Between the autumn and winter quarters, the WRD department moved from McGaw Hall to a new home on the third floor of the Schmitt Academic Center. WRD shares the third floor with the Department of Modern Languages, and the University Center for Writing-based Learning is one floor below. The new space offers the department a more central location on campus, improved technology spaces, and new opportunities for student activities.
Directly across the hall from the department is the WRD Invention Lab. Housed in SAC 302, the lab is a space for graduate and undergraduate students to work collaboratively. NMS graduate assistants staff the lab every afternoon and also host periodic Brown Bag events. These events offer students a chance to share dinner and a discussion before evening classes; the first Brown Bag, in late February, was a Q & A on Spread the WoRD, the department’s annual student conference. Students should check the signed posted on the lab’s window for notice of upcoming events.
In addition to the working spaces in the SAC, the department’s new location is centrally positioned for access to new resources in the library. Instead of trekking across campus, faculty and students are only a short (indoor) walk from the renovated Information Commons of Richardson Library. Also exciting is the department’s proximity to the soon-to-arrive Whole Foods on Fullerton Avenue!