Charlene K. Pate, M.A., M.A.

"I can teach my employees how to do a job, but I cannot teach them how to write," exclaimed a well respected banker in LA who was frustrated with not being able to find people to hire who knew how to write well. With this in mind, Charlene Pate teaches college composition; created the course Writing Theory and Pedagogy; and opened and directs the Writers' Studio, a writing center where college composition students work alongside theoretically trained student writing consultants. The focus in the classroom as well as in the Writers' Studio is to develop the writer. 

Pate is involved in professional organizations in the areas of writing and literature. She and one of her Writers' Studio consultants co-presented in 2016 at the International Writing Center Association Conference on using the translanguaging theory when working with students whose first language is other than English. She also teaches children's literature and has traveled to England twice and to four states to conduct research on early Sunday school literature, which, she argues, is the first body of literature to form the genre of children's literature. 

She enjoys singing in the church choir; serving as president of Reuben Welch's Sunday school class; traveling; going to the theatre, concerts, and sporting events on campus; and spending time with her husband, three wonderful children, and four precious grandchildren.