How We Write

A Podcast About How We Write…Anything!

An Ecological View of Writing Centers

We’re taking a brief break from our current series, The Literacy Files, to share the second keynote speech from the University Writing Center’s 30th Anniversary Celebration.

Our speaker is Peg Syverson. Peg is an associate professor emerita from the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at UT-Austin. She was the director of the Undergraduate Writing Center, as it was then called, from 2006 to 2014. As director, she established new programs such as “Writing Center After Dark,” which brought panels of local published authors to campus to discuss their craft. She managed the transition of the UWC from its cramped, windowless former space to its present bright, spacious, light filled home, overlooking trees, grass, and UT’s Blanton Museum of Art.

Previously, Peg was director of UT’s Computer Writing and Research Lab, now the Digital Writing and Research Lab, which explored ways to use computer technologies in teaching writing and literature. Peg developed the college-level Learning Record, an award-winning model for documenting and analyzing student learning. From 1995 to the present,
she’s been the founding teacher for Appamada, a contemporary Zen Center in Austin. She currently lives with her goldendoodle Jizo, in Wilmette, Illinois, near her family.