SUU Writing Center Designed by Students

After three years of hard work, the Southern Utah University Writing Center tutors have created a new Writing Center based entirely upon research in design theory and writing center space.

Traffic in the Writing Center has increased and become more diverse since its makeover, with over 6,000 tutoring sessions last year.

Former tutor Larissa Taylor (graduated 2015) began this project when she researched and proposed updates for the original SUU Writing Center. Taylor noticed the Writing Center space was not equipped to accommodate the number of tutoring sessions, especially near the end of the semester.

Picking up where Taylor left off, three other tutors (A.J. Edwards, Kaeli Madsen, and Kallin Raymond) researched and toured nine university writing centers in Utah.

They considered factors such as spatial rhetoric, furniture arrangement, servicescapes, environmental psychology, and color theory.

“Everything from the furnishings, to the colors, to everything on the walls was designed by students” said Writing Center Director Julia Combs.

As the Writing Center Director, Dr. Combs trains students to act as a campus resource, coaching and encouraging successful writers across all disciplines. Together with students, Dr. Combs proposed and collaborated an extensive remodel and move of the Writing Center in 2018.

She is familiar with the media and available for an interview. Simply visit her profile.