Our History

The Writing Center opened in the fall of 1984 as "The Write Stuff."  In the previous year, the Writing Director had proposed the creation of a writing center as a means of improving students' writing. As outlined in that proposal, the center was to be a space that would serve as a center for the university's community of writers.  From the outset, student academic success and empowerment were the Writing Center's primary goals. 

Today, the Writing Center continues to improve student writing via 1:1 tutoring, both in person and online via our Bobcat Chat program. To fulfill this mission, the Writing Center hires and trains accomplished student writers and thinkers to serve as writing guides.  Each semester, the Writing Center offers approximately 3,000 individualized tutorials.

The Writing Center staff also offer minicourses on a variety of writing-related topics such as creating resumes, writing the in-class essay exam, and thesis/dissertation writing and bi-weekly GSP reviews.

Finally, the Writing Center continues to coordinate The Rattler Writing Center at San Marcos High School and to sponsor The Final Word, Texas State University's undergraduate creative writing group.

Writing Center Client Success

A random sampling of 100 first-year students who visited the Writing Center three times in 2006 for First-year English revealed an average grade of 86.6 in First-year English (the average for all students is 82). 89% of these Writing Center clients returned to Texas State for their second year (the retention average university-wide is roughly 76%).  Thus, the Writing Center performs a vital function in student retention and academic success.

Writing Center Client Satisfaction Survey

In the fall of 2008, 1,364 Writing Center clients completed anonymous surveys.  Here are the results of their assessment of the Writing Center’s services on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest:

-    First-Year students (586 students): 9.3

-    Sophomores (234 students) 9.29

-    Juniors (263 students): 9.45

-    Seniors (204 students): 9.48

-    Graduate students (77 students): 9.4