UMass Boston

Services for Faculty

We believe that faculty are crucial in creating a supportive and expansive culture of writing at UMB. As such, we’re committed to supporting faculty around writing in various ways. We provide support for faculty in two main ways:

  1. Short informational classroom visits geared towards introducing students to the writing center and our services. Request an informational classroom visit via this form. Note that our classroom visit request form will open by the first day of the semester. We usually require scheduling these visits two weeks in advance. 
  2. Programming that supports faculty writing, such as our writing groups. 

If you’re interested in informing students about the Writing Center, we have suggested language for syllabi and offer a few pointers on talking to students about the writing center. Our Community Norms & Policies page also includes important information for faculty. 

Are you looking for a proofreader or editor? We maintain a list of editors and proofreaders that are willing to provide these services for a fee. The rate and other logistics should be negotiated by the individuals involved. The Writing Center maintains this list as a service for writers but is not associated with the services provided by the individuals listed here.

Syllabus Statement

Here is the Writing Center’s suggested syllabus language. Feel free to adapt this statement or copy directly into your syllabus:

The University of Massachusetts Boston Writing Center provides free writing support to undergraduate and graduate students. We believe that every writer benefits from supportive and generous interaction with a knowledgeable peer, both online and in-person, on their writing. As such, we work individually with writers on all writing projects – whether personal, academic, or professional – at any stage of the writing process. During individual writing sessions, our trained undergraduate and graduate student consultants collaborate with writers on their goals and take into account academic and social contexts. We also provide a variety of programming, including workshops and writing groups. Learn more about us and our services or schedule an appointment by visiting our website.

How to Talk to Students About the Writing Center

We’re committed to serving the university community by supporting undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff and by creating an equitable, socially, racially, and linguistically just culture of writing throughout campus and in the community. How faculty talk to students about our services is important to our overall mission. Here are few suggestions for talking to students about the writing center:

  • Mirror our language. We use the term consultant to refer to our trained undergraduate and graduate staff, and we call our writing sessions consultations. We prefer these terms because they emphasize that our consultants are trained and suggest an asset-based orientation to our services, which are collaborative and meant to meet students where they are in their writing and learning processes.
  • Invite students to explore the positive impacts of sharing their writing with others and the many services we offer. Instead of requiring students to visit the writing center or framing our services as meant for only certain students, help writers understand that everyone benefits from writing support. Instructors tend to equate our services with proofreading, but we do much more than that. Instead, share with your students how you benefit from feedback on your own writing and frame the writing center in a positive light that emphasizes support at every stage of the writing process, not just at the final stage of proofreading.
  • Remind students throughout the semester that we are here to support them. By reminding students about our services often and not just during particularly high-stakes parts of your writing assignments, we can better meet writers where they are and help them engage with the writing process one step at a time.
  • The Writing Center employs both graduate and undergraduate consultants. If you’re teaching or advising graduate students and directing them to the Writing Center, please let graduate students know that that they should make an appointment with our graduate consultants. Students can find consultant bios in our scheduling system and on our bios page.

Writing Center

Main location: Campus Center, First Floor, Room 1300
Boston, MA 02125 USA
617.287.6753
writingcenter@umb.edu

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