Conference Report

The 13th Annual 2006 Rocky Mountain Peer Tutoring Conference
at Brigham Young University  
was a rewarding event in terms of both regional progress and tutor presentation success.

2006 Photographs

The conference began with a Friday director’s meeting in which President Charlene Hirschi successfully led us through the region’s business of discussing by-laws, boundaries, website management, IWCA membership, and electing a secretary. The meeting included insightful, useful, and engaging presentations by region leaders Snow College’s Julie Simon, Boise State’s Mike Mattison, and BYU’s Matt Haslam on topics of particular interest to administrators of tutoring programs. After business concluded, our host Penny Bird outdid herself by treating directors to a sunlit salad and dessert mingle session.

On Saturday, we heard from talented and articulate tutors from schools including, Brigham Young University’s Writing Center, Publication Lab, and Psychology Lab, and from Southern Utah University, BYU-Idaho, Utah State University, Utah Valley State College, Boise State University, Salt Lake Community College, and Weber State University.

Penny Bird hosted us all beautifully, from the design of a fitting theme and logo to a timely conference call to posting helpful information about lodging and entertainment to the welcoming continental breakfast and opening breakout sessions. We offer our compliments to Penny and the BYU staff for the skillfully organized and coordinated schedule of sessions all of this preparation led to.

Accommodating schools from across the region, Penny and her staff of tutors found space for a variety of sessions, grouping complementary topics together and working to make certain that each session had all the audio-visual and logistic equipment necessary to give students excellent experiences with peer presentation. Mid-day, we all enjoyed the traditional lunch at Brick Oven, just east of campus and the much-anticipated keynote speaker, Steve Sherwood.