Attorney, English professor, high school drama teacher, and speech therapist are all professions of former PC Writing Center tutors. Just as most faculty members write letters of reference for their students, I too write such letters to the Office of Bar Admissions in Atlanta, the Southern Teacher's Agency, graduate programs in history, women's studies, or English. Working in the Writing Center gives tutors the opportunity to learn how to develop a rapport with others, to question and listen, as well as to share strategies for writing. Students interested in working with people are undoubtedly the ones who apply to become tutors, and they find that their one-on-one conferencing carries over into their lives after college.

A few former tutors have used their experience in the PC Writing Center more directly to work in writing centers at other institutions. Some, like Ronald Miller, Visiting Assistant Professor in the English Department, found that their tutoring experience made them eligible for assistantships in graduate school. Miller was the only first-year graduate student at the University of South Carolina to work in the writing center there because of his tutoring in the PC Writing Center. He was one of the first tutors when the Writing Center opened in fall 1997 and continued as a tutor until his graduation in the spring of 1999. As the youngest Writing Center Assistant at USC, Miller instructed undergraduate and graduate students in "writing, researching, and revising papers in any subject." He worked with many ESL students and found writing center work "challenging but fun at the same time." Ronald Miller at a tutor workshop in the fall of 1997.

Sara Dustin, also a charter tutor in the PC Writing Center, advanced from the position of Writing Consultant at Florida Gulf Coast University in the fall of 2004 to being Interim Director of the Writing Center in the fall of 2006. Her responsibilities include hiring new consultants and training graduate assistants. "My experience in the PC Writing Center," she says, "was one of the main factors in my being hired at FGCU." The hiring committee chose her for a Visiting Instructor position because of her academic record and her previous work in a writing center.

Princeton Theological Seminary's Writing Center employs another former tutor studying at the seminary. Elizabeth Michael, a PC tutor from the fall of 2001 to the spring of 2003, tutored during her first year at the seminary and now is the Assistant Director of the Writing Center. Next year she will direct the Center at Princeton. She writes, "We read all master's level papers for content, organization, and grammar, much like PC. One difference is the large number of ESL students we service here­­they make up the majority of our client base. The pedagogical tools I learned in the Writing Center at PC have made me particularly well-qualified. We do try to distinguish ourselves as a writing center and not a proofreading service, and Iam grateful that [Jill Frey] spent so much time teaching us questions and methods which empower rather than merely correct a student." Michael adds, "Working for the Writing Center was one of my favorite activities at PC, and that continues to hold true in Princeton. I love how much I have learned ­­not only about the wide variety of topics on which people write papers but also about writing." Elizabeth Michael prepares to tutor.