As Wittenberg kicks off its fall semester, acclaimed poet Marjory Wentworth makes her debut as the new Director of the Writing Center and Oral Communication Center (OCC), as well as an adjunct professor in the English department.
Experience
Wentworth’s experience in education is extensive; she previously taught at Wright State University in Dayton, and she even started her own writing center at the Art Institute of Charleston, S.C.
Her literary achievements are nothing to scoff at, either; she served as South Carolina's poet laureate from 2003 to 2020, and has written several books of poetry. Her picture book, "Shackles," is based on the true story of boys discovering slave shackles buried on Sullivan Island, S.C. The award-winning children's book has been banned from National Park Service sites.
Starting at Witt
While she was already well acquainted with current and former Wittenberg faculty—including English professors D. Scot Hinson and Marlo Starr—what primarily drew Wentworth to Witt was the welcoming atmosphere and the people who created it.
She emphasizes that Wittenberg “feels more like a community where everybody kind of looks out for everybody else.” She added that, during her interviews for the job, she could see that “people really loved Wittenberg in a way that is really refreshing,” and that her skills were being fully appreciated and considered when considering her for the position.
Goals as the new Director
Wentworth doesn’t plan to stay idle in her new directorial position. Her primary goal is to revitalize both the Writing Center and the OCC and turn them into a united front of student participation and support. She highlights how there are “so many things available to students, services that they pay for that I don't think a lot of them realize that they have.” In her opinion, getting students motivated to visit is perhaps the key element to promoting engagement with these services.
Some of her more immediate ideas for driving up student engagement include staging an open house, holding a raffle, and finding ways to have open discussions about AI. Some of her long-term solutions include maintaining a social media presence and collaborating with professors to further inform students about the help available through the centers.
Above all else, she wants to ensure that meetings with the Writing Center and OCC are engaging and worthwhile. "We want it to be a positive experience for the students,” she says.
Teaching
Alongside being the new Writing Center and OCC director, Wentworth is also active in Wittenberg’s English department, as she currently teaches Writing Center Theory and Practice (ENGL-325). Next spring, she plans to expand her listings to a 100-level seminar on banned books and a 300-level poetry-writing course.
Overall, Wentworth remarks that she is grateful for her position and is eager to be a part of the future of Wittenberg: “I feel like there's this kind of hopeful, positive attitude on campus that, I'm feeling— just feeling it.”
