Liz Roddin has provided individualized attention to students on their writing for nearly three decades. (photo courtesy of Liz Roddin)

The FA member excellence awards committee is proud to announce that Liz Roddin, writing center PA, has been selected as the 2021-22 recipient of the FA award for adjunct service.

While our annual awards & retiree recognition celebration has been postponed until later this semester, we want people to know about Liz's good work at the college. Below is my interview with Liz as well as her nomination.

Q — You work in the Writing Center and have served as a student tutor and then as an adjunct for 27 years. First, thank you for your many years of service! Sometimes faculty misunderstand what we do in the writing centers, so can you talk about your work and how you got started here?

A —  I was a student at SCCC and I started as student tutor in 1994. Phil Linker had asked, “Does anyone want to be a tutor in the writing center?” and I did. I was hired as a PA in 1998, then finished my master’s degree in 2002 and began teaching classes as well. I’ve taught developmental writing courses as well as ENG201 Advanced Expository Writing and ENG119 The Structure of English. I had a great experience teaching those courses but since around 2015 I’ve been focused solely on tutoring in the writing center because I love making one-on-one connections with the students and sharing my love of writing with them.

Faculty and students sometimes misunderstand what we do in the writing center. I think it was Stephen North who said our goal is to create a better writer not a better paper. So colleagues and students shouldn’t think they’ll come to me, I’ll put red marks all over their paper and tell them exactly what to fix and how—and they’ll walk out with a perfect paper. That’s not what we do. I can’t rewrite the paper for them; it’s their paper, not mine. It’s not my job to be their editor for publication.

My job is to look at the writing with the students and say, “what I notice is” and mention what they’re doing well. Then I’ll say, “something I notice that’s not working so well is,” and we’ll focus on one or two major issues. The goal is for them to become a better writer. If the students come to us consistently—that’s the best model—over the course of those visits, they will become better writers and better thinkers. They need to pay attention to their writing, they need time to work on their writing, they need to learn to do it for themselves.

As tutors, it’s important for us to just be really good listeners. To have someone truly listen to you is a real gift. We have so many good tutors in the writing center at Ammerman, I am in awe. They always seem to know how to help the student, and it’s just a great place.

Q — Your nomination mentions an independent study class you taught and your rich, diversity-focused approach to tutoring students. Since the FA is actively working on the JEDI Institute right now, can you talk about those things?

A — Lizzie McCormick, our writing center coordinator, asked me to teach the independent study class, which was to teach students how to be student tutors. We used the Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors, discussed issues that come up in tutoring and they’d shadow me while I was tutoring. I’d also observe them and help them become more effective as tutors. That was just one semester and ended due to a change in the staffing model to hiring only PAs.

As for diversity, you know, you come in and you’re with a different person every day in the writing center. It doesn’t matter to me who they are in the sense that I just respect each student as an individual and I respect their writing on an individual level. I want to understand more what people are going through. And while I embrace diversity, I’m older than they are. I don’t always understand some of the things they are experiencing, but I feel pain from some of them and I do not want to add to that. Regardless of your gender, race or any of that, if you’re a person coming to me for help with your writing, I am going to respect you and respect your writing.

Q — The FA is deeply concerned about the experiences of our adjunct colleagues. What advice can you share on the role of the FA in adjuncts’ lives?

A — I’ve always felt grateful to know that if I couldn’t work things out with administration, I could go to the union if I needed to. I haven’t had a lot of issues, but I know Dante would stand up for anyone who has a legitimate concern, and Kim Ng Southard too; they are smart, kind and fair. Adjuncts are a big part of the backbone of this college. We are doing an important service for the college and the students, so we can feel good about the role we play here. It would be nice if there were more full-time lines, though, definitely.

I’ve been fortunate to have the support of all the people in this writing center over these years, but not all adjuncts have that. Some adjuncts are constantly going from place to place, so we’ve got to find a way to give them that support. If they could spend just a little time in the adjunct offices or attend department meetings, that can help. We all need a support system.

Q — How does it feel to receive the FA award for excellence in adjunct service?
A — I’m really not the type to win awards. I was taught by my family to keep my mouth closed and to just do my job. So this was really surprising! I am happy that Lizzie nominated me and that the awards committee picked me. I’m the type of person who doesn’t want to stay if I’m not doing a good job, so it means a lot that people think I am still doing a good job. It just makes me happy.

One quote I love says, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” Even if I can just do one thing or help one more student, I want to do that rather than complain about our students or complain about how other things are going wrong. I just want to do my job the best I can.

Award: Excellence in Adjunct Service
Nominee: Elizabeth Roddin, PA, Writing Center

For over 25 years, Prof. Roddin has provided teaching and tutoring to students at the highest level. In the five years I have worked with her in the Writing Center, she has been steadfastly committed to our students, curious about Writing Pedagogy and a wonderfully calm and fair presence. Several years ago, she taught an independent study for students seeking to tutor. Her syllabus was a fantastic blend of composition skill development along with a rich, diversity-focused focus on the social dimensions of tutoring. Her consistent excellent service deserves recognition.