When last I wrote, I was beginning my second year at DePaul University in the Master of Writing & Publishing program. Last summer I received word that I'd be receiving a graduate assistantship with the department of English, and that (in addition to a tuition waiver and stipend) I'd be working with DePaul's University Center for Writing-based Learning, their writing center that's oh-so-much-more than a writing center. For the 2012-2013 school year I worked as the assistant coordinator for Writing Groups. When my supervisor took on a bigger teaching load I was promoted to full Coordinator, and I finished the year as one of the senior staff members of one of the largest collegiate writing centers of its type in the world. Writing Groups was only one of a series of teams within the UCWbL, which unlike typical writing centers is its own entire academic department with its own budget, administrators, and a whole spectrum of writing-related resources, projects, and tasks for the University.

I approached DePaul's MAWP program with what my wife might describe as fanatical enthusiasm. I went the extra mile wherever possible, soaking up all of the knowledge I missed the first time around in undergrad, and trying to fill in the specific holes in my skillset for both writing and publishing. I didn't know it at the time, but this approach would mean something important for me before my time at DePaul was done. I missed only a single class in the course of the entire degree, and it was because I was invited to read at a reading series I'd been dying to get an invite for forever. It wasn't all fun and games. A teaching internship and the necessity to continue working part time while I got the degree made scheduling and completion of all of the work very difficult, and I had precious little time to keep up with my friends in the larger writing community. At last, though, on June 16th, I graduated alongside my classmates and a whole group of new colleagues with my M.A. in Writing & Publishing.
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