In 1978 the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts established the English Composition Board (ECB) to support the improvement of writing within LSA. In 1997 the ECB was transformed into the Gayle Morris Sweetland Writing Center and became a part of the Department of English Language and Literature, operating alongside the First and Second Year Studies Program. In 2002, the Sweetland Writing Center separated from the Department of English Language and Literature and became its own unit, reporting to the Dean of LSA.

In pursuit of its goal of invigorating writing across the University, Sweetland faculty and staff:

• help students choose their first writing course through a program called Directed Self-Placement;
• teach Writing Practicum, the course that prepares students for a First-Year Writing Requirement course;
• operate the Writing Workshop, which provides consultation to undergraduate and graduate students who seek help with academic writing;
• train upper-level undergraduates to become Peer Tutors who help fellow undergraduates with their writing in the Peer Tutoring Center, Lloyd Hall Writing Center, and via Sweetland's Online Writing Lab (OWL);
• provide training to graduate students (junior fellows) and faculty members (senior fellows) in the semester-long Sweetland Writing Center Fellows Seminar on composition theory and writing pedagogy;
• direct the Dissertation Writing Institute for graduate students who may be stalled in the writing stage of their dissertation.
• administer LSA's First-Year and Upper-Level Writing Requirements;
• train graduate student instructors and consult with faculty teaching First-Year and Upper-Level Writing Requirement courses;
• maintain a bibliography of articles related to teaching writing (available to instructors upon request), an online writing resources page, and a library of books and journals on composition, writing, tutoring, and teaching writing;
• interact with high schools and the community to foster the exchange of knowledge and experience; and
• conduct research to improve the understanding of writing and tutoring.

For more information about us, please email swcinfo@umich.edu.

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