Hume Center for Writing and Speaking

Hume Center for Writing and Speaking
Name	Hume Center for Writing and Speaking
Formation	1996
Type	Academic support center
Headquarters	University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Location	Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
Leader title	Director

Hume Center for Writing and Speaking is a campus-based center providing one-on-one tutoring, group workshops, and curricular support for writers and speakers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The center works with students, faculty, and community members to improve communication across disciplines and professions, drawing on practices used at institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, and Columbia University. It engages with regional partners including Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Knoxville Museum of Art, Dollywood, Volunteer State Community College, and Pellissippi State Community College.

History

The center was established amid broader late-20th-century reforms at research universities influenced by models from University of Michigan, University of California, Berkeley, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Duke University. Its founding responded to campus initiatives similar to those at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Brown University, Johns Hopkins University, and Cornell University. Early collaborators and advisers included figures associated with Modern Language Association, Association of College and Research Libraries, American Council on Education, National Council of Teachers of English, and Council of Writing Program Administrators. Over time the center incorporated practices from writing centers at Pennsylvania State University, Ohio State University, University of Virginia, Georgetown University, and Vanderbilt University.

Mission and Services

The center’s mission parallels goals articulated by Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Fulbright Program, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Science Foundation, and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation—enhancing communicative competence, supporting inclusive pedagogy, and promoting public scholarship. Services include consultations modeled after protocols used at University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Texas at Austin, University of Washington, University of California, Los Angeles, and Rice University. The center provides disciplinary outreach to faculties in areas represented by College of Arts and Sciences (University of Tennessee), Haslam College of Business, Tennessee Law School, College of Engineering (University of Tennessee), and College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences.

Programs and Workshops

Regular offerings mirror programs at major centers such as Writing Center at Columbia University, Harvard College Writing Center, Stanford Humanities Center, Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, and Brown Writing Center. Workshops range from thesis development informed by methods used at University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Colorado Boulder, Michigan State University, and Indiana University Bloomington to presentation coaching drawing on practices from Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University, University of Southern California, and University of Minnesota. Specialized series have included science communication modeled after American Association for the Advancement of Science programs, grant-writing sessions employing templates similar to National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation guidance, and public speaking events inspired by formats from TED Conferences, PechaKucha, NPR, and C-SPAN.

Staff and Fellows

Staffing models reflect collaborations with graduate tutors and faculty fellows similar to those at Princeton Writing Program, Columbia University School of the Arts, University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, and Yale University. Fellows have included visiting scholars and practitioners connected to English Department (University of Tennessee), Communication Studies (University of Tennessee), History Department (University of Tennessee), Biology Department (University of Tennessee), and Political Science Department (University of Tennessee). The center has hosted postdoctoral fellows with projects aligned to funders like Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Gates Foundation, and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Facilities and Locations

Housed on the Knoxville campus, the center occupies space configured for consultations, workshops, and multimedia coaching similar to facilities at University of California, Davis, University of Florida, University of Georgia, Rutgers University, and Clemson University. Equipment and rooms support practices used by centers at New York University, Boston University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, and University of Arizona. Off-site pop-up locations have appeared at community venues like Knoxville Civic Coliseum, Market Square (Knoxville), Blount County Public Library, Knox County Public Library, and East Tennessee History Center.

Partnerships and Outreach

The center maintains partnerships modeled on collaborations between academic centers and external organizations such as Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, Tennessee Valley Authority, National Park Service, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Local and statewide outreach connects with Tennessee Board of Regents, University of Tennessee System, Tennessee Humanities, Tennessee Arts Commission, and United Way of Greater Knoxville. It engages with disciplinary societies including Modern Language Association, American Historical Association, American Chemical Society, Association for Computing Machinery, and Society for Technical Communication.

Awards and Recognition

Recognition for the center’s initiatives has paralleled awards and honors given by entities like National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Council for Advancement and Support of Education, Association of American Colleges and Universities, and International Writing Centers Association. Faculty and fellows affiliated with the center have received fellowships and prizes such as the MacArthur Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, Pulitzer Prize, Packard Fellowship, and National Science Foundation CAREER Award.

Category:University of Tennessee