Julia Bleakney to direct Elon’s Writing Center

Julia Bleakney, a national leader in writing centers and advocate for excellence in writing, will join the Elon faculty in August 2016 as the university’s director of the Writing Center. Bleakney will come to Elon from Stanford University, where she currently serves as the director of the George and Leslie Hume Center for Writing and Speaking.

In her efforts to advance the teaching, learning and practice of writing at Elon, Bleakney will further develop, sustain, and lead a center that serves as both a concrete and symbolic hub for a campus culture committed to excellence in writing. “Elon’s Writing Excellence Initiative has garnered national attention and admiration for its thoughtful and robust engagement with writing across the university,” Bleakney says. “I’m thrilled to help extend that reputation through the work of the Writing Center.”

As a current member of the board for the International Writing Centers Association, including co-chair of that professional organization’s “Mentor Matching Project,” Bleakney brings to her new role broad awareness of and connections to the field. Complementing that broad perspective is her tireless commitment to student learning and support for writers and writing, along with a hands-on, calm, thoughtful, collaborative leadership style roundly praised by her colleagues.

In her work as director of the Hume Center, Bleakney has overseen the merger of Stanford’s writing and oral communication centers, while also participating in the administration of the university’s Program in Writing and Rhetoric, all including approximately 140 tutors and 30 full-time lecturers. Her work has included extensive faculty and program development.

“Working alongside Elon’s faculty and staff,” Bleakney is eager “to enhance an already-thriving Writing Center, building students’ capacities and confidence in writing, and bringing writing to the center of their personal, academic, and professional lives.”

Bleakney joins Paula Rosinski in the leadership of Elon’s Writing Excellence Initiative, which has been co-led by Rosinski since its earliest stages as a proposal for Elon’s Quality Enhancement Plan. Rosinski, who has directed the Writing Center since 2006 and has served as the Director for both the Writing Center and Writing Across the University for 2015-16, will continue co-leading Elon’s writing excellence efforts as the Director of Writing Across the University

Bleakney has been a faculty member at Stanford University since 2008 and has served there as Assistant and Associate Director of the Hume Writing Center, and Director of the Hume Center for Writing and Speaking. She has a doctorate from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Northern Ireland.