Two new people are leading the Academic Success Center this semester, and they want to ensure you all have the help you need. Cathy Smeltzer Erb is the new director of the Academic Success Center (ASC), and Mary Ann Zehr is the new program director for the Writing and Communications Program. Together, they are taking on the responsibilities of Vi Dutcher, who retired at the end of last year after working at EMU for 17 years. Dutcher was the head of the ASC and the Writing and Communications Program, and she set up the writing program in 2007. But now that Dutcher has retired, EMU has decided to split up the job and have two people use their gifts and skills to run these programs separately.
Smeltzer Erb has been working at Eastern Mennonite University since 2002. She originally was a part of the teacher education faculty, and then in 2007, she became the Director of Undergrad Education. Now, she oversees the Peer Tutoring Program, which supplies tutors specializing in most of the subject areas at EMU. Smeltzer Erb is also in charge of the Office of Academic Access.. Smeltzer Erb also oversees the accommodations for housing, and shared that “there are probably about 100 or 110 students that are receiving accommodations on campus.”
The third part of Smeltzer Erb’s job is helping facilitate events for faculty focused on teaching and learning, under the umbrella of the Center for Teaching and Learning. Smeltzer Erb is co-chairing the Center for Teaching and Learning with Tara Kishbaugh, Dean of the school of SEAN(School of Sciences, Engineering, Art and Nursing). Working in all these areas ties directly into Smeltzer Erb’s desire to work in this position: “One of the things that inspires me the most about the ASC is, and the idea of this job as a whole is bringing together learning of faculty and students.” More than this, she desires to grow the program. She said, “One of my dreams would be …[improving] our resourcing of learning strategies for students.” Additionally, she wants to see if there are ways to help students read to improve their comprehension, having heard it is a struggle for students. Smeltzer Erb thinks one of the best ways to help make learning more equitable and accessible for everyone is by collecting more data. Then using that data to address different issues on campus
Zehr, the other addition to the ASC, worked as a journalist for 14 years before joining EMU five years ago. She started as an adjunct writing professor and later became a full professor. She also worked one-on-one with grad students as a writing coach. Currently, she is the program director for the Writing and Communications Program.. Now, Zehr teaches half-time first-year writing and is the Writing Program director, overseeing the faculty that teach first-year writing and speech and the writing tutors.
In regards to her goals for the writing program, Zehr said, “I really want students to know they can make appointments with writing peer tutors. They are other students that have taken first-year writing or other writing classes in their majors.” This year, the two writing tutors are Greta Schrag, a senior, and Daisy Buller, a junior. They are here to help students with their papers in any class. The tutors will read over papers and check for spelling or grammatical errors, or just check if the paper is well written.
Zehr was excited to be program director and try something new leading a department. Zehr is only the second person to have this job because Dutcher started this program. Zehr said, “Vi did a great job starting this program, and fortunately, she built a strong foundation, and I can build on that.” When asked what Zehr misses about her old position, she said, “I miss working one-on-one with grad students and reading their papers. But, I enjoy working with the writing tutors and teaching new writing tutors.”
Zehr and Smeltzer Erb look forward to helping students have an easier time here at EMU. They also look forward to working together to create an inclusive pedagogy here at EMU. If you want to try to use these resources then just google Eastern Mennonite University Academic Success center, and all of these different resources and more will be available there.
