POSITION IDENTIFICATION
TITLE Writing Specialist/Testing Coordinator - West Plains
CLASSIFICATION NUMBER 1172
GRADE 44
CLASSIFICATION Exempt
IMMEDIATE SUPERVISOR Dean of Academic Affairs
GENERAL FUNCTION
The Writing Specialist/Testing Coordinator - West Plains oversees and manages the Writing Lab and the Testing Center. The Writing Specialist/Testing Coordinator hires, trains, and schedules tutors, testing center staff, and front desk staff. The Writing Specialist/Testing Coordinator - West Plains works closely with students across the curricula, assists students in developing research, grammar and composition skills, and administers and evaluates English placement examinations to entering students and reports the results. The Writing Specialist/Testing Coordinator - West Plains ensures smooth administration of all tests by communicating with testing companies, instructors, and technical staff regarding technical issues, irregularities, and information needed from test candidates, maintaining computers in the Testing Center, maintaining testing files, taking inventory of testing materials, and implementing and enforcing security of testing materials.
MINIMUM ACCEPTABLE QUALIFICATIONS
Education: A Master’s degree is required; preference will be given to candidates who have a degree in English Composition, Rhetoric, or Developmental English.
Experience: A minimum of one year of college-level teaching experience and working in a student writing center are preferred.
Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills and effective interpersonal skills are required. The ability to develop knowledge of, respect for, and skills to engage with those of other cultures or backgrounds is required. Organizational and supervisory skills are preferred.
Other: Occasionally the position requires work in the evenings and weekends.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Enables enrolled students to fulfill course requirements by providing assistance with punctuation, grammar, and language mechanics, as well as providing research information and direction needed to compile documentation by introducing report styles, footnotes, endnotes, citing sources, and explaining plagiarism, etc.
2. Administers English placement examinations to entering students, which may require traveling to nearby high schools, evaluates the examinations to result in course placement, and works closely with the appropriate administrators.
3. Ensures access to students by scheduling, announcing, and maintaining regular office hours.
5. Provides students the opportunity to improve their writing skills by overseeing the development and delivery of effective tutoring programs, increasing the awareness of the services of the Writing Center in the Grizzly Tutoring Lab, evaluating the effectiveness of the Center’s efforts, and improving writing outcomes of the students served by the Center.
6. Assures effective writing support for students by selecting, training, scheduling, and supervising student tutors, planning and implementing training and professional development opportunities for student tutors, reviewing and selecting tutoring materials, expanding the selection of writing resources available online to students, maintaining equipment in good condition, and maintaining supplies for the Center.
7. Increases the reach of the Writing Center by preparing informational materials about Center services for distribution on campus, maintaining website content, communicating through social media, and communicating regularly with academic administrators and faculty about the Writing Center’s services.
8. Assures the most effective use of Writing Center resources by preparing, utilizing, and monitoring the Center’s budget.
9. Administers paper and pencil and online make-up tests for Missouri State University-West Plains faculty, administers a variety of computerized tests, and schedules and administers off-campus tests.
10. Maintains security of all testing materials.
11. Works with testing companies, instructors, and technical staff regarding technical issues and irregularities, information required for and from testing candidates, and maintains computers, including installing upgrades from testing companies.
12. Maintains testing files and inventories testing materials.
13. Researching additional testing opportunities for students and the community and publicizes the new tests to the community.
14. Manages funds from testing services by maintaining reports of testing and accounting for those funds, prepares the employee budgets and monitors and utilizes the funds of the Writing Lab and Testing Center’s employee budgets.
15. Collects and evaluates data to measure the effectiveness of the Writing Lab’s efforts, Developmental Education initiatives, and the Testing Center’s reach.
16. Facilitates a work environment that encourages knowledge of, respect for, and development of skills to engage with those of other cultures or backgrounds.
18. Remains competent and current through self-directed professional reading, developing professional contacts with colleagues, participating in professional organizations that promote developmental education and tutoring, attending professional development courses, and attending training and/or courses as required by the supervisor.
19. Contributes to the overall success of the Writing Lab and Testing Center by performing all other duties and responsibilities as assigned.
SUPERVISION
The Writing Specialist/Testing Coordinator - West Plains is supervised by the Dean of Academic Affairs and supervises part-time and student employees
OFFICE OF HUMAN RESOURCES
REVISED MARCH 2022
