The Speaking Center has extended services to the Stafford campus. Stafford students that need help with class presentations, interview preparation, or public speaking can make an appointment with the Speaking Center at 540-654-1347 or spkc@umw.edu. Consultations are held in the ITCC (Room 437) on the Fredericksburg campus Monday through Friday. Please see our website for more detail: http://academics.umw.edu/speaking/speaking-center/.
Speaking from the Heart
Tom Pacheco '14 uses his award-winning debate skills to help others.
Local High Schools Participate in UMW Workshop
The Speaking Center and the Office of Admissions co-sponsored the Public Speaking and Advocacy Workshop Feb. 1, 2014. The workshop included instruction on effective speaking, delivery skills, handling communication apprehension, and advocacy, given by Anand Rao and Tim O’Donnell. Students gave a three to five minute speech that they prepared in advance, and also participated in a town hall debate. Speaking center consultants observed those speeches and debates and provided feedback to the students. A total of 20 students participated, including students from Colonial Forge High School, Mountain View High School, Stafford High School, Spotsylvania High School, Riverbend High School, and the Fredericksburg home school speech and debate club. You can find more information about the workshop at: http://academics.umw.edu/speaking/speaking-intensive-program/public-speaking-advocacy-workshop-feb-1-2014/
UMW’s Speaking Center Achieves National Certification
The University of Mary Washington’s Speaking Center recently received certification from the National Association of Communication Centers, making UMW one of only eight certified communication centers in the country.
The certification is based on a review of the training program of the center’s tutors and consultants. At UMW, Speaking Center consultants are undergraduates who receive training to provide peer tutoring and consultations to fellow students.
“The center’s training program was revamped this past fall and now provides broad support and communication training for new consultants,” said Anand Rao, associate professor of communication and director of the Speaking Center. “The center does more than just work on public speaking assignments – the center’s consultants run workshops and classroom presentations on a variety of communication topics, and work with individuals and groups of students on presentations, class discussions and interviews.”
UMW’s Speaking Center was established nearly 20 years ago and has been housed in Combs Hall since 2002. The center will move to the new Information and Technology Convergence Center this summer. Last year, the center served more than 1,600 students through individual consultations, class visits and student workshops.
For more information about the center, visit http://academics.umw.edu/speaking/speaking-center/ or contact Rao at (540) 654-1546.
The certification is based on a review of the training program of the center’s tutors and consultants. At UMW, Speaking Center consultants are undergraduates who receive training to provide peer tutoring and consultations to fellow students.
“The center’s training program was revamped this past fall and now provides broad support and communication training for new consultants,” said Anand Rao, associate professor of communication and director of the Speaking Center. “The center does more than just work on public speaking assignments – the center’s consultants run workshops and classroom presentations on a variety of communication topics, and work with individuals and groups of students on presentations, class discussions and interviews.”
UMW’s Speaking Center was established nearly 20 years ago and has been housed in Combs Hall since 2002. The center will move to the new Information and Technology Convergence Center this summer. Last year, the center served more than 1,600 students through individual consultations, class visits and student workshops.
For more information about the center, visit http://academics.umw.edu/speaking/speaking-center/ or contact Rao at (540) 654-1546.Esther Yook Publishes Article
Esther Lee Yook, director of the Speaking Center, published an article, “The Effect of Communication Centers on College Student Retention: An Argument,” in the Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, Vol 14, No 3 (2012).
UMW Speaking Center Director Publishes Book
UMW Speaking Center Director Esther Yook co-edited a book on communication centers in higher education, published by Lexington Books. “Communication Centers and Oral Communication Programs in Higher Education” is a collection that examines the centers that support communication departments or across-the-curriculum programs as higher education focuses more attention on the communication field. The text addresses theoretical issues covering topics such as the importance of communication centers to higher education, and the effects of communication centers on retention, critical thinking in the center and ethics.
UMW Speaking Center Director Receives Top Paper Award
Esther Yook, director of the Speaking Center and the Korean Program, received the Top Paper Award at the National Communication Association in November 2011 for her manuscript “Communication Centers and Retention in Higher Education: Is There a Link?”
She also co-presented a short course on establishing communication centers and chaired a Korean American Communication Association session on challenges for Korean American scholars in academia.
Esther Yook
Esther Yook, director of the UMW Speaking Center, presented “Communication Centers Spanning the Continent: Visual Ideations and Models” and “Communication Centers as the Golden Gate of Oral Communication: Great Ideas for the Center” at the annual convention of the National Communication Association in San Francisco, Calif., in November. At the same conference, Yook also served as a poster session judge and as chair of the paper session “If You Build It, They May Come: Empirically Identifying Motivations Surrounding the Use of Communication Centers.”