About Us

Connecting Writing Centers Across Borders (CWCAB)

Brian Hotson, Editor

I was first paid for sentences in the mid-1980s, and it has worked out since. I worked for many years in educational publishing (including Pearson and Nelson Publishing) as a developmental editor, editor, writer, copy editor, and indexer. Spent ten years working in public educational television at TVOntario as a writer, director, and producer. I have a BA in History and a Master’s of Theological Studies from Queen’s University, Kingston.

I began working in writing centres at Queen’s in 2008 and was hired as director of the Saint Mary’s University writing centre in 2010. Currently, I’m director of Academic Learning Services for Saint Mary’s Studio for Teaching and Learning.

I am currently the past-president of the Canadian Writing Centre Association (CWCA), International Writing Centers Association (IWCA) board member, former board member of the Canadian Association for the Study of Language and Learning (CASLL), member of IWCA, CCCC, and the Canadian Association for the Study of Discourse and Writing (CASDW), as well as a founding member of our regional writing centres association, ACWCA. I’m also on the editorial board for Inkshed Publications.
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Dr. Stephanie Dreyfürst, Associate Editor (Europe)

I became interested in genre during my studies of German literature of the early Enlightenment period and have been doing research about historical genres as part of my job as director of the Writing Center at Frankfurt’s Goethe university.

I began working in the writing center universe during my PhD in 2009 when I had the honour to open up the first German speaking writing center at this institution. In 2018, I founded the (now English speaking) Academic Writing Center at Frankfurt.

Combining historical topics with current phenomena is one of my favorite things and I am happy to be able to do take a closer look at both every once in a while. At the moment I am working closely with experts for the visualization of data – we are developing a software that will be able to show how the acquisition of writing skills works over time.

I see Writing Centers as a space for creativity and for the exploration of new ideas. As an enthusiastic member of EATAW, I strongly believe in the benefits that we as a group are able to create through shared ideas, values, and goals.
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Lingshan Song, Associate Editor (Asia)

I am currently the assistant director of the Writing Center at Mississippi College (MC). I also teach freshmen composition courses and the tutor training course at MC. My research interests include writing center theory and practice, ESL tutoring, and cultural studies.

I am a strong advocate for advancing writing center movement in China and connecting writing center professionals from China and US. I also serve as Outreach Coordinator on the Southeastern Writing Center Association (SWCA) board, TESOL Representative for the Association of Christians in Writing Centers (ACWC), Oversea Representative for the Writing Center Association of China (WCAC), and as an At-Large Member of the IWCA Board of Directors.

As a native Chinese, I am trilingual (Mandarin, English, and Fuzhou Dialect). I enjoy reading, writing, teaching, travelling, making friends from different countries, and exploring diverse cultures. I feels honored to join the WLN blog editorial team this year and am very much looking forward to contributing to the community that seeks to connect writing centers across borders.
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Anna Habib, Associate Editor (Middle East and North Africa)

I am currently the Associate Director of Composition, at both the George Mason University home campus and at the branch campus in Songdo, South Korea & coordinator and instructor in the Graduate Writing Across the Disciplines courses for INTO Mason, Mason’s pathway program for graduate and undergraduate international students.

I was born in Beirut, Lebanon, during the civil war to a Lebanese father and American mother. When I was four years old, my family fled to the neighboring island of Cyprus where I grew up in a community of refugees from surrounding countries. As a bi-cultural, bi-national child from a post-colonial context, I grew up with English, Arabic, and French as native languages and Greek as a second language. These intercultural, translingual experiences inspired me to pursue a BA in English with a concentration in Cultural Studies, and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction at George Mason University. I graduated from the MFA program in 2006. My thesis, which I hope to continue working on someday, is titled “A Block from Bliss Street: Growing up as a child of the Lebanese civil war.” I am currently pursuing a PhD in Writing and Rhetoric also at Mason, where I served as the Associate Director of the Writing Center for five years until I transitioned to my current position as Associate Director of Composition for Multilingual Writers.

My research and publications have focused on the experiences of multilingual writers adapting to the expectations of the U.S. academy, faculty perceptions of writing by multilingual students,  and designing writing courses that are attuned to the diverse needs of this population. I am currently working on an auto-ethnography that aims to explore and theorize individual experiences of trauma and displacement.
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Josh Ambrose, Consultant/Editor Emeritus

I graduated from George Mason University with a MFA in creative nonfiction, where I also helped direct a writing center. After five years as the writing center director on campus, I now serve as the Associate Dean of Campus and Community Engagement. In that role, I do a lot of work with our burgeoning entrepreneurship program on campus, advise Fulbright applicants, help foster internships and community engagement, and help support global initiatives any way that I can…amidst many other responsibilities!

I’ve enjoyed taking students to Europe and to Peru. I’ve also spent academic time abroad in India, Turkey, and Jordan, as well as working at McDaniel’s sister campus in Budapest, Hungary.

My family and I live in the small town of Westminster, MD–where a lot of surprisingly big things are happening. We also like to travel throughout the US, whenever we have the slightest excuse.