Student Referrals: How and When

By Laura B. McGrath. Laura B. McGrath is a PhD student in English at Michigan State University. She tweets at @lbmcgrath and blogs at Emerging Modernisms.
Many of us regularly refer students to different university services. Without batting an eye, I’ve encouraged students to visit the University Writing Center, to set up a meeting with a subject librarian, or to see a tutor in the English Language Center. These fantastic services can offer more specialized attention than I am able to give, and I’m so grateful for their partnership. But other types of referrals are not so concrete: What do you do, for example, when a student confesses that s/he has recently suffered some sort of trauma? Or when a student writes about illegal activity in a paper? Or when you notice fresh self-injury scars as you talk with a student after class? Read more...