Bren Communications Center
Bren Hall 4406
(805) 893-8512
The Bren Communications Center helps students improve their skills in a range of academic and professional communication tasks.
Communications Center staff can help you generate ideas, organize information, visualize data, revise drafts, and polish your documents in a supportive one-on-one environment. We also offer workshops to enhance the clarity of your writing.
A variety of writing tasks may be reviewed at the Center including class assignments, research proposals, funding applications, and project presentations.
Fall 2009 Hours
• Monday 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. & 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Tuesday 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. & 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
• Note: Janet Martorana, our Environmental Sciences Librarian, is available Tuesdays 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
• Wednesday 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
• Note: Aaron Sobel, our Visual Design Consultant, is available Wednesdays 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
• Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. & 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
To schedule an appointment:
• Send us an e-mail
• Drop-in sessions are also available
• Most sessions last about 30 minutes
• Priority will be given to students who have not received more than three sessions per quarter
What to bring:
Your session will be more productive if you bring:
• The assignment
• Drafts, outlines, sketches, or brainstorm notes
• Any comments or feedback you have received from your instructor
Note: The Communications Center staff does not copyedit papers; rather we support students to develop their own professional writing processes.
Fall 2009 Workshops:
During Fall 2009, we will be offering several exciting new workshops:
• Writing Assessment Workshop: Findings and Recommendations for the 2010 MESM class [Friday, 10/2/09]
• Precise Language Workshop [Tuesday, 10/13/09] [download ppt | handout]
• Critical Thinking Workshop [Monday, 10/19/09]
• ESM 201 Writing Workshop [Monday, 10/26/09, Bren 1424]
• Working and Writing Together: Strategies for Effective Collaboration, Panel Discussion [Monday, 11/9/09, Bren 1424]
• Finding Flow: Transitions that Work [Tuesday, 11/10/09, Bren 1414]
• Visual Design Workshop I: Presentation Slides [Tuesday, 11/17/09,Bren 1414]
• Visual Design Workshop II: Data Visualization [Tuesday, 11/24/09, Bren 1414]
• Visual Design Workshop III: Meaningful Poster Design [Monday, 11/30/09, GIS Lab]
Past Workshops:
• Responding to Fellowship & Grant Application Prompts [Tuesday, 1/13/09] [download ppt | handout]
• Information Visualization Workshop I: Meaningful Poster Design [Friday, 2/20/09] [download handout]
• Information Visualization Workshop II: Compelling Slide Design [Friday, 2/27/09]
• Framing an argument: The key to compelling writing at Bren [Tuesday, 10/16/07] [download ppt]
• Working and Writing Together: Strategies for Effective Collaboration [Tuesday, 11/13/07] [download ppt | notes]
Helpful Handouts:
Our workshop handouts can be a valuable addition to your writing practice. Use our "Common Mistakes" guide as a quick reference, or our memo formatting handout to help with your next assignment. Check here after our workshops to download the handouts we've used:
• Common Mistakes in Graduate Writing
• How to Write an Effective Memo
Useful Links:
• UCSB Library's Help with Citing Sources
• Purdue University Online Writing Lab
• Grant Writing Tips from UCSB's Office of Research
• Our favorite online grammar resource: Dr. Grammar
• University of Minnesota Center for Writing
• General research and documentation from Diana Hacker
• Scientific Style and Format, published by the Council of Biology Editors 1994
• Strunk & White's Elements of Style
• Paragraph structure: Coherence and transitions from Indiana University, Bloomington's Writing Center
• Twelve common errors from University of Minnesota's Writing Center
• Helpful Tips for Science Poster Design from George Mason University
• References for Science Writing from George Mason University
Communications Center Staff:
Monica Bulger [Director] received her Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in language, literacy, and composition from UCSB's Gevirtz Graduate School of Education. For her dissertation research, she compared the ways in which graduates and undergraduates gauge credibility and usefulness when evaluating online resources and futher, how they use this information when composing academic texts. Before co-founding the Bren Graduate Writing Center, she taught technical and scientific writing in the UCSB Writing Program.
Janet Martorana, [Environmental Sciences Librarian], holds office hours at Bren each week during the academic year. Just drop by if you need any help in doing your literature searches or help with other information research needs. Her hours for the current quarter are listed above. She is also available for research consultations or Group Project group instruction at other times as well. E-mail or call to set up an appointment: martoran@library.ucsb.edu, (805) 893-8724.
Danica Schaffer-Smith [Writing Consultant] earned a B.S. in Environmental Science, with a minor in Biology, from the University of Redlands. Before pursuing a graduate degree, Danica was a Biologist and Environmental Analyst at ECORP Consulting, where she conducted field surveys for sensitive plant and wildlife species and wrote CEQA analysis documents for numerous private- and public-sector development projects in Southern California. At the Bren School, she is specializing in Conservation Planning. Danica spent this past summer as an Intern with the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, and she is excited to continue applying her coursework in the Group Project: Considering Santa Ana Winds in Fire Policy and Management for Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, California.
Aaron Sobel [Visual Design Consultant] started his undergraduate career as a Media Arts and Design Major and interned at a Northern Virginia television studio before transitioning into the science realm. He ultimately earned his B.S. in Geographic Science, with a minor in Integrated Science and Technology from James Madison University. He has interned for NASA, AECOM, the Institute for Information Assurance, and the Center for Energy and Ecological Sustainability. As a MESM student at Bren, he is specializing in Corporate Environmental Management and his group project aims to assist city managers in meeting AB-32 greenhouse gas reduction levels.
Sara Solis [Writing Consultant] is a MESM student specializing in Conservation Planning at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. Before attending Bren, she spent two years conducting soil and groundwater remediation for an environmental consulting firm in Southern California. As a consulting scientist, she prepared a variety of regulatory compliance reports, remediation proposals, and permitting documents. Sara has over six years of tutoring experience at a private learning center and as a Biostatistics Teaching Assistant at Claremont McKenna College.
Audrey Tresham [Writing Consultant] is a MESM student specializing in Coastal Marine Resources Management and Conservation Planning. She graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Drew University with a BA in Biology. Prior to beginning graduate studies at Bren, she spent two years as a biology lecturer at Drew University, where she instituted a scientific writing component into the first-year curriculum for biology majors.
Communications Center Alumni:
Yolanda Crous received her MESM from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management in 2007. Before enrolling at Bren, she worked for eight years as a magazine editor in New York City and three years as a medical editor at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, Texas. She is currently a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Travel & Leisure.
Kate Kokosinski received her MESM from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management in 2009. She currently works as a writer at Clipper Wind. Before attending Bren, she worked as a staff toxicologist for an environmental consulting firm in Davis, California. In addition to writing proposals to elicit new projects for the firm, she also prepared annual reports that summarized the water quality of agricultural systems and were submitted to the appropriate Regional Water Quality Control Boards (RWQCB).
Lara Polansky received her MESM from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management in 2009. Lara is currently a Presidential Management Fellow with the U.S. Forest Service. Prior to attending Bren, Lara attended the University of Miami where she worked as a tutor in the Academic Resource Center. More recently, she served as a teaching assistant for a writing-intensive Environmental Studies course. She has also prepared numerous policy documents during her fellowships with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
Cissy Ross received her Ph.D. in Education from UCSB in 2009. Her research focuses on composing practices of Environmental Studies undergraduates. She currently teaches scientific writing in UCSB's Writing Program. Prior to graduate school, Cissy worked as a journalist for 25 years.
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