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 training and certification through the College Reading and Learning Association (Levels 1-3). 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). 

 

Laura earned her PhD in Rhetoric and Composition from Saint Louis University, under the guidance of committee members Paul Lynch (chair, Saint Louis University), Carolyn I. Brown (Webster University), and Nathaniel Rivers (Saint Louis University). Her work examined the response practices of writing consultants and composition instructors and the resulting revision activity of students who received their feedback. This mixed methods analysis of documents and surveys shed light on how students revise (and think they revise) after receiving feedback from instructors, writing consultants, or those trained as both.  

 

Laura’s research interests continue to center on response (i.e., writing feedback), revisions activity, and the effects writing centers have on student writing. She is currently working on several projects that focus on writing center ethos and perceptions about writing centers as writing support units and on how music metaphors might be used to help consultants teach students about complicated writing concepts like research and synthesis.

 

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 International Writing Centers Association and other national organizations in her field (e.g., CCCC, NCTE, etc.). During her time as a graduate student, she also served in the Writing Program Administrators-Graduate Organization (as Vice Chair, Chair, and Past Chair), SLU English Graduate Organization (EGO), the SLU Graduate Student Association (GSA), and various campus committees (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. 

 

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).