Coaching @ CAL

ABOUT COACHING

GUIDANCE PROVIDED
CAL coaches can mentor, empower, and support you through all types of academic challenges, including decoding an assignment, coping with distractions, using Turabian, developing a thesis statement, developing a thesis statement, and more.

HOW TO PREPARE
Send your coach the assignment guidelines and, if applicable, your draft, outline, and/or other documents you want to review together. You can do this through the WC Online appointment booking form.

LEARN MORE ABOUT COACHING ON OUR FAQS PAGE!

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GET STARTED

To do this you will need to:

• Go to the WC Online portal and log in to your account.
• Choose the appointment day, time, and length that suits you on the WC Online calendar and click on the corresponding box. (See more details in the “Coaching Options” section below.)
• Complete the appointment booking form that appears in a new window, including selecting your preferred coaching mode. (See more details in the “Coaching Options” section below.)
• When your appointment time arrives, follow the instructions for accessing your appointment (Needed for video chat mode only. See more details in the “Coaching Options” section below.).
  

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Coaching Options

APPOINTMENT LENGTH
Appointments are either thirty (30) or sixty (60) minutes long. You may schedule your appointment at any time.

APPOINTMENT TYPE
CAL offers four types of appointments:

• In-Person. If you’d like to meet face-to-face with a coach, schedule an appointment on WC Online and come to the CAL suite of offices in the John Bulow Campbell Library at the time of your appointment.
• Videochat (synchronous). If you want to meet with a coach conversationally and in real-time, choose this option. Follow the instructions in WC Online to access your video chat appointment at your scheduled time.
• Document Review (asynchronous). If you want to get written feedback on your document, choose this option. A CAL coach will review your document for exactly the amount of time you reserve and return it to you with comments. You do not need to be present for this appointment type. Documents should be uploaded to the appointment or emailed to the coach in advance of the appointment’s start time.
• Drop-in. At certain times, CAL may permit students to drop in without an appointment.
  Note: You can book an appointment normally up until the time the appointment slot begins in WC Online. However, please understand that during peak times when CAL services are in high demand, timely scheduling may be necessary. In some cases, CAL will open drop-in hours to accommodate students on a first-come, first-serve basis. Also, when completing a coaching session, be aware that CAL does not save student work after a session. It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that work has been properly stored.

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MEET THE COACHES

All our CAL team members are equipped to help you at any stage of the process with any issue related to academic literacy; however, each coach also brings a unique set of skills and experiences! Learn about their areas of expertise below to see who could be the best conversation partner for you.

Dr. Robert Griffin – Director

Robert (Rob) Griffin is the Director of the Center for Academic Literacy at Columbia Theological Seminary. His Ph.D. is in Linguistics from Indiana University—Bloomington where he specialized in Applied Linguistics and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Rob has MA degrees from Indiana in Germanic Studies and Applied Linguistics and his research focuses on issues related to Second Language Acquisition, Phonology and Interlanguage Pragmatics.

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Courtney Ariel Bowden – CAL Coach

Courtney Ariel Bowden (she/her) is a songwriter, writer, and storyteller. She graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, Vanderbilt University with a Master of Divinity and certificates in Religion, Arts & Contemporary Culture, and the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender & Sexuality. She is currently a doctoral student at Emory University. She identifies as an artist-scholar who shows up learning & unlearning in community.

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Erica Hughes – CAL coach

Erica Hughes received their MFA+MA from the Litowitz Creative Writing Program at Northwestern University. Their poems have been published or are forthcoming in Guernica Magazine, Poet Lore, Indiana Review, Gulf Coast Magazine, and The Rumpus—among others. They are a Cave Canem fellow and have been a finalist for the 2021 Elinor Benedict Poetry Prize, longlisted for the 2021 Granum Fellowship Prize, and a semifinalist of the 2022 and the 2023 92Y Discovery Contests. Their debut poetry collection Ankle-Deep in Pacific Water is forthcoming from Haymarket Books in 2024. Currently, Hughes is a Ph.D. student in Philosophy at Emory University.