One of the legacies of the Jones White Writing Center has been to help open new writing centers and consult on writing centers globally. In fall 2023, Dana Driscoll (English, Writing Center) traveled to the Czech Republic to help open the first Writing Center Support Centre at VSB Technical University of Ostrava in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
Driscoll has been consulting with VSB Technical University of Ostrava on supporting writing, teaching writing, and writing for publication for the last four years, and one of the cumulations of this work was the establishment of the WSC at VSB-TUO.
The opening of the new Writing Support Centre with Jana Kukutschová, vice-rector for Science and Research at VSB-TUO; Dana Driscoll, professor of English and Writing Center director; and Alena Kašpárková, director of the Writing Support Centre
VSB-TUO is the first university in the Czech Republic to open a Writing Support Centre, which will support students at all levels of study and academic staff in academic writing in both English and Czech. Through workshops, seminars, and consultations, the WSC will help students gain competencies related to academic writing and writing for publication. The WSC will also offer a helping hand to faculty members who supervise students' bachelor's, diploma, or doctoral theses by providing them with ongoing support.
WSC will provide activities in cooperation with the Central Library, PhD Academy, and the faculties. Driscoll, an expert on academic writing and director of the Jones White Writing Center at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, provided the factual launch of the WSC with a series of workshops for doctoral students and academics.
The Centre will offer support in both Czech and English to undergraduate students who need to acquire skills related to writing term and final papers, to PhD students, and to academics in connection with their publishing activities. Thus, it will provide comprehensive support across all levels and disciplines.
This relationship goes both ways—Driscoll has been highly inspired by some of the advanced graduate-level supports that VSB-TUO has been developing under their model of the PhD Academy. She has brought those ideas back to IUP to strengthen our own support for writing and research for graduate students and faculty.