Frank Fury, Ph.D., Lecturer of English, started as the Director of Writing Services on July 1.
In an email to Writing Assistants, Fury wrote, “I am so grateful to be working in such a welcoming environment and to have the opportunity to contribute to such a valuable service for our undergraduate and graduate students at Monmouth.”
Fury’s goals for the Writing Services include maintaining the efficiency of operations that has endured for years, and in the long-term, to ensure students are receiving the best possible instruction and writing assistance.
He plans to adhere to the Writing Services protocol, which is known among the staff to be: “emphasize the writing process, not the product.”
“We want our students to become better writers; it’s not all about writing papers,” Fury said.
At Monmouth, Fury has taught both College Composition I and II where his feedback on student papers revolved around the writing process including aspects like thesis, structure and paragraph development, rather than mechanics. Writing is more than formatting, it’s about understanding the overarching elements, according to Fury.
In addition to Fury’s classroom experience, he worked at Writing Services from 2014-15 as a Faculty Writing Assistant. “I think in some sense it helps me now that I am the Director to have a perspective of what happens in the tutoring room and look at things both ways. I can kind of oversee things but also have an idea of what goes on in sessions,” he said.
Writing Services is a great campus resources for students of all levels. We want students to take advantage of the resource we provide to aid them in becoming better students and by extension, better writers, Fury said.
Jenna Puglisi, the Graduate Writing Assistant and former Outlook editor, said, “Fury has already proven to be an asset to Writing Services. His experience as a professor, combined with his history working within Writing Services, has prepared him well for this role. He has a profound vision of giving Monmouth students the necessary resources to become confident writers.”
Puglisi continued, “Fury is always smiling and has a super positive attitude. He has already made Writing Services an awesome environment to work in, and I’m happy to be a part of the Writing Services team.”
Brittany Macaluso, a Writing Assistant and a junior social work student, commented, “Fury has an understanding personality paired with the expectation that his students will work hard. His teaching personality will translate in Writing Services as being a boss that you can go to when you have questions or a problem, as long as you are putting the work in and being a determined student who fulfills the duties of a Writing Assistant.”
Puglisi agreed that Fury is always willing to speak with Writing Assistants. “Fury has shown a great amount of passion for Writing Services. He is always open to hearing suggestions from Writing Assistants, in order to make Writing Services the best it can be,” she said.
PHOTO COURTESY of Frank Fury
