While many universities require new consultants to take a class on writing center theory and practice, UMB Writing Center Fellows instead take part in pre-semester preparation involving readings & discussions, followed by regular small cohort meetings throughout the year. In keeping with our mission, new consultants in 2024 will also join the Baltimore Writing Center Project (BWCP). Consultant-participants in the BWCP attend online bi-monthly discussion sessions and complete a final writing project. All training time is paid through the fellowship stipend.

Writing Center professional development focuses on embodying the role of a peer writing consultant by critically reflecting on the relationships among text, language, and power in writing practice and education. How do we write in a contemporary world shaped by multiple global crises? What does it mean to create, organize, and communicate knowledge and community in these circumstances? How do we respond through writing center practices?

This is messy, difficult, exciting work. The rigorous preparation will enrich your work, preparing you to challenge language ideologies with clients, in your own writing, and with future colleagues or students in any discipline. By joining this team, you will contribute to an interprofessional conversation that is expanding the traditional boundaries of what writing center work is and can be.