Tutor Spotlight: Tracy Givens

Tracy Givens is a long-time tutor at the University Writing Center. In college, she earned a double major in Political Science and English from Texas Tech. She said that she chose Tech because at the time tuition was reasonable In graduate school, she focused on English with a concentration in American Literature. Tracy is currently the Associate Director of the Undergraduate First-Year Writing Program at Texas Tech.

An interesting fact about Tracy is that she is fascinated with volcanoes. She said, “There is something about the visual aspects of a live volcano that I find beautiful although they are deadly.”

Tracy has been a tutor since 2005. She said that she never thought she would be a tutor. It was something that she was pushed in to and she was scared she wouldn’t like it or be able to help students, but she is still tutoring and loves it. Her favorite part about tutoring is helping students learn to communicate effectively without having the burden of giving their work a grade like she has to do as an instructor. She said, “I think this opens the space for students to be more open about their concerns and struggles.” Tracy also said that she enjoys the challenge that comes with working with students from all different backgrounds coming in with completely different writing issues and figuring out how to explain different writing concepts to them. She explains that it feels like a puzzle because everyone is different and all of the clients learn differently.

Lastly, we asked Tracy, “If you were on an island and could only bring three things, what would you bring?” She replied, “Benjamin, my parents’ cat (surely they wouldn’t mind me borrowing him), a collection of books (mysteries), and my television with cable (yeah, I know, but this is pretend, right?).”