This workshop addresses a challenge many campuses share: supporting Gen Z students in developing strong writing and reading skills. It offers practical, classroom-ready strategies for teaching research papers, reflective essays, and response papers, with attention to how AI can be used constructively in the writing process. Participants will leave with concrete assignments and approaches they can incorporate directly into their syllabi.

Dr. Candis Bond earned her MA and PhD in English from Saint Louis University, where she studied British Modernism. She completed her BA at Loyola University in Chicago, where she majored in English and Creative Writing. During graduate school, Dr. Bond worked in three St. Louis area writing centers, which led her to pursue writing center consulting as a career. At Augusta University, Dr. Bond serves as the director of the writing center and teaches courses in Writing Center Theory and Practice, Composition, and Women's and Gender Studies. She loves working with students in all disciplines, but has particular expertise in scientific writing, writing in the health sciences, and providing graduate-level writing support. Dr. Bond is happy to assist students on any project at any stage in the process, but she especially enjoys working with graduate students on longer-term assignments such as capstones, theses, and dissertations.

Dr. James Garner has worked in writing centers since 2009, when he first became a writing tutor at the Augusta State University Writing Center. After completing his BA at ASU, he went on to earn an MA in English from the University of Georgia and a PhD in Rhetoric & Writing from the University of Texas at Austin. At UT Austin, he studied writing pedagogy and the history of rhetoric while working in several administrative roles at the University of Texas’s University Writing Center. A seasoned writing instructor with over ten years of experience, Dr. Garner has also taught courses in composition and rhetoric, literature, and professional writing. Following a brief stint as assistant director of the writing center and writing program at Fordham University in New York, Dr. Garner returned to AU as Associate Director of the CWE. In 2024, he was promoted to Interim Director of the CWE. His writings have appeared in the journals Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, JHR, and Rhetorica as well as several edited collections.