Alan Gravano, PhD, is the founding director of the Writing Center at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (RMUoHP). As Director of the Writing Center, Dr. Gravano works one-on-one with students to assist them with their writing.
Dr. Gravano received a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry, followed by a Master of Art and Doctorate of Philosophy degrees in English from the University of Miami. Prior to coming to RMUoHP, he worked in the Department of English and Humanities at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio.
Currently Dr. Gravano runs the Writing Center and works closely with students and faculty. “I love working with students. Over the years, my pedagogical philosophy has embraced wanting all my students to succeed, and the Writing Center allows me assist students working on their capstones, dissertations, and scholarly research projects,” says Dr. Gravano. “I am there to help at the student’s most vulnerable moment: writing.”
Dr. Gravano is a valuable asset to all those looking for help with their writing. “I work with students on various types of assignments: discussion posts, reflections, case studies, clinical reasoning papers, critically-appraised papers, ethics papers, literature reviews, personal philosophy papers, position papers, prospectuses, and resumes, as well as capstones, dissertations, and researched scholarly projects.”
Aside from assisting students and faculty with writing projects, Dr. Gravano also teaches the Professional Writing course at RMUoHP. His experience makes him a knowledgeable teacher and Writing Center Director. “Graduate students ‘face a range of challenges in academic writing, including finding the confidence to write, integrating relevant literature, and interpreting data’ (Mannon, 2016, p. 1). Thus, the Writing Center employs strategies in order to help students succeed, such as establishing a rapport and providing both global and sentence-level concerns to the writers,” Dr. Gravano says.
Dr. Gravano adds that writing is a lifelong process. He encourages students to regularly take use of the Writing Center and its resources. “One session working with the Writing Center does not mean the student has mastered every aspect of writing. The craft takes commitment and time. Only by writing everyday can someone constantly improve.”
As he works with students, Dr. Gravano also provides resources to students to assist them in every aspect of their writing. Dr. Gravano has made developing the Writing Center webpage a priority, where students can submit work to be edited through a ticketing system. Dr. Gravano has also added links to writing resources, such as the AMA Manual of Style, the APA Style Blog, and the Purdue Owl. Dr. Gravano hopes that these resources will be utilized by students throughout their academic and professional careers. And these resources aren’t just available to students.
“I want to reiterate to faculty that the Writing Center can offer its services to review articles or book chapters before final submission to the journal or publisher,” Dr. Gravano says.
Dr. Gravano also works closely with the Learning Resource Center, and librarians Karen Newmeyer and Ashley Bassett, to best assist students. As Dr. Gravano says, “The culture at RMU is collaborative….If I have questions about the databases or services, [the librarians] provide me a thorough explanation.”
He explains that it’s not just the collaborative atmosphere at RMUoHP that he enjoys: “The best thing about working at RMU is the family atmosphere. In the fall, I was sick and President Nielsen had soup delivered to my home. No place that I have worked ever sent me soup when I was sick.”
As Director of the Writing Center, Dr. Gravano works to provide that same level of support for students and faculty. “I am a Writing Center of one, and I do not mean that pejoratively. At most writing centers, students work with a large staff made up of student workers as well as faculty. Here at RMUoHP, students work one-on-one with the director,” Dr. Gravano says.
His goal is to be available to students and faculty whatever their writing needs may be. In addition to academic writing projects, Dr. Gravano says that the Writing Center can help students with resumes and curriculum vitae (CV). “If a student is pursuing a clinical position, we can offer assistance with one’s resume, as well as any required communication with a clinical site. If a doctoral student is seeking a teaching position, we can demonstrate the differences between a resume and CV and why the CV is the preferred method for college and university applications.”
Whatever writing assistance is needed, the Writing Center and Dr. Gravano are available to help. For more information about the Writing Center at Rocky Mountain University of Health Profession, or to submit a writing assignments for review, visit the website at https://rm.edu/writing-center/.
