IMPROVING STUDENT WRITING WITH PEER TUTORS: INITIATING A WRITING FELLOWS PROGRAM AT FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY

Writing Fellows Programs (WFP) are in effect among college campuses across the country, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Nova Southeastern University; however, Florida Atlantic University has yet to establish a peer tutoring program that is tied to writing-intensive courses that would enable disciplines across campus to share the responsibility of improving student writing instead of delegating the task to the English Department or college writing center. There is also an apparent disconnect between the writing skills being taught within the non-English Department courses and the work being done within the University Center for Excellence in Writing (UCEW) to teach the effectiveness of strong, academic writing to students. This disconnect can be eliminated with the help of peer tutors acting as the bridge connecting the faculty across the disciplines to the UCEW.