Skagit Valley College logo

Jennifer Handley

English And Literature

English & Literature: Instructor

Office: L-301U on the Mount Vernon campus

Phone: (360) 416.7939

Email: Jennifer.Handley@skagit.edu


About me

I've been a full-time member of the SVC English Department since Fall 1998. I am also the Director of the SVC Writing Center (on the Mount Vernon campus). My graduate studies were focused in Rhetoric and the Teaching of Composition, making college composition my area of specialty. My other special teaching interests are Creative Writing (Creative Nonfiction) and Introduction to Film. In my time at SVC, I have taught in many Learning Communities, integrating composition or film/literature with everything from Astronomy to Introduction to Drama to Statistics (and plenty of others in between). 

I addition to teaching, I am a writer and occasional editor, a voracious reader, a casual gardener, and an avid knitter.

Education

• M.A. English / Rhetoric and the Teaching of Writing, New Mexico State University, 1992 (Secondary emphasis: Workplace writing)

• B.A. Humanities (English), Western Oregon State College, 1984

Writing for college

Almost every college student in this country is required to take at least one class in composition, or writing, usually some form of writing for college. In these classes, students review and build on what they've learned about writing in their high school or earlier years.

Some people find writing okay; a few people love writing for college. A lot of people, though, find writing for college frustrating or even boring. I want to encourage you to think about your writing studies as an opportunity to stretch your brain and refine your ability to clearly communicate your thoughts in ways that others will be able to follow. I also want to encourage you to think of your writing classes as having to do with much more than only your time in college.

Writing can be difficult, but its importance is immeasurable. The ability to write well frees people to take power over their lives, because its practice helps them to develop the ability to learn, to reason, and to argue. When people write clearly, they are empowered to enter the conversation of public and academic discourse, to get their ideas and opinions into the "public conversation." Without that ability, people are marginalized. Marginalized voices don’t get heard.

Helping students develop the ability to write well according to the conventions of the culture--including some thoughtful questioning of those conventions--is the goal of composition studies at SVC, and the guiding principle of the composition courses I teach.

Check out the Writing Center!

The SVC Writing Center is one of the key resources available to you to give you support for and assistance with any aspect of your writing for college. Whether you are enrolled in a composition class or are working on a writing assignment for another class; whether you are pursuing a transfer degree or a professional certificate; whether you have an okay time with writing or find writing difficult and intimidating--the Writinc Center is here for you! Find it in Lewis Hall, Rm. 321 (at the top of the stairs!).

Writing Center Consultants are current or recently graduated SVC students who know what it's like to write for college. They are carefully selected and trained to work with students and help them move their writing and their writing confidence to the next level.

Check out the Writing Center website for more information and for hours of operation: https://svcwritingcenter.wordpress.com/