The Center for Communication Excellence had an open house event on Wednesday to bring in more students to the center as well as to present certificates to newly certified writing consultants who will work in the office.

The Center for Communication Excellence, which opened in 2015, serves graduate students and postdoctoral associates in the betterment of written and oral communication.

The staff offer a variety of programs including the graduate peer review and groups programs, thesis or dissertation writing, english language development and the international teaching assistants program among others.

The open house aimed to draw students in to the center and raise awareness of the center’s services. Graduate students attended to learn more about the different writing programs to prepare for when the time comes to write their own dissertations.

William R. Graves, the dean of the Graduate College, welcomed attendees to the open house and stressed the challenge the graduate college faces as they try to serve students in every discipline across campus.

“One thing that they all have in common is the need to bolster their communication skills,” Graves said. “We can always improve our ability to communicate effectively, strategically to accomplish what we want.”

Graves credited Elena Cotos, the director of the center, with the success of the overall program.

“It was her vision and her dream, and her ability to know the administrative process to go through to get a center established,” Graves said.

Cotos said she knew graduate students needed greater writing support, and that there was not any services like it available.

“I’ve always believed in effective forms of service to support students,” Cotos said. “Not the editing, or what people usually think about. Students need to develop the skill, it’s a professional soft skill that they don’t really have a formal opportunity to engage in.”

Cotos led a project that resulted in the development of a web based software called the Research Writing Tutor. This software generates feedback on student’s research writing and compares it to writing in their particular discipline.

“That’s been very well received by students, and actually earned Iowa State a lot of national and international recognition, because this is the only tool of its kind in the world,” Cotos said.

In its opening, the center started with two programs. In the past three years, it has grown to six programs, expanding to address more student needs.

Most services offered at the center are through writing consultants who work with graduate students to help improve their communication skills.

Training consultants is the responsibility of Sarah Huffman, assistant director of the center, who said the center is very selective in the process of recruiting writing consultants.

“We want to make sure we’re selecting students who will be good tutors and good mentors to other PhD and masters students,” Huffman said. “We believe that anyone can be a good writer, and that anyone can be a good writing consultant.”

Michel DuPont, a fifth year doctorate candidate in education, has a long history with the center.

After working with the center on a two year research project, he was inclined to join the team as a writing consultant.

“It’s a great center for one-on-one consultations in getting students the help they need,” DuPont said.