1975: The Writing Lab is established as an initial response to recommendations of the Faculty Senate Literacy Task Force. Don Gallehr, associate professor of English, is the first director and Chris Thaiss, formerly professor of English at Mason, is the first-and only-tutor. [top]

1978: The Composition Tutorial Center (CTC) is created as a parallel service to the Writing Lab for those students deemed to need additional writing assistance based on their scores on a standardized writing test. Its creation, in response to a Faculty Senate initiative and grant funding, occurs at the same time as the seeds of Mason's highly ranked WAC program are being sown with the Faculty Writing Program. [top]

1979: The Writing Lab becomes The Writing Place, under the direction of Chris Thaiss. Oversight of The Writing Place becomes part of the Composition Director's responsibilities. Tutors are drawn from the graduate students on assistantships in the MFA and MA programs. [top]

1985: The Writing Place becomes the Writing Center with its own full-time director. Wilkie Leith, the new director, joins with the national writing center organization to focus on best practices and effective tutor training. The writing center begins offering in-house workshops and publicizes its services across the university. The CTC is disbanded. [top]

1992: The first Writing At Center (now Writing@Center) newsletter, a joint WAC/writing center publication, is circulated to faculty. [top]

1994: The Office of the Provost funds on-line tutoring and OWL is born. The writing center plays a key role in supporting writers across the disciplines when the Faculty Senate passes the writing-intensive requirement. The number of graduate students assigned to the writing center continues to grow apace with the MFA in creative writing. [top]

1995: The writing center debuts on the world wide web. [top]

1997: The English Language Institute funds an ESL specialist to be assigned to the writing center in response to the growing number of non-native writers using our services. [top]

1998: Terry Myers Zawacki takes over as director when Wilkie Leith retires. [top]

1998-99: This is a year of dynamic growth and new partnerships for the center. The writing center and the WAC program are joined under one director, Terry Zawacki. An assistant director position is funded and Scott Berg steps into that role. In collaboration with the library, we offer a regular series of research workshops and open a satellite site in the undergraduate library. We experiment with drop-in, after-hours tutoring in the residence halls. The English Language Institute funds a second position to help with ESL demand. [top]

Spring 1999: CAS 390: Peer Tutoring in Writing in the Disciplines, a one-credit, experiential course, is approved by the college after several semesters piloting the use of undergraduate tutors. [top]

2000-01: Another year of growth and change. Writing center tutors present over 140 informational "roadshows" in courses across the university. The first peer tutors enroll in CAS 390 and, in the spring, travel to Hershey for the National Peer Tutor Conference. We're awarded a Celebration of Learning grant to support the creation of discipline-specific writing center workshops to be offered in classes and online. The director pilots a small writing fellows program. [top]

2001: Tutors collaborate on the creation of online writing guides in the disciplines with funding from a second Celebration of Learning grant. [top]

2002-03: Peer tutors are paid stipends for the first time when the peer tutoring initiative becomes a line-item in the university budget. [top]

2003-04: The Provost commits funds to support writing fellows under the umbrella of the Student Apprentice Program overseen by the Center for Teaching Excellence. [top]

2004-2005: The Enterprise satellite center opens, furbished by the School of Management. We join with Fall for the Book in offering workshops and events to celebrate writing and writers. [top]

2005-2006: A huge growth year. New writing centers are opened at our Arlington and Prince William campuses. The Writing@Center newsletter goes online. A writing center team receives University Life funding to research the writing experiences of non-native students in the U.S. academy. [top]