Just in time for the start of the 2023 Summer Session, the Writing Program and Writing Center have moved to a new space in the Hahne's Building, located at 54 Halsey Street, on the 2nd floor in Suites 245 and 250. The center is a few doors down from Express Newark on the same floor, which houses Arts, Culture & Media design, photo and video classes, lecture spaces, and offices in addition to galleries, artist residencies and community arts spaces and programming, expanding the Rutgers-Newark community in that building.
The Writing Center opened for summer tutoring on Tuesday, May 30 and will have in person hours from noon to 4pm and virtual hours from 4pm to 7pm Monday through Thursday throughout summer session. Students can make an appointment, walk in to Suite 245, call the center at 973-353-5847, or make an appointment through the center's Penji app.
"We are very excited about our new location in the Hahne's Building, where we will have a newly designed, and very sunny space, for students and faculty,” said Marne Benson, the Writing Program’s associate director. “We look forward to seeing you all there.”
With the move, the center also announced it would reopen their Community Writing Center on June 8 with bimonthly workshops on the second and fourth Thursday of each month from 4:00-6:00 pm. The Community Writing Center opened in November 2016 to support Newark residents with their creative and professional writing through themed workshops run by professional writers until programming was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in spring of 2020. The Community Writing Center reopens this June in their new space with workshops on topics including "Exploring the ME in Memoir" (6/8), "Writing Through Trauma" (6/22), "Blogging for Beginners" (7/13), "Op-Eds: Learning to Write Compelling Opinion Pieces" (7/27), "The Power of Poetry" (8/10), and "Songwriting and Storytelling" (8/24). The workshops will provide hands-on instruction with time built in for writing and sharing ideas and written work. All workshops are free of charge and open to all members of the Newark community.
The move to Halsey Street comes as construction begins on the expansion and renovation of Conklin Hall, where the center was formerly located. The Conklin Hall makeover will create a one-stop student service center and increase space for commuters.
The changes to Conklin Hall will include 12,000 square feet of renovations and a 6,500 square foot addition on the first floor, where resources will include a Call Center, Cashiering, Financial Aid, ID Services, Registrar, Student Accounting & Summer/Winter Sessions. It will replace the current offices on the third floor and second floor of Blumenthal Hall.
“The focus of the One Stop is improving the student experience for all students. The new site will also provide needed space for commuter students.,’’ said Bil Leipold, Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Services and Experience, in the official announcement posted earlier this month.
The Conklin Hall Renovation is expected to be completed in the fall of 2025.