The Business Communication Lab at the Sam M. Walton College of Business and CLASS-plus Writing Center hosted the inaugural Arkansas microregional conference for the South Central Writing Centers Association on Sept. 22 on the University of Arkansas campus. 

Forty writing center directors, staff and tutors from across Arkansas and Texas attended the conference. 

The conference revolved around a series of roundtables, short presentations, panel discussions  and workshops. Each session focused on practical strategies that directors, staff and tutors can take to their respective centers and implement. Sessions offered at the conference  included the relationship between tutor and mentor training, expanding your services as a center to include public speaking and data visualization tutoring, professional development sessions for tutors, center best practices and policies, assessment methods and tutor training strategies. 

"We were honored to receive a grant from the South Central Writing Centers Association to host this conference," said Ryan Sheets, director of the Business Communication Lab. "This conference was a wonderful opportunity to hear from institutions across the state and region. We thoroughly enjoyed the chance to learn from and network with those who attended."

Institutions represented at the event were Arkansas Tech University, Henderson State University, John Brown University, Ouachita Baptist University, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the University of Central Arkansas, and the University of Arkansas's Business Communication Lab, CLASS-plus Writing Center, and the Office of Student Athlete Success.