Laura Price Hall
Associate Director, Writing Center
Instructor, Department of English
CSU English Alumna

This is your first year at the Writing Center. What have you learned so far? What is your favorite part of working in the Writing Center?

I’ve learned so much in the short time since starting this role, and I have so much more to learn still! What surprised me most is learning to appreciate what Elizabeth Boquet calls the “noise” of the Writing Center — and this has become one of my favorite parts of working here.

I generally consider myself an introverted person. No loud noises. No crowds. No Led Zeppelin before 5 pm. (This last one causes regular disagreements between my spouse and me.)

The Writing Center, however, gets brilliantly cacophonous in the middle of the day. And I’m surprised by how inspiring it is to hear so many different voices reading out loud and talking about writing.

What drew you to this position in the Writing Center?

The Writing Center is a unique space on campus; I’m drawn to the ways that the Writing Center upends the power dynamics often inherent in classroom settings or other types of learning environments. In my other role as an Instructor, hard as I might try to enact pedagogy that invites mutuality and student agency, I can never completely escape from the evaluative aspect of that role.

The Writing Center provides space for clients and consultants to talk about writing — no grades and no judgement. I appreciate that clients choose to come to the Writing Center, and that our philosophy and practices allow writers to see the writing process from so many different angles as they talk with consultants.

Are there any projects you’re currently working on? Either through the Writing Center or as a faculty member?

At the Writing Center, I’m engaged with the ongoing work of maintaining the digital space of the center — whether through the online queue (asynchronous response to client drafts) or our synchronous video chat consultations.

Elsewhere, in the bits of spare time between everything else, I’m working on revising my graduate research on the rhetorics of immersive technologies (AR/VR) and rural places (specifically, Caddo Lake in rural East Texas/Western Louisiana) for publication.

Can you describe the Writing Center in one word?

I’ll borrow from what a client said about their experience when they described the CSU Writing Center as “nonjudgmental”. That word, for me, reflects the Writing Center’s approach to consultations. Whether you’re a published author with years of experience or writing your first college paper, sharing writing can feel vulnerable. It’s nice to have a space on campus that allows for nonjudgmental, non-evaluative conversations about the writing process. (Oops. That wasn’t one word — don’t judge me.)