About Tutoring Services

The Writing and Learning Commons (WaLC) and Mathematics Tutoring Center (MTC) function within the Division of Student Success. WaLC/MTC staff members include a full-time WaLC Director, WaLC Associate Director, WaLC Assistant Director, MTC Director, and Administrative Support Associates. In addition to the full-time professional staff, the WaLC/MTC employs between 125-150 student employees who serve as course tutors, math tutors, writing tutors, writing fellows, office assistants, and academic skills consultants.

Mission:

The mission of the Writing and Learning Commons (WaLC) and Mathematics Tutoring Center (MTC) is to provide students with the support, skills, and confidence they need to achieve academic excellence and become independent learners. Our peer-facilitated tutoring sessions focus on collaborative, active, and engaged learning strategies. Additionally, the WaLC and MTC partner with faculty to identify qualified student tutors and provide training to develop tutors' leadership skills and enhance their learning.

Goals:

• Support faculty members’ efforts to maintain academic rigor
• Build students’ confidence in their ability to achieve academic success
• Promote students’ intellectual versatility and flexibility across the disciplines
• Challenge students to be active learners
• Help students understand their responsibilities for learning, reading, and writing in the academy
• Advance the principle that writing, learning, and teaching are recursive and interconnected processes
• Train and support a workforce of tutors and peer educators who model and facilitate effective learning practices

Services:

• Writing tutoring
• Course-specific tutoring
• Academic skills consultations
• Supplemental Instruction
• Writing Fellows - genre-based writing tutors  
• Lab report tutoring
• Drop-in math tutoring (Stillwell 437)
• One-on-one and group tutoring
• Writing and academic skills workshops
• Learning skills workshops
• Online, open-access writing, research, and learning resources
• Extensive training for student employees

WaLC/MTC Tutors’ Statements about Diversity and Inclusion  

The Writing and Learning Commons is a community of peer educators and professional staff that welcomes and celebrates diversity. We aim to provide high quality educational support based on what each student needs. We value every student’s unique contributions to the learning process, and we work to provide a place where people of all identities can be actively engaged in their own learning. The WaLC’s peer educators collaborated to compose the following commitments to articulate how they will uphold the values of diversity and inclusion in their everyday work.

We will: 

• Be aware of our own biases and actively work to overcome them.
• Be aware of what we say and our attitudes toward tutees and each other. 

• Treat every individual with respect.
• Celebrate differences in all forms and respect each other’s differences.
• Commit to openness and be willing to learn something new in every situation.
• Be willing to take a stand when we encounter discrimination.
• Establish boundaries that allow all students to participate without fear of prejudice.

• Never make assumptions about a person’s abilities or background.
• Educate ourselves on people’s backgrounds and differences. 
• Actively work to make the WaLC and MTC more diverse and welcoming places for all students.
• Use pronouns that align with the student’s identity. 
• Be sensitive and empathetic to the needs of others.  

• Be patient and do not judge prematurely.
• Be mindful of the different abilities of our tutees and work to accommodate them.
• Provide encouragement and support to the students we help. 
• Demonstrate respect toward our co-workers and maintain positive communication. 
• Avoid forcing our opinions and points-of-view on others. 

• Refer students to campus resources in times of distress.