resource, in particular, helps any student seeking writing support. CSU Pueblo’s Writing Center offers students a one-on-one tutoring experience with other students with writing expertise.
Previously, CSU Pueblo’s Writing Center was located on campus in the Library Academic Resource Center (LARC) on the second floor. However, during the fall semester of 2022, the writing center relocated to the second floor of CSU Pueblo’s recently newest building on campus: The Center for Integrated Health and Human Inquiry (CIHHI).
Heather Hopkin Bowers, professionally known as HB, has been involved in CSU Pueblo’s English Department since 2016 and is currently a Lecturer in English and the Director of the Writing and CHASS Learning Center. In a recent interview, she shared her thoughts on the benefits of having a writing center on campus. “First, students who are having difficulty in their courses can come and receive writing assistance from trained peer tutors,” Bowers commented.
Bowers explained that although the writing center is great for composition classes offered at CSU Pueblo, it can also be beneficial for any student writing in any of their classes. “We can help with all citation and formatting styles, which can help ease some of the stress students may have when writing.” Bowered went more into depth about the resources that the writing center offers. Not only does the writing center provide writing critiques, but they also help with content tutoring for any classes within the CHASS curriculum. “So if you’re taking a psychology or philosophy class, for example, we can help you with concepts that are being discussed in that class,” Bowers explained.
Students can be more serious and considerate of their writing, especially when seeking professional jobs. Bowers seconds this and comments on the importance of writing skills professionally. “No matter what career field you end up going into, you’ll need to write,” Bowers mentions. Bowers explains that this type of writing can be emails, proposals, grant writing, and anything else. While commenting on this, Bowers brought up that writing is more than just writing when it comes to its psychology of it. “Even more importantly, we think about writing as a form of thinking,” said Bowers. “So when you sit down and write your paper, you’re going to have to think critically through difficult concepts to not only figure out what you have to say, but how you’re going to say it.”
Although the writing center is one of the English department’s successes, Bowers explains what is upcoming and some hopes for the department’s future. “We are actually looking forward to hire two more professors for the fall semester, so I am very excited to see what knowledge they will bring to the university,” Bowers said. “As for the writing center, I would love to see more professors encouraging their students to come and get tutoring,” Bowers explained.
Bowers explained a statement that means a lot to her but also says a lot about the university. “A thunderwolf is always stronger with help from their pack. Goofy, but true.” Bowers said. “If we can work together, I think we can see some really amazing things happen.”
Although the writing center accepts walk-ins, students can still schedule an appointment through Starfish to see the different tutors. Tutoring sessions can be held in person and through Zoom. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit CSU Pueblo’s website by searching for csupueblo.edu.
