Graduation Reflections | Dr. Austin Anderson

By Dr. Austin Anderson | Doctoral Alumni 

When I reflect on my time at Howard University, my mind lingers on different spaces that my memory associates with my HU journey.  As a graduate student, the opportunities for campus-wide exploration are scant, and you instead spend most of your time in a handful of buildings. As an English PhD student, these were Founders Library, the Graduate School building, and Locke Hall. Meetings with committee members, teaching assignments, and coursework were all concentrated around these buildings. Yet, one space stands above all others in my memory: Locke Hall, Room 100, the Howard University writing center.
At Howard, funded English PhD students often spend a lot of time in the writing center because our research assistantship—the thing that gives us a stipend and tuition remission to attend graduate school—typically requires us to work in the writing center as a tutor. This is standard fair for English PhD programs across the country, a win-win scenario where universities provide an important resource for undergraduate students while future graduate student instructors hone their pedagogical craft. When I talk to former and present writing center tutors at other universities, they often describe their work in their writing centers as a chore. It is not that the work is bad. Rather, their writing centers are presented as laborious and boring spaces where graduate students are intellectually and pedagogically constrained. Like so many other aspects of the HU graduate student experience, Howard is different.

At least for me, the HU writing center rarely ever felt constraining. Quite the opposite. The two and a half years I spent in the HU Writing Center were some of the most stimulating, rewarding, and communal experiences I have had in my admittedly brief academic career. In a word, it was special.

I attribute the specialness of the HU Writing Center to a few factors. One is the undergrads. The HU students are the best and brightest students I have worked with. Whether students came in for tutoring out of their own volition or at the behest of an instructor, I was always struck by the students’ thoughtfulness and endless creativity. Working with students to hone their writing craft was always rewarding, and it was particularly special to work with the same students repeatedly and watch their literary growth. A handful of students I worked with even received offers to graduate school, the Fulbright, or prestigious internships. The ability to provide a service that makes writing meaningful and has a direct impact on students’ lives was always deeply rewarding and a reminder that this work meant something.

The second factor was who I was able to work with: the other writing center tutors and our boss, [Master Instructor and Director of the Writing Center] Kyr Mack. Every single person I worked with transformed the then-outdated conference room into a lively space of both pedagogical rigor and joyful conversation. When we weren’t working with students, we were discussing our research, our lives, and our hobbies. Conversations spanned between small groups and the entire room. And jokes were told. Lots and lots of jokes. Through it all, three of my peer tutors—Alex, Sabrina, and Paola—even became life-long friends. All the while, Professor Mack modeled a caring working environment that curated joy while simultaneously showing us his stellar pedagogy. 

These factors made the Writing Center transformational, and they add up to the thing that Howard does better than anywhere else: community. The HU writing center created a vibrant community amongst the students and the writing center staff, and this community transformed the writing center into something truly special.

Eventually, I advanced to PhD candidacy and stopped working in the Writing Center as I transitioned into being a graduate student instructor in my final years. Teaching was equally rewarding, and I cherished my experiences in the classroom. Yet, there will always be a special place in my heart for the HU Writing Center and the community it created. 

Shortly after I stopped working there, the interior was entirely remodeled. The renovations remade a once junky room into something slick and modern. Yet, I know despite that sheen, the thing that makes the HU Writing Center special will never change: the people.