The Writing Collab Welcomes New Director

As the Fall 2025 semester begins, many changes to campus also come with it. Most notably, the Writing Collab is welcoming a new director, Dr. Kerry Barnett, assistant professor of English. 

Barnett has taught writing at Centenary for 25 years. “I know writing is the key to success in most careers,” said Barnett. 

“That’s certainly important in your college career, but in any career, writing is about communication and about thinking, thinking about what you want to communicate, how you want to communicate, to whom, and in what manner. All of those choices and critical thinking skills are very clearly included in writing,” said Barnett.

She defines reading as her early inspiration with writing. “I love reading, still love reading for pleasure, for research, for information, for learning. I suppose because of that, I can appreciate thinking, communicating.”

A community of writers is very important because writing isn’t necessarily just individual, according to Barnett. Writers have editors, publishers, and share drafts of their work with readers and other writers. “It’s a natural way to write in community,” said Barnett. “Writing is communal.”

The Writing Collab, according to Barnett, is a “hub” of communal writing where everyone has a love or interest in writing. Everyone involved– peer tutors, faculty, students– share the value of writing. 

Barnett has always loved the idea of having a writing center of peer tutors and knows many of the tutors through her classes or through the workshops. She also likes that the tutors have a wide range of majors and interests they bring to their tutoring experience– athletics, business, art, writing. “They’re great. They’re really interesting, great, fun people all over the university,” said Barnett. “Their shared connection is writing.”

As a professor, Barnett regularly brings her classes to the workshops sponsored by the Writing Collab not just for the content, but to make her students aware of the Collab. “I think there’s lots of potential for students to enhance their work by working with the tutors.”

Check out the Writing Collab, located in the lower level of the library, open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays. Get comfortable with a cup of coffee from our Keurig and meet with one of our 11 experienced peer tutors. And, professors, be sure to schedule workshops to welcome students to the Collab, on annotated bibliographies, literature reviews, empirical research, and so much more.