Communication Center Recognized by Southeastern Writing Center Association for Excellence in Tutoring

Posted November 18, 2015

A Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow and student in the Communication Center within the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts have been recognized by the Southeastern Writing Center Association for excellence in tutoring. 

Caitlin Kelly, a Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, has been awarded the Southeastern Writing Center Professional Tutor of the Year Award. Kelly, who is the Postdoctoral Tutoring Coordinator in the Communication Center, is the fourth professional tutor in the Communication Center to receive this award.

The Communication Center noted Kelly’s dedication to being a reflective teacher of writing in the multimodal/multiliteracy center.

“She is always one of the first of our professional staff to ask the pointed questions about how to connect theory to practice. She is keen to integrate her dual roles (as teacher and as tutor) in ways to more richly serve both her own students and those students whom she tutors. She is constantly evaluating the link between these identities, and because of this commitment to active reflection, she becomes both a better tutor and a better teacher with each passing day — and, she challenges her colleagues to do the same.

“She has oversight for all the programing in the second year of our pilot to support the STEM postdoctoral fellows at Georgia Tech, and she exclusively does all the tutoring for this highly underserved group of clients. She has also worked to support our dissertation boot camp program, and is very engaged as a mentor for our peer-tutors as well as the new professional tutors.”

Also recognized was Kiran Rampersad, an ISyE junior who is minoring in our economics program. Rampersad received the prestigious Southeastern Writing Center Undergraduate Peer Tutor of the Year Award.

Rampersad spearheaded two major student-led projects over the past year. The first was a new promotional video designed by students for students, Communication Center at Georgia Tech, which has become a cornerstone of their advertising efforts. The second project was a scavenger hunt designed to promote the center’s location and services both to students and to other units across campus. Rampersad is also a member of the Tutor Training Committee.

This year he is helping to create a new version of the tutor training manual, focusing especially on the elements concerning tutoring for non-native-English-speakers — a growing need here at Georgia Tech. This award is highly competitive. Rampersad began tutoring just over a year ago, and was in competition with students who have tutored for years.