BIO
Laura Hardin Marshall is the Writing Support Coordinator for Webster University. She plans and oversees the daily and ongoing operations of the onsite and virtual Writing Center (with a team of approximately 12 undergraduate and professional staff), including CRLA certification and training. In addition to supervising the Writing Center, Laura also offers support for other writing/pedagogy needs across the university, including partnerships with the Faculty Development Center, the Online Learning Center, and the Global Citizenship Program (core curriculum with writing and communication attribute requirements).
Additionally, Laura is a PhD candidate, under the guidance of committee members Paul Lynch (chair, Saint Louis University), Carolyn I. Brown (Webster University), and Nathaniel Rivers (Saint Louis University). Her area of study is Rhetoric and Composition, through the English Department of Saint Louis University (SLU).
Laura’s research interests center on response (i.e., writing feedback) and the resulting revisions writers might make. Her doctoral study is a mixed methods analysis of documents, surveys, and focus groups, which will ideally shed light on how students revise after receiving feedback from instructors, writing consultants, or those trained as both. The data collected from this study may help scholars and educators in the field of writing studies gain a better understanding of written feedback and revision processes, with the goal of improving how responders deliver feedback and how students engage in revision.
During her doctoral studies, Laura was both an instructor for the Writing Program and SLU Prison Program as well as a consultant for University Writing Services (UWS). Additionally, she served for two years as the Assistant Coordinator of Academic Support for UWS, where she continued consulting directly with students as well as managing administrative and daily operational responsibilities and consultant training and supervision. She also served for two years as the Assistant Coordinator of the Writing Program, where she managed administrative and daily operational responsibilities for the SLU Writing Program (specifically overseeing ENGL 1900 as well as other writing-intensive courses offered through the English Department), including developing a new Writing Program website for instructor support and curriculum development.
Outside of her graduate assistant roles, Laura is an active member of the SLU English Graduate Organization (EGO) and the SLU Graduate Student Association (GSA), and she has served on various campus committees as a graduate representative, such as the Writing Program Committee, the UWS Advisory Board, and the Writing Across the Curriculum Director search committee. In those positions, she advocates not only for improved student support (in general as well as in composition) but also for the support of graduate students and contingent staff whose interests are often at risk. She is also an active member of national organizations in her field: CCCC/NCTE, International Writing Centers Association, the Council of Writing Program Administrators, and Writing Program Administrators-Graduate Organization (for which she is currently serving as Past Chair).
Prior to her time at SLU, Laura worked as both an adjunct instructor and writing consultant for various educational institutions around the St. Louis area.
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She currently lives in St. Louis with her husband (Jay), their two corgis (Puck and Mab), and their rescue mix (Zoe).
