NSU Graduate Student Earns Southeastern Writing Center Association
Graduate Tutor of the Year Award
Hannah Dean, graduate student of the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences Physician Assistant (PA) Program and former graduate
assistant at the NSU Write from the Start Writing and Communication Center (WCC), earned the 2019 Graduate Tutor of the Year Award from the Southeastern Writing Center Association (SWCA). According to SWCA, the honor “recognize(s) leadership, commitment, and overall excellence of individuals working in an SWCA writing center.”
At NSU, Dean worked at the WCC for three and a half years, the first three as an undergraduate. This past year, she helped design and implement the WCC’s first-year biology course-embedded writing fellows program, which served close to 500 students in the fall of 2018. In her role, Dean:
- Developed training and education modules for writing fellows.
- Organized a series of “open studio” hours for BIOL 1500 students.
- Created pre- and post-surveys to assess student feedback.
- Reflected on final assessments to strengthen the program.
Dean also collaborated with two WCC graduate student colleagues to co-author a book chapter on writing studio pedagogy that is set to be published later this year. “Hannah has been key to the WCC’s success for a long time, and I am happy she was recognized by the SWCA for her amazing contributions,” said Kevin Dvorak, Ph.D., executive director of the WCC. “The biology writing fellows program is a unique initiative that gives our students an edge.”
Outside the classroom, Dean has represented NSU for four years as a President’s 64 member. She has worked alongside community leaders for three years in planning Broward County’s annual event, “A Day for Children,” which offers free healthcare services to families. She also currently serves as the philanthropy chair on the PA Class of 2020 student government board.